Seaside Love Stories: Couples Share Proposals, Weddings and Anniversaries

Seaside is a beloved spot for couples to share a special moment, whether it’s a proposal, a wedding, or an anniversary. The Seaside Times asked couples how they celebrate romance in town, whether it’s with a special date or an unexpected anniversary celebration. 

Mary Kathryn and Michael Lamping 

Mary Kathryn began coming to Seaside in 1992 with her family when she was just two-months-old, they visited every year. Since then, Seaside has become the most special place in the world to their family. 

“When I went on dates one of my first questions would be, ‘Have you ever been to Seaside?’ When I met my husband in 2014, he checked that box,” she says. “Two months later, we went on our first trip together to Seaside.

We instantly fell in love there. Fast forward to 2016, when he proposed to me at the Tupelo Pavilion. We immediately began planning our Seaside wedding. In October 2017, we married at the Chapel at Seaside and had our reception and Bud and Alley’s Waterfront Restaurant. Hurricane Nate decided to make an appearance at the reception, and we danced the night away while the chandeliers swayed under the tent. Following the wedding, we stayed the week in the honeymoon cottages.” 

Mary Kathryn and Michael had their first daughter in 2022. “And when she turned two-months-old we of course took her to Seaside,” Mary Kathryn says. “In May of 2023 to our surprise, while we were on our second trip with our daughter to Seaside, we found out we were pregnant with our son. Seaside will forever hold a special place in our hearts.” 

Ruben and Christina Flores 

Christina grew up coming to Seaside and brought her boyfriend, Ruben, to visit right after they met in college in Houston and started dating. 

“He quickly learned how special Seaside was to my family,” Christina says. Ruben then proposed in a pavilion, with their whole family around them. The couple has now been married for 15 years and share two wonderful boys, Jack, 12, and Jacob, 9.

“We still return yearly to Seaside – this will be our 19th year in a row – with our entire family to spend a week each summer, it’s our kids’ favorite week of the year!” Christina says. 

Grayson and Chandler Thomas

Grayson and Chandler were living in Georgia when they met at college in 2016. “Grayson knew my best friend before I knew him, and she had told me about him in the weeks leading up to our meeting,” Chandler says. “She would later tell me that right after he and I became friends he told her ‘I’m going to marry her one day.’”

The couple dated for a while and then spent time apart before running into each other at an Atlanta Braves game in 2022 and reuniting – they’ve been inseparable ever since. Both grew up visiting the area, so it made sense when they got engaged in Seaside Memorial Day 2023 during a trip with their best friends (including the one who introduced them), which they called “another beautiful chapter.” 

The couple grabbed pizza and made their way to the beach at sunset for the surprise proposal. Now, they’re planning on returning this summer as a married couple, visiting from their home in Birmingham, Ala. 

Spencer and Temple Kortum

Spencer and Temple live in Sarasota, Fla., after meeting through mutual friends in school. 

“In the summer of 2015 my husband and I were just friends, both aware he had a huge crush on me,” Temple says. “I was doing a photography project for my senior art class where I was going to make a photo collage of the food trucks in Seaside.”

Temple had to be in town extremely early in the morning, so there were no parked cars in the way, and asked Spencer if he wanted to accompany her. “He watched me take my photos and would later on tell me that this was the moment he knew he loved me,” Temple says. “A year or two later for our dating anniversary he gave me a necklace with these exact Seaside coordinates on it to remember that special morning.”

They dated throughout college, and after Temple returned from studying abroad in Italy Spencer planned a date. “We drove to the spot where I took the food truck photos and got out and started to walk to the Coleman Pavilion. Once we got under the Seaside Pavilion, he got down on one knee and proposed to me,” Temple says. 

In a full circle moment, one of the first places the newlyweds lived together was a carriage house in Seaside on Forest Street. 

Evan and David Holland 

Evan Harrell, a University of Texas graduate, and David Holland, a Texas A&M graduate, were set up by mutual friends from Houston, Texas.

Evan grew up vacationing in Seaside, and brought David to visit only weeks after their first date. A year and a half later, David pulled off a surprise proposal in front of the Chapel on Christmas Eve in 2016 – and of course, they decided to get married in Seaside. 

The wedding had a nautical theme and was nicknamed the “nauti wedding,” and local “wedding crashers” were more than welcome as folks from Texas descended on the town. Now, the sweet couple visits regularly with their three children and call Seaside their home away from home.