Bride

Kennedy andTyler

UNDELETABLE LOVE

Story By Liesel Schmidt // Photos by The Millers Photo Co.

Like the tagline so famously says, Hinge is “The dating app that’s meant to be deleted,” and that’s precisely what became of it when Kennedy Adcock and Tyler Martinez met through the magic of modern technology in May of 2020. “I was 23 at the time and had never been on a dating app,” says Kennedy, who works as the Project Manager for Adcock Custom Builders, while Tyler is the Earth Moving Shop Supervisor for Thompson Caterpillar in Spanish Fort.

“A friend and I downloaded Hinge as a joke because COVID had completely stalled our chances on meeting someone in person, and we were being dramatic. But it worked! Within the first week of having it, I met Tyler. We fell in love fast.”

And so, the fate of Hinge was sealed—as was the young couple’s, which grew more and more apparent over the next year. “In the time that we were dating, we bought and sold a house and began building our dream home,” says Kennedy. “We knew within the first couple of weeks that this was forever.”

“Forever” became a reality when, on July 30, 2021, Tyler asked Kennedy to spend the rest of her days as his wife. “He proposed at sunset on the Jackson Street Bridge in Atlanta, overlooking the city,” she recalls. “We were going up there with some friends for a Braves game—or so I thought. The couple that was with us was pregnant at the time, so they made up a story about wanting to get some maternity pictures on this bridge. The plan was to do that on the way to dinner while we were all dressed up. Atlanta is an incredibly special place to Tyler, being the place that he lived during three months of rehab at the Shepherd Center after a spinal cord injury left him a paraplegic in May of 2013.”

Not a year after saying yes, on April 9, 2022, Kennedy wore her mother’s wedding dress—updated from the poufy-sleeved ’90’s satin confection to a more modern look with spaghetti straps—as she walked down the aisle at St. Francis at the Point in Fairhope. With 150 of their friends and family literally standing in witness, the couple exchanged vows and were pronounced married. “Our officiant forgot to tell everyone to be seated once I was up at the altar, and Tyler and I didn’t realize it until about halfway through,” Kennedy says with a laugh. “It was so loud when everyone finally sat down in the middle of ceremony, Tyler says it sounded like a herd of cattle running around!”

Ceremony complete, the newlyweds joined their guests for a reception at The Venue, where everyone enjoyed a buffetstyle dinner catered by Tamara’s Downtown, including a mid-reception snack of Tamara’s truffle fries—though the couple can’t say they partook in much of the menu. “I don’t even remember exactly what all there was,” Kennedy admits. “We each barely got a small plate, so all I know is it that everyone says it was fantastic and they loved it.”

What the couple does remember, of course, are some very unforgettable moments. “During the reception, my mom, her two sisters, and their daughters had a surprise performance to kick off the party,” Kennedy recalls. “They got on stage, and my mom and aunts sang ‘We Are Family,’ and then my two little cousins joined them onstage to sing ‘Lady Marmalade’ from Moulin Rouge, which is a song that we seem to always crank up real loud at family functions and sing and dance and act a fool. It was hilarious. They all had boas and inflatable microphones, and everyone loved it.”

Having come to that point in the festivities, the couple cut into a threetiered almond vanilla cake covered with white buttercream and adorned with flowers from their rehearsal dinner the previous night, topped with an antique Lladro bride and groom cake topper from Kennedy’s parents’ wedding cake in 1991.

After being sent off to start their honeymoon, the couple spent their first days as husband and wife in Charleston. “We ate a lot of good food and enjoyed a relaxing week together,” says Kennedy.

“People are still calling us and telling us how much fun they had at our wedding, and that’s really all we ever wanted.”

Now back home in Spanish Fort, the couple is enjoying their new life together— one that all started in a very unexpected place and seemed, once upon a time, like an impossibility. “People are still calling us and telling us how much fun they had at our wedding, and that’s really all we ever wanted,” Kennedy says. “We wanted to celebrate our marriage with everyone we love the most. It was also a very special day for Tyler’s family because they went through so much after his accident, and the idea of marriage just seemed so far off and there were so many unknowns and challenges to overcome before he felt ready for it. His parents are so proud of him and how far he’s come and what he’s done with his life in the almost ten years since then.”