A perfect team

Grace and Tyler had been Lower Moreland Lightning swimming teammates for more than a year when they were assigned to share Lane 2. They spent part of every Monday through Friday in 2010 swimming from one end of their lane to the other, over and over and over. Between laps, they became friends.

Saturday was swim meet day. Afterward, Grace, Tyler, and a group of friends — mostly swimmers from the Lightning or one of their high school teams — gathered at Nifty Fifty’s or at somebody’s parents’ house to decompress.

“Swimming controls your life, and we spent a lot of time together,” said Grace. Yet, it seemed she and Tyler always had more to talk about. “We started texting a lot,” he said.

Both grew up in Northeast Philadelphia, he in Mayfair and she in Somerton. Both went to Catholic schools. One fall weeknight instead of texting, Tyler called to ask Grace to go to Father Judge High School’s winter dance with him. The dance fell on Army-Navy Game day, and her family had tickets. “I can’t go to yours, but I will take you to mine,” said Grace, a student at Archbishop Wood. They were also each other’s prom dates. Feelings began to blossom.

Later that spring, Grace took part in Kairos, a religious retreat for Catholic high school students. Receiving letters from friends and family is an important part of the experience. “I felt compelled to take that opportunity to write to Grace,” Tyler remembers.

With a quote from Pink’s “Perfect” and words of his own, Tyler told her he wanted to be more than friends.

“I called him and I thanked him for his letter, but I didn’t address anything it said,” Grace remembers. She thought about how much she valued his friendship, and how they shared the same big group of friends — all of whom were headed to Temple University. She didn’t want to mess it up. “I was scared,” she said.

But Grace knew that eventually they would have to talk about Tyler’s letter, and her own unexpressed feelings.

On May 31, Grace visited her Mom-Mom, then, as she always did afterward, went to Tyler’s nearby house to sit on his front steps and talk. “I basically told him I reciprocated everything he said in that letter.”

They had a few blissful days before Tyler went down the Shore for the summer. “It kind of sucked, but she came down to visit, and I was home sometimes,” he said. “Plus we knew we would be together at school.”

Grace, who is now a pediatric physical therapist for the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, studied kinesiology, and Tyler, an SEO team lead at Seer Interactive, studied strategic communication.

They and their friend group — which remains as tight-knit as ever — were all a few doors apart in the dorms. They got apartments together sophomore year and lived in two nearby houses — guys in one, girls in the other — junior and senior year. These were home base for exploring the city.

Even in college, the couple, who are now both 29, were planning for their future. After graduating in 2015, each moved back to their parents’ homes to save money to buy a house. Grace earned a doctorate degree in physical therapy from Drexel, and Tyler earned his in digital marketing from Temple.

“What I love about Grace is she’s an old soul who appreciates simple things,” said Tyler. “She genuinely cares about everybody and supports people so earnestly. She is so patient with people and always gives them the benefit of the doubt. I admire her, and she makes me want to be a better person.”

“I love that Tyler is the fun, adventurous one,” said Grace. “He’s always finding us different restaurants to try, or making us a great new cocktail. He’s very hardworking, he is dedicated to his family, and he’s always trying to make himself better. He likes to make people feel welcome.”

Grace and Tyler found their Port Richmond home in April 2019. The day of their final walk-through, they left for 10 days in Italy.

On their second day in a small village by the sea, they had a pre-dinner drink at their Airbnb. “There was a little deck that overlooked the ocean and the village, and it was just beautiful,” Tyler remembers. As Grace looked out at the sea, he set the timer on his phone camera.

“She turned around and I got down on one knee,” he said. “She said yes.”

“He stood up, and we both cried,” Grace remembers.

Tyler and Grace officially wed in a traditional Catholic ceremony on Oct. 1, 2021, at St. Christopher’s parish. This is the church Grace attended growing up and it was important to her to be married there by Father Joe, who said a full Mass. The only guests were her parents, Jane and Michael; her sisters, Claire and Hannah; his parents, Dave and Toni; and his siblings, Cody and Paige.

On Oct. 9, they gathered again — this time with 150 family members and friends — at the Riverside Ballroom at Lambertville Station in Lambertville, N.J. Their second, 30-minute ceremony was less traditional and more personal. Tyler’s Uncle Paul shared part of their story and led them in vows they wrote for each other.

Tyler, the family chef, promised Grace she would never have a bad meal with him. “More seriously, I promised that I would always be her safe place, for her and for our future family as well, and that no matter what life throws at us, I would never forget the feelings I had for her on that day,” he remembered.

“I promised to support him no matter what, and to celebrate life with him,” Grace said. Every morning, the couple plays a little game where they try to be the first to say “I love you more, I win.” “I love you more!” Grace said during her vows. “I win!”

The couple frequently travel to Lambertville and New Hope and chose the venue especially for its outdoor space along the river, where a cocktail hour was held. Grace grew up going to the river towns with her family, and told her mother she’d like to get married there when she was a little girl.

EBE Talent’s Milan 77, an 11-piece band, played dance music from many decades to bring all the guests to the floor. Artist Janet Howard-Fatta captured the couple’s first dance, to Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect Symphony,” in a painting she created during the reception. Broadway performers Chris Newcomer and Norman Payne, who are friends of Tyler’s family, sang the words.

The couple spent two days in Newport, R.I. They hope to travel to Greece for two weeks later this year and to spend the summer enjoying all that Philadelphia offers.