Jovon and Jose Tyler Begin Married Life With New Year’s Eve Wedding

Neither Jovon nor Jose Tyler planned to meet the love of their life at JR’s Bar & Grill. In fact, neither of them even drink.

“It was just by happenstance we met at JR’s,” Jovon recalls. “I was walking in and he was walking out, and he basically reached out. It was quite a magical moment.”

“What got my attention the first time I saw him was his looks,” remembers Jose. “That’s what made me stop and want to get to know him.”

Jovon laughs at the symmetry. “You know, I just thought he was incredibly captivating, terribly gorgeous, and unmistakably beautiful. I just had to figure out who this guy was.”

At the time, though, Jovon wasn’t looking for forever. “I was beyond reluctant to go on any dates,” he says candidly. “It had been my dream to be a husband and a father, and that dream had failed.”

Jose, steady and intentional, asked for more than casual conversation. Their first official date was at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

“It was very good,” Jose says. “I told him that I wanted to go on a date because I wanted to get to know him more. We had good conversation, and I realized that he was good company. It was what made me want more of him.”

That day in December 2024 marked the beginning of something that quickly deepened, especially once family entered the picture.

“My family embraced Jose, and they basically said, ‘He’s the one, and we’re not accepting anybody else,’” Jovon explains.

For Jose, certainty arrived during a San Antonio trip. “After I met Jovon’s parents, he met my mom,” Jose reveals. “That’s when I first said ‘I love you.’ That’s when I knew that’s what I wanted.”

They describe their connection as feeling ‘mirrored.’ “Our lives often find ways to mirror each other,” Jose says. “We even have the same scars.”

“Jose is definitely my destiny,” Jovon adds.

Still, destiny came with a bit of persistence. Jovon proposed not once, but three times.

“Yes. Yes. Yes. It was never quite good enough,” Jovon says of his own high standards. The first proposal, in his mother’s backyard, went partially unrecorded due to a phone mishap. The second took place at a restaurant on Valentine’s night. Then, after learning Jose was sensitive to titanium and securing a different ring, Jovon decided to elevate the moment a third time.

“When the ring finally arrived and it had been sized and everything, I had to do yet another proposal—which was also a bit of a striptease,” Jovon admits.

Jose said yes each time, though he admits he preferred the intimacy of the final one. “I liked the last one better, since it was just me and him.”

Marriage had once been off the table for Jovon. “I was never marrying again. The answer was No. However, I discovered I would say Yes to him,” admits Jovon. Even children, once a firm No, became possible within the context of their love. “If it involves him, and I’m married to him, then I think the answer could then become Yes.”

They were determined to wed in 2025. “It was really important for us to get married in 2025, for no reason other than I thought that was a magic year for us,” says Jovon.

After navigating holiday scheduling conflicts with siblings, they landed on a New Year’s Eve wedding. The reception was held the night before at the Heights Firehouse, and the ceremony was the following day in Jovon’s mother’s backyard. The two-day format confused some guests, but for the couple, it worked.

The reception was jubilant and culturally layered. “For the reception, we brought in mariachis, and we had a soul-train line at the end of the evening because we had a DJ. It was just a fun night,” Jovon says.

The following day felt more intimate—and more emotional.

“I will say it was an overwhelmingly emotional experience because, you know, I’m Black, and Jose is Latino,” Jovon explains. “I just thought, ‘I’m not marrying Jose ever again, most likely, so let’s go ahead and have this wedding now the way that we want it.’”

Rather than a traditional wedding party of adults, they chose the children in their lives—about 10 in total—to stand beside them.

“They were representative of a new beginning. Similar to how you always see the baby whenever it’s New Year’s Eve. It’s ‘out with the old, and in with the new.’ And that was rejuvenating, frankly,” Jovon notes.

Their officiant was City Controller Chris Hollins. “We could not have picked a better wedding officiant than Chris,” Jovon says, noting that Hollins incorporated insights from the couple’s premarital counseling into the ceremony.

Then there was Jose’s attire, which was custom-created by Casa Royal Boutique at Plaza Américas.

“It’s the Charro attire—traje de charro,” Jose explains. “It was blue with gold detailings all around it. I wore a cape and a sombrero, and I had a big bow tie with our initials: J and J.”

“What Jose wore was breathtaking,” Jovon gushes. “It took my entire breath away, and I wept. I just thought, ‘What a beautiful day.’”

For Jose, one moment stands out most. “Right after the ceremony, when everyone was still outside and they were clapping, he and I got to go inside. Just us, alone. That’s when I realized: wow, we are actually married now!”

Music underscored every part of the weekend. A live vocalist performed Melissa Manchester’s iconic power ballad “Through the Eyes of Love” for the processional, “Landslide” as Jose walked with his mother, “Blue Skies” in the style of Ella Fitzgerald for the recessional, and Nat King Cole’s “L-O-V-E” for their first dance. “It was the music,” Jovon says simply, recalling his favorite parts of their wedding.

Behind the scenes, a strong village of talented vendors made the celebration seamless. Dwayne Ross, of the Heights Firehouse, served as planner. “The reception and the wedding went off without a hitch, and I am forever grateful to Dwayne,” Jovon says.

Florals were handled by Flowers by Georgia in Montrose, with assistance from Erik Olivarez. Photography was led by Dalton DeHart and Anne Marie D’Arcy, with additional coverage and photo-booth services by Elyzse Ramis and Petal of Light. Two cakes—Berry Chantilly and Chocolate Eruption, came from Whole Foods. Catering was a family effort.

In the end, the Tylers didn’t just celebrate their wedding, they marked a new threshold.

“It was good that it was at the end of the year, and that we started off 2026 as newlyweds,” Jose says.