During the first week of April, just five weeks before Michael Bryan Beard and Michael Shane Hutsen were to be married, Mr. Beard suffered a spinal cerebrospinal fluid leak. Doctors weren’t sure of the outcome, the couple said.
But after several days in the intensive care unit, the medical team at Houston Methodist Hospital found and repaired the leak. “The doctors told us to be prepared for months of rehabilitation following the surgery,” Mr. Hutsen said.
Instead, Mr. Beard awoke after surgery “fully coherent,” said Mr. Hutsen, who goes by Shane.
When the two met 18 months before, they could never have imagined going through such a harrowing experience together. On Oct. 17, 2023, both were playing in Pride Sports League pickleball games at Bumpy Pickle in Houston.
Mr. Hutsen’s teammate, Tim Surratt, who has known Mr. Beard for 30 years, was also playing that day, and Mr. Beard recalled him saying, “‘Come watch my team. We are terrible.’”
When the two met, Mr. Beard “said to me, ‘Wow you look so athletic,’” Mr. Hutsen recalled. “He was very charming and handsome.”
The attraction was mutual, and the two regretted not exchanging numbers. Instead, Mr. Hutsen found Mr. Beard on Instagram that night “and awkwardly dove into his DMs,” he said.
The two soon exchanged phone numbers and then chatted on FaceTime every night leading up to their first date: brunch at Flora, a restaurant between Buffalo Bayou and Lost Lake in Houston, about a week after meeting.
After the meal, they rode scooters and went to an Astros baseball playoffs game. “It was like a 14-hour date,” Mr. Beard said. “Shane asked what a bullpen or a dugout was. So, I got to sit and teach this beautiful man about baseball.”
From that night on, they spoke every evening and saw one another as often as they could, which sometimes made for comedy-worthy moments. “I have an 11-year-old son, Hartley, from my previous marriage,” which ended in 2015, Mr. Hutsen said, “and I didn’t want him to meet Michael until I knew for sure.”
When Mr. Beard would visit Mr. Hutsen’s home at night for tea and hushed conversation, “there were some close calls that had Michael jumping behind walls and into closets as Hartley bounded down the stairs for water or a nighttime snack,” Mr. Hutsen said.
In March 2024, Mr. Hutsen decided it was time. The three went to brunch. “Within minutes, Hartley and Michael were deep into a burping contest and hit it off immediately,” Mr. Hutsen said.
Just two months later, a derecho, or dust storm, hit Houston. Mr. Hutsen’s ex-wife’s apartment was badly damaged, so Mr. Hutsen invited her to move into his place. He and Mr. Beard then did a trial move-in at Mr. Beard’s home in Houston’s Garden Oaks area, where they continue to live today.
Mr. Beard, 57, is an owner and a founder of J. Flowers Health Institute. He studied business at the University of Alabama. Married once before, Mr. Beard was divorced in 2021. He was born and raised in Isney, Ala.
Mr. Hutsen, 38, is an organizational development director for Skyward Specialty Insurance. He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Houston. “I came out after the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage,” said Mr. Hutsen, who was born in Houston and raised in Magnolia, Texas.
For their one-year anniversary, in October 2024, the two returned to Flora. Mr. Hutsen said he was a little suspicious of what Mr. Beard might be up to.
“I started asking myself, ‘Is this where it happens?’” Mr. Hutsen said. At one point, “Michael reached into his pocket and then was like, ‘Just kidding.’” But as they got up to leave, Mr. Beard did indeed propose, and the staff, with whom Mr. Beard had colluded, was ready to take photos and video.
The couple were wed on May 17 at the Corinthian, a former bank in downtown Houston that is now an events space. Mr. Beard’s sister, Tonda Chapman, ordained by American Marriage Ministries for the occasion, officiated before 280 people.
Their wedding designer Walker Chancey surprised the couple with a giant neon sign over the stage during the reception that read “Crazy in Love,” “an ode to the supreme being — Beyoncé,” Mr. Hutsen said. (Beyoncé is famously from Houston.)
“There was so much spirit and joy in the room,” said Mr. Beard, who also reports that his health “is really good.” And he has not had rehab.
The only unplanned moment of the evening turned out to be one of the most special, Mr. Hutsen said: “A speech from Hartley to the crowd declaring that he wanted everyone to celebrate ‘his two dads.’”
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