Blythe was on Facebook one day when a particular photo caught her eye—a scroll-stopping dog and the handsome fella who was hoisting the adorable boxer up onto his shoulders. Jordan and Blythe met at the University of Redlands and stayed in touch on Facebook, but love didn’t truly bloom until after she saw the photo of him and his boxer, Maddie, and felt compelled to message him.

A mutual adoration of Maddie soon became something more, as the pair transitioned from messaging to texting, from texting to phone calls, from calls to FaceTime, and eventually with a flight out to visit Jordan in person, who had since moved to Florida for flight school with the Navy.

They dated cross-country with Blythe in Orange County and Jordan in Florida, until he was assigned to a Naval base in Lemoore—just a six-hour drive away from the beautiful blue eyes and the playful banter of the woman he fell in love with. Before long, Blythe was packing up her life in Orange County—making the move to share a home near the base.

After a couple years of dating, Jordan was ready to make it official. The couple was on vacation in Oceanside, and Jordan had planned a date day out in San Diego. They visited the Belmont Park Roller Coaster (a throwback to one of their first dates), enjoyed one of their favorite meals (breakfast burritos), and toured the USS Midway, a decommissioned aircraft carrier and museum—a nod to Jordan’s work as a Flight Officer in the Navy. Toward the end of the day, the couple was enjoying a romantic walk through Balboa Park when Jordan started giving a “love-spewing speech,” as Blythe calls it.

“He got down on one knee, and about all I remember is that I had full Dino-arms,” she says, borrowing Jordan’s description of the way she flaps her arms up and down when she’s excited.

For a lot of the wedding planning period, Jordan was deployed, so Blythe would email with updates and questions for whenever he was able to check his messages. Though she was nervous about planning and coordinating vendors from afar, her mother and sister were able to keep her stress levels in check by giving her plenty of help.

The couple found an incredible number of ways to incorporate their family and friends into their big day. The venue was the lush and dreamy back yard of one of the bride’s lifelong family friends in Sacramento, Blythe’s uncle got ordained so that he could act as their officiant, the bride’s veil was lovingly borrowed from a dear friend, and the bride’s sister provided artwork and signage (some of which hangs in the newlywed’s home now).

Another touching homage to family comes by the groom’s wedding band—a hand-me-down from his late grandfather which bore his grandparents’ wedding date alongside the inscription “Yes in Love” in French. Blythe surprised him by adding their own wedding date to the engravings on the band.

The newly minted Mr. & Mrs. kicked off their party by doing their signature “happy dance” out onto the dance floor (“You make two fists and side pump your hands twice on left, twice on right, back to twice on left,” Blythe says.), and before long they were dancing the night away and enjoying a late night visit from a taco truck with friends and family under romantic twinkling lights.

The couple is looking forward to sharing family adventures with their dog Bruce and having kids in the near future.

“Knowing we’ll always lead a life full of laughter, adventure, (healthy) competition and unconditional love fulfills my heart. So I’m excited to continue doing that and growing stronger through the chapters to come,” Blythe says. “There are a lot of unknowns living a military life, but having confidence in the foundation of our known, is everything.”

—Jennifer Resnicke