Growing up, Brian Michael Thalman’s household was a fan of the reality TV show “Dance Moms,” which ran from 2011 to 2019. His mother and his sister, now a ballerina in New York, recorded episodes and often played them on the living room television.
Several dancers on the show were from his town, Murrysville, Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh, including Brooke Marie Hyland. The show followed a Pittsburgh competition team at the Abby Lee Dance Company, and Ms. Hyland was a main cast member for four seasons.
In 2021, seven years after her final season on the show, Mr. Thalman’s college buddy, Dominic Matarazzo, told him he wanted to set him up with his cousin, Ms. Hyland.
Mr. Thalman recalled thinking, “Would she be interested in a guy who has like 200 followers on Instagram and doesn’t post anything?”
“I don’t think he realized that that’s exactly what I was looking for: someone that’s out of the spotlight,” said Ms. Hyland, who is now an influencer. “I don’t want a guy who is posting on social media. Living in L.A., I had a lot of run-ins with guys like that,” she said, adding that “everything there seemed like a competition.”
In December 2021, they met at Coop De Ville, a bar in Pittsburgh. Ms. Hyland, who had moved to Austin, Texas, from Los Angeles, came home for the holidays, and Mr. Matarazzo encouraged her to join him and some friends at the bar.
Ms. Hyland, 28, said that she and Mr. Matarazzo are “very outgoing, and I don’t want to use the word crazy, but like, loud people.” Mr. Thalman, 31, is “the polar opposite,” she said. Mr. Matarazzo thought the two opposites would attract. And indeed, Mr. Thalman and Ms. Hyland hit it off that night.
Two days later, they had their first date at a Pittsburgh cocktail bar called the Summit. They had a few rounds of drinks until the bar closed, and they were so engrossed in conversation that they forgot to order food. They later found out that they grew up five minutes away from each other, and that she had previously been to two parties held at his home. “We actually have a group photo where we’re on opposite sides, but just never met,” Ms. Hyland said.
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Two weeks later, Ms. Hyland returned to Austin, where she worked remotely for an e-commerce fashion company. They saw each other every day before she left.
In March 2022, Mr. Thalman visited her in Austin with Mr. Matarazzo. She took them out to hot spots in the city, like Terry Black’s Barbecue and Rainey Street. By the end of that trip, the two made their relationship official.
That May, Ms. Hyland’s lease ended, and she moved back to Pittsburgh. It was her home base while she figured out her next steps, but she wasn’t planning to settle down in the city where she grew up. “I was like, ‘Oh, it’s kind of boring here. There’s not that much to do. I’ve done it all since I was 12 years old,’” she said.
But that summer, she got laid off. “Being laid off kind of helped push me to settle down and be more stable and treat content as if it is my full-time job,” Ms. Hyland said. And she found that people who grew up watching her on “Dance Moms” enjoyed getting a peek into her adult life — from wedding planning to cooking dinner with Mr. Thalman to “get ready with me” videos.
She stayed in Pittsburgh and moved in with him in his apartment in the Strip District. Together, they explore the city and try new restaurants and cocktail bars. “I realized that Pittsburgh has a lot more to offer than I knew, and now I absolutely love it,” Ms. Hyland said.
In May 2024, Mr. Thalman proposed in Frick Park, under the ruse of an early Mother’s Day brunch, with 20 family members cheering them on. Mr. Thalman, an account manager at Circle Logistics, graduated from Duquesne University with bachelor’s degrees in supply chain management and finance. Ms. Hyland graduated from Ohio University with bachelor’s degrees in management information systems and marketing.
On Feb. 21, the couple were married at La Casa Toscana in Fort Myers, Fla., in front of 160 guests. Carrie Matarazzo, Ms. Hyland’s aunt, who was ordained by American Marriage Ministries for the occasion, officiated.
“Right when we get home, we’re packing up and moving into our new place,” Mr. Thalman said. “We’re just excited to enjoy marriage, just the two of us, before we start thinking about kids.”
Sadiba Hasan reports on love and culture for the Styles section of The Times.
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