When Aubrey Jane Dela Cruz heard Rylan Scott Nordbeck play a saxophone solo to Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” at a backyard concert in July 2021, she knew she had to meet him.
The concert took place at the home of their mutual friend, Zach Eubanks, in Glendora, Calif., as part of a backyard concert series Dela Cruz helped organize to encourage socializing outdoors during the pandemic.
Juniper Park, the now-defunct indie rock band that Nordbeck belonged to, was performing.
“Rylan grabbed his sax and gave the most epic performance. The crowd was going wild,” said Dela Cruz, a self-described Swiftie. “He was magnetic, and I turned to my friend and said ‘I think I’m in love.’”
Nordbeck noticed her, too. “I saw her from across the room and thought she was the most beautiful person I had ever seen,” he said.
When he approached her after the concert to ask her out, the two had what they described as “an easy, comfortable” conversation. At the time, both were living with their parents — Dela Cruz, in Orange, Calif., and Nordbeck in Victorville, Calif., about two hours away. She had just started her current job and wasn’t looking for love. Nordbeck, then a full-time musician, was open to dating. They exchanged numbers.
For their first date three weeks later, Nordbeck picked Dela Cruz up in his pickup truck and took her to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. They wandered through the galleries and gardens, exchanging observations about the artwork and chatting about their backgrounds and the challenges of meeting people after the height of the pandemic.
After the museum, they picked up burrito bowls from Tocaya Modern Mexican on Sunset Boulevard and headed to Zuma Beach in Malibu. “We ate on the sand and watched the sunset,” Dela Cruz said.
“The night couldn’t have been more perfect,” Nordbeck said.
When he told her that he loved museums and learning about outer space but had yet to visit Griffith Observatory, they made a spontaneous decision to go that night.
They made it there about an hour before closing and ended up on the observation deck. As they stargazed and took in the city skyline, Nordbeck leaned in for a kiss.
Not wanting the night to end, Nordbeck said he drove her home “the long way.”
They texted and talked on the phone daily from then on. “She was a person I wanted to see a lot more of,” he said.
For their second date a few weeks later, they went back to Malibu and to another museum, the Getty Villa. They also took a long walk on Zuma Beach, stopped for coffee and cookies at Caffe Luxxe and started planning their future together.
Dela Cruz, 27, was born and raised in Orange, Calif. She is the senior social media manager working remotely for the Los Angeles-based Be Inspired P.R., which represents wedding industry professionals. She has a bachelor’s degree in public relations from Biola University in La Mirada, Calif.
Nordbeck, 25, is from Victorville, Calif. He is a teacher’s aide at Mariners Christian School in Costa Mesa, Calif. He is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in education remotely at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio.
Their relationship fell into a rhythm of talking on the phone for hours each day and seeing each other on weekends, alternating visits to Orange and Victorville.
They connected over their shared love of music and frequently went to concerts. The Eagles and Bruce Springsteen are among their favorite shows.
They also performed together. Dela Cruz plays acoustic guitar and is the lead vocalist for a Christian worship band, Everyhour. In the summer of 2022, Nordbeck joined the group as the bass guitarist for a two-week job at Forest Home, a camp in Forest Falls, Calif.
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In July 2024, Nordbeck moved down the street from Dela Cruz, who was by then renting a home with two friends. They became engaged in August 2025 on a camping trip with friends to June Lake.
Nordbeck drove them to a cliff overlooking the lake, saying he wanted to take pictures of the view. When they arrived, he led her close to the edge and dropped to one knee. “I waited for the proposal, but Rylan went to tie his shoe as a joke,” Dela Cruz said. “My mouth fell open in shock, but then he pulled out a ring and asked me if I would marry him.” The couple moved into a rental house in Orange in June.
They wed July 12 before 139 guests at Dove Canyon Golf Club in Trabuco Canyon, Calif. Ryan Bartlett, a close friend who was ordained by Universal Life Church for the occasion, officiated. In a nod to Dela Cruz’s Filipino heritage, the couple partook in a veil and cord ceremony, and later, a folk dance was performed by a Filipino dance troupe.
As another nod to her family, the bride had two flower girls close to her: Eva Dela Cruz and Jessie Balaguer, her grandmothers.