Rhiannon Hainds and Chaysen Rathert’s first meeting felt straight out of a movie. It was the summer of 2023, and Rhiannon was on a girls’ trip in St. Tropez. “I was at a state where I was finally at peace being alone and knew that someday the right love would find me,” the Atlanta-based anesthetist recalls. German software developer Chaysen was in town visiting his grandparents and spotted Rhiannon at their hotel pool. “I gazed over to this beautiful and enticing aura,” he says. Rhiannon adds: “We kept catching glances at each other, locking eyes, and nervously looking away—but then gravitating back.” When her friends joined her at the pool, Rhiannon saw Chaysen had stood up to leave. When she next looked up, she was surprised to see him standing right in front of her. “Knowing now what a shy guy Chaysen is, I am so thankful he had the courage to come say hi to me that day,” says Rhiannon.
Rhiannon was heading out for dinner with her friends later that night and spotted him in the hotel parking lot. “The charming European he is, he offered to take our picture. I said sure and coyly slipped him my number,” she shares. As the day was coming to a close, Rhiannon was trying to sneak out of a nightclub while her friends were still dancing. Chaysen happened to spot her at that moment, jumped in front of her, and said, “You!” Rhiannon recalls, “I was so thrilled to have seen him that I turned right back around and told him I was headed to go dance.” The two spent the rest of the night together club-hopping, getting late-night food, and singing karaoke. They ended the evening stargazing back at their hotel. “We clinked beers as we opened up our hearts and talked about our lives, our struggles, our goals, and our dreams until the sun came up,” says Rhiannon. “We even pinky-promised each other that maybe we were meant to do this life together. At that moment, we both knew that we had found something unique and worth everything we had been through up until then.” As the sun rose, Rhiannon asked Chaysen how she would know they would ever see each other again. Chaysen removed a necklace that he always wears, put it on Rhiannon, and said, “I know if you have this, I will see you again.” Both returned to their own hotel rooms and told their travel partners that they had just met their future spouse.
Their courtship was a unique one, as Rhiannon lived in Atlanta and Chaysen was based in Lisbon. “Thanks to technology, we maintained our growing relationship over video calls and messages for hours on end,” says Rhiannon. Chaysen adds: “We went our separate ways only to reunite in Lisbon and have our first date at Palácio do Grilo—and the rest is history.”
A year after their first meeting, Chaysen and Rhiannon returned to St. Tropez to spend time with his family. Chaysen suggested they head down to Pampelonne Beach to jump in the water to get over their jet lag. “I took her to one of my favorite childhood places, a peaceful dock with a view of the whole Ramatuelle,” describes Chaysen. “During sunset, I sat next to her trying to recite what I practiced. I spoke from the heart and asked her to marry me.” The two started crying, then Rhiannon said “yes” and put on an heirloom ring Chaysen designed with his mother. “I was nervous to jump in the ocean with it, but we were both so excited and happy and thrilled at the fact that we get to spend the rest of our lives loving each other,” says Rhiannon. “We held hands and cannonballed into the calm, turquoise water.” They returned to Chaysen’s family home afterwards to find a celebration in place set up by his parents and sister. “We drank Champagne and danced under the stars,” remembers Rhiannon. “It was pure bliss.”