The day Madelyn and Nic Anderle met for the first time, they both knew they had found their forever person.
“When you know, you know. I kind of [had] this feeling that [he] might be my husband, and he was the same way about me being his future wife,” 25-year-old Madelyn told The Epoch Times.
That was back in 2022, two years before the couple tied the knot at Omni PGA Frisco in Dallas on May 26, 2024.
At the end of the almost five-minute montage, Madelyn revealed how God had worked behind the scenes to bring them together.
The Backstory
Six months before having any contact with the man who would later become her husband, Madelyn attended a Christian conference at Mercedez-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
“He was with his friends; I was with my friends,“ Madelyn said. ”We’d never met before, but we ended up sitting in the same section, and he’s in the back of my photos.”
Twenty-six-year-old Nic, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, found Madelyn through a mutual friend and left her a direct message on Instagram.
Though initially apprehensive about being contacted online by a virtual stranger, Madelyn, who was on a beach vacation with her family, decided to respond.
Shortly after that, Madelyn posted about needing “financial help” on her profile. Nic, who has a background in investment banking, offered to help her, and they scheduled a video call.
“We FaceTimed for several hours. We just lost track of time and were up until three in the morning, talking about so much,” Madelyn said, adding that Nic, who was in Charlotte, was enthusiastic about visiting her in Dallas.
Despite the distance, they resolved to make it happen, and by the time they met in person for the first time, Madelyn was smitten.
“There were so many characteristics in him that I loved. He’s very hard-working, very disciplined,“ she said. ”We both have a passion for health and wellness, and so we really bonded over that, and our faith and our beliefs were a big one.”
Certain that he was “the one,” she made sure to capture their first meeting on camera.
It turned out she was right.
From the very first weekend they spent together, they were inseparable, and within a month, they were officially in a relationship.
As their romance was long-distance at first, whenever they met, Madelyn diligently captured moments on camera.
“I really wanted to keep those memories to look back on when we’re older ... [so] we can show our kids,” she said, adding that when she was younger, her parents always took videos of her and her siblings with a camcorder.
Staying in a long-distance relationship, however, was tough, as they had work commitments, and there were times when the couple wouldn’t see one another for as long as six weeks at a time. But during those times, Madelyn said, they relied on communication to build trust. The pair even “got creative” with virtual dates; regularly preparing dinner and watching movies together.
Additionally, the videos she recorded served as “happy memories” to reminisce on.
A year into their relationship, the pair were engaged. After another year, they were married.
Reflecting on their Memorial Day weekend wedding, Madelyn said watching the video journal of their relationship was “very emotional” for both of them.
Seeing Nic tearing up, Madelyn was overcome with “surreal” feelings.
“We couldn’t believe we were two people who risked it all,” she said. “He flew to me. We just wanted to see what would happen, and now, here we are married.”
Now happily married, Madelyn reflects on those conference pictures with Nic in the background and likens it to “invisible string theory.”
“It’s like you’ve been there the whole time, but I had no idea,” she says. “We fully believe God gave us that as a sign we’re on the right track. There we were, 5 feet away from each other, and we never even met.”
She encourages other young women to continue to wait for their spouses.
“When your person does come along, it’s going to add something to your life versus subtract,” she said “‘When you know, you know’ is a real thing.”
