They settled into Boston and committed to each other with an Arnold Arboretum wedding

Boston Globe

28-01-2025

Her date, Rex Reynolds, waved from across the bar. Steph stared back, clearly confused: 'I'm not a person [who's]
able to hide their emotions on their face.'
Canyon, the couple's beloved boxer-pit rescue, served as ring bearer.
Castillo Holliday Photo + Film
She had been chatting with the software engineer on the dating app, Hinge, where his photos highlighted his adventure-seeking lifestyle and auburn beard. But the Rex waving to her was beardless.
Advertisement
'My mom always said it would be rude to show up on a first date with facial hair,' Rex explains. 'She needed to see [my face] one time. So she knows what I look like.'
'And he has not had a clean-shaven face since,' says Steph.
Following the ceremony, the newlyweds changed into reception attire; a gown from Reformation for her, and a Suit Supply suit for him.
Castillo Holliday Photo + Film
After the initial surprise, the pair quickly warmed to each other. Steph remembers that Rex's initial shyness, due to his nervousness, eased as the night wore on. 'We had pretty immediate chemistry,' Rex says. They kissed before the night was over, and Rex showed off his motorcycle in the pouring rain as proof that the rest of his profile's photo claims were truthful.'
Related
:
Both had moved to Seattle that spring. Steph, who grew up outside Los Angeles before attending college in Boston, had arrived in March, taking an assignment as a travel nurse with an area hospital. Rex had been living in North Carolina, where he's from, and attended Elon University, before the tech company he worked for went remote. Inspired by childhood friends who lived in the area, he moved that April.
About six months into dating, Steph and Rex had brought Canyon, her boxer pit rescue, to a local dog park. While neither can remember the source of the argument, Steph remembers who had been in the wrong (him), and thinking, 'OK, I'm ready for this fight.'
Advertisement
The families' hanbok were a gift from Steph's mother, who had them specially made as a 'welcome to the family and our culture' gift for the Reynolds.
Castillo Holliday Photo + Film
'I'm very strong-headed,' she says, 'and Rex turns to me and goes, 'Oh, I'm so sorry. I completely understand what you're talking about.' He was so responsive to my blowup — cool, and calm and collected about it. And that's when I remember thinking, 'Oh my God,
I think I might love him
.''
For Rex, falling love was less of a lightning bolt: 'I think it was more me realizing how I already felt,' he says.' I wanted to spend literally every moment with [her]. And all I wanted to do was talk to other people about [her], [laughs] even when we were fighting in cars about me not expressing my feelings.'
Months became years. They filled the time with camping and road trips, and they met each other's families. Steph's birthday celebration for four took place at her family's favorite Korean-Chinese restaurant in Orange County. She had reassured Rex, 'My mom is so nice, wonderful woman. .. and my dad's just like me, he can talk to a wall.'
The couple asked Emmy Dubinsky of Frank Darling in Boston, who had made Steph's engagement ring, to help design their custom wedding bands.
Castillo Holliday Photo + Film
Likewise, Rex's mom and dad, two friendly, Southern 'Chatty Cathys,' arrived for a backyard cookout in Seattle amid their own travels. 'Steph fit right in,' says Rex. He moved into her apartment late in the summer of 2022.
When her next travel assignment sent her to Orange County in December 2022, Rex, joined her. As they made new friends, and explored the area, the topic of 'forever' emerged.
While each agreed they had each found 'the one,' how to commemorate their commitment was a work in progress.
'I was more on the side of, 'What's some piece of paper and the government knowing that we're married going to do?'' remembers Steph. 'But I
do
want to have a day where we can have our closest friends and family [be part of] a celebration.'
Advertisement
They moved to Boston in June 2023 when Steph's travel assignment aligned with multiple weddings they were invited to in the area. (They subsequently decided to stay.) In October, they celebrated their third anniversary as a couple, and Rex had a surprise: 'We're going ring shopping.'
Most of their guests had stayed at the Hilton Park Plaza, where they had a room block for the weekend. Steph arranged for the Original Party Trolley of Boston to take the couple and their families from downtown to the Arboretum.
Castillo Holliday Photo + Film
Rex proposed on March 31, 2024, at Mount Royale Park in Montreal. He took a knee and anxiously fumbled her Korean name as he presented the ring they had designed together with jeweler
Their photographer, Dominique Holliday of Castillo Holliday Photo + Film, helped them decide on the
They picked
The couple found their wedding DJ Yalayas after hearing him perform at Trillium Brewery. The Boston-based DJ brought singer Bri Joi and saxophonist Alek Razdan to accompany his set, which the couple calls a 'highlight' of their wedding.
Castillo Holliday Photo + Film
They wed in the afternoon on Oct. 26, 2024. The couple, now both 31, told their 73 guests the ceremony was 'optional,' and expected only close family to attend, but every person they invited also wanted to come to the ceremony.
Steph's best friend from Northeastern University served as officiant; Canyon was the ring bearer. Their moms wore traditional Hanbok, as did the betrothed, who wrote their own vows. The ceremony incorporated Korean wedding customs, including a relaxed iteration of the pyebaek ceremony, during which the couple bows to the ground for each of their parents.
The moment was a welcome surprise for both families: '[My dad] had never told me specifically he wanted something [cultural incorporated in the wedding], but I knew that this was important to him,' says Steph.
Advertisement
Their wedding cake was a coffee-Oreo ice cream cake from JP Licks with their initials and wedding date in pink icing.
Castillo Holliday Photo + Film
The celebration at
After the couple thanked their guests, they left the mic open for anyone who wanted to say a few words. They had asked Steph's sister and Rex's best friend to step up, but once the speeches began, the stories, toasts, and tears started to flow.
However, 'the best speech of the night' went to Rex's father, who 'gets up there, grabs the mic, and goes 'hi' and starts bawling,' remembers Steph.
The newlyweds had rendered a Chatty Cathy speechless.
Read more from
, The Boston Globe's new weddings column.
Rachel Kim Raczka is a writer and editor in Boston. She can be reached at