During the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, Cole William Hosman developed an internet crush on Sienna Mae Gomez.
Gomez spent much of the 2020 lockdown as many high schoolers did — on TikTok. In August 2020, at 16, she began posting dance videos and body positivity content and quickly (as in, with her first post) experienced a meteoric rise on the platform, where she now has more than 12.5 million followers. Hosman was one of the early ones.
“I was a normal high schooler one day,” said Gomez, now 22. “Then the next week I was this well-known face on the app who was having to make major business decisions with talent agencies and companies.”
When Hosman moved from Chicago to Anaheim, Calif., in 2020 to pursue a career in professional skateboarding, he sent Gomez a message. And every so often, he’d send her another DM. “She seemed so fun to hang out with,” said Hosman, now 24, and “was just super goofy” in her videos.
But he might as well have been talking to himself. Gomez never saw those messages.
On Halloween in 2021, Hosman and a few friends sneaked into a party in Los Angeles, and he saw Gomez, who had moved there earlier that year from Temecula, Calif., with her family.
“I vividly remember walking past her, and we both looked back at the same time,” Hosman said. “I knew at that moment that I had a chance.”
Two months later, in December 2021, one of Hosman’s skateboarding videos appeared on Gomez’s Instagram feed, and she thought he was cute. She gave him a follow, but didn’t make the connection with the Halloween party.
In May 2022, Hosman experienced a terrible skateboarding accident. While attempting a trick off a rail, he hit his head and landed on his neck, sending his body into total shock. He sustained a concussion and needed staples in his head. Hosman, who was signed at the time with a skateboard company called Disorder Skateboards, talked about his recovery in an Instagram story. He also shared that the accident had strengthened his Christian faith.
“I just slid up and was like, ‘Hey, I’m so sorry that happened to you. I’m praying for you,’” recalled Gomez, who had newly become Christian. She was baptized in early 2022. They bonded over their shared faith.
They chatted for a few days, and eventually she met him at his apartment in Anaheim, bringing over tiger balm and a heating pad for his neck. And he made her chocolate chip cookies.
She immediately noticed that he was a good listener. He asked questions, showed care and made her feel heard. “I noticed he didn’t want anything from me,” Gomez said. The influencer space she occupied often felt transactional. “He just wanted to talk and to just be there.”
It especially meant a lot to her because she was struggling with social media attention, the swaying levels of love and hate and the life that at times felt very abnormal. “And I was in this season where I just kind of was trying to separate my identity from social media and just really figure out who I was as a person,” Gomez said. It was a journey, but from the start, “Cole had a lot to do with that finding identity.”
Gomez drove to Anaheim every day for the next week to keep him company while he was recovering. Unable to do much while he recovered, they watched a lot of movies, including one of her favorites, “Catch Me If You Can,” and his, “Stand By Me.”
For their first proper date, about a week later, they went to Laguna Beach, watched the sunset, and walked to dinner at Gu Ramen. Gomez, who suggested the ramen spot, paid for the first date.
“He was working a minimum wage job,” Gomez said. “And I was doing brand deals with Maybelline. We were not on the same playing field at all.”
She was used to going to fancy dinners, but she knew they were young, and her path was nontraditional. Hosman, who was 20 at the time, worked at a grocery store while balancing his skateboarding career. “He didn’t have the funds to be paying for big dinners,” she said. “That was never something I cared about. I want to go to dinner with you and treat you, and he’s showing up for me in other ways.” She trusted that he would figure it out and become financially stable.
“Four years now down the line, Cole is providing for me in every way,” Gomez said.
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In June 2022, Hosman asked her to be his girlfriend. She moved with her family to San Diego shortly afterward, and he made the drive from Anaheim — about 1.5 hours — every weekend when he was off from work to see her. They spent a lot of time on the beach, and he was quickly enmeshed with her family. They did weekly family dinners, and Hosman always helped Gomez and her family with her brands, Sienna Swim and Routine the Brand.
“He just kind of became part of the family,” she said. She later met his family in Chicago that October on his birthday. The couple now split their time between San Diego and Honolulu, where Gomez’s brother and his wife live.
From the beginning, Hosman knew she was the one. But, Gomez said, “I also still felt young. I mean, I was young.” She wanted to wait until she was 21 before a proposal ever came into the picture.
And on his end, he wanted to make sure he straightened out his career before marriage. “I was just so lost, trying everything, working random jobs,” said Hosman. In the past two years, he’s built confidence and found a new path — with her encouragement. He has a Christian hat brand called Present Headwear. He is still a skateboarder who makes athletic fitness content: surfing, skating, running and weight lifting. And he is an online fitness coach.
“She helped me turn my social media more into a business,” he said.
In August 2025, Hosman proposed when her parents were visiting Honolulu from San Diego. He left a note for Gomez by their bed: “Meet me at Kahana Bay at 8:15.” That morning, her brother brought her to the beach, and there Hosman was standing with her family behind him.
Gomez said she still feels young, but said they both grew up fast and had “an upbringing that forced us to be a little more mature.”
Since she moved to Los Angeles at 17, Gomez was the youngest in her social circles. She ran two businesses and was always on set, filming, collaborating with other creators and networking.
Hosman dropped out of high school at 16 to pursue skateboarding full time and travel for contests. (He eventually graduated high school online.) At 19, he moved to California alone. “I feel like I was always kind of an independent person,” he said. “I didn’t really rely on my parents for much. I wanted to do it on my own.”
On July 22, the couple wed at Paliku Gardens at Kualoa Ranch in Kaneohe, Hawaii. Jeff Moors, the lead pastor at Rhythm Church in Oceanside, Calif., officiated in front of about 80 guests.
All four parents gave emotional speeches, and the groom’s older sister and the bride’s older brother gave speeches that “were just roasts,” Gomez’s mother, Dina, said. “That was really cute because it just shows the personality of both of our families.”
Afterward, the bride’s friend, Jay Schell, gave a surprise performance of Abba’s “Slipping Through My Fingers” with his guitar. As he sang, Gomez’s mother brought her onto the dance floor. “Then all of the moms and the daughters came up on the floor, and held hands and sang,” her mother said.
Then, the dance floor erupted with Bad Bunny, throwbacks from Usher and Ne-Yo, and plenty of Michael Jackson.
“I’ve been waiting for this forever,” Hosman said.
On This Day
When July 22, 2026
Where Paliku Gardens at Kualoa Ranch in Kaneohe, Hawaii
First Dance After the ceremony, the Gen Z couple danced to “Confirmation” by Justin Bieber for their first dance. The mother-son dance was to “Thought You Should Know” by Morgan Wallen. (“Cole loves country music,” Gomez said.)
Then, Gomez and her father shared a slow dance to “My Little Girl” by Jack Johnson. To the guests’ surprise, the dance transitioned into a medley of upbeat songs, including “Hypnotized” by the Notorious B.I.G., “Baile Inolvidable” by Bad Bunny and “Blow the Whistle” by Too Short. The routine was choreographed by the bride and her sister.
Ti Leaf Lei During the reception, Hosman wore a traditional Hawaiian garland made from the vibrant green leaves of the ti plant. It is known for symbolizing good luck and protection. At the rehearsal dinner, Gomez wore a shawl made of baby’s breath, which was handmade by a friend, Ivana Burbage.
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