BRIDAL SHOWCASE: A fateful dance leads to lasting romance for Megan and Tyler Breckenkamp

“It was almost like a throwaway comment,” Tyler said. “They just said that Megan and one of her friends wanted to dance. So I grabbed a friend and went over and we started to dance.” 

Megan said she was nervous during the 3 minutes and 23 seconds of “Thanks for the Memories” song by Fall Out Boy. 

“That dance was important, because I don’t think he would have ever really known that I was interested in him,” said Megan, who married Tyler in a July 10, 2021,  ceremony at Our Lady of Lourdes in Washington. The pair of Washington natives now live in Knoxville, Tennessee, where they are pursuing careers in medicine. Tyler, who graduated from St. Louis University’s School of Medicine in May, is completing his residency to become an anesthesiologist, while Megan graduated in May as a physician assistant and will work with a neurosurgeon at the University of Tennessee’s hospital. 

Megan said any chance of talking to Tyler that fateful night was overshadowed by the blare of the music. So, instead, the pair danced and when the final stanza of music ended, they, along with the other dance-goers, exited the building and began to head for home. Megan nervously gave him a hug in the parking lot and watched him walk away. 

Little did Megan know that Tyler was already asking around, trying to track down a cellphone number for the girl whom he had first gotten to know in pre-calculus. 

“We kind of started texting and as we texted more, we talked more in class and then that just kind of led up to us going out two weeks later,” said Tyler, who is the son of Scott and Julie Breckenkamp, of Washington. “Without that homecoming dance, I don’t know if we would have actually been together today.” 

After Tyler graduated from Borgia in 2014, the couple adjusted to a long-distance relationship as Tyler’s post-secondary studies took him to Drury University in Springfield, Missouri, where he studied biochemistry. Megan, who is the daughter of Mark and Lisa Noelke, followed the following year, graduating from Borgia in 2015 and enrolling at Missouri State University in Springfield. While at MSU, she studied cell and molecular biology. 

Tyler said he knew early on that Megan was important to him. 

“Honestly that feeling hit me pretty early on,” Tyler said. “I just started to realize that I didn’t want this to stop, that I didn’t want the relationship to end. I wanted to have her in my life.” 

Armed with a ring from Altemueller Jewelry, surrounded by a mix of roses and other flowers, Tyler proposed to Megan in August 2019 at his then-apartment in St. Louis. Megan’s father is the co-owner of Altemueller Jewelry along with his brother, Carl. 

After a planned two-year engagement, the two tied the knot in July 2021. The Breckenkamps said they will forever remember their wedding day. 

“We did a ‘first look’ before the ceremony. I distinctly remember when she tapped me on the shoulder,” Tyler said. “I turned around — and honestly — my brain went blank. I just stood there in awe of her, of how beautiful she looked and realizing how incredibly lucky I was to be able to marry her that day.”

Megan said she is forever grateful to that friend who relayed her desire to dance to Tyler, but she is also grateful that the teenage version of herself worked up the courage to mention it. 

“It was definitely scary, but sometimes you have to make the first step,” Megan said. “It worked out for me, obviously.” 

“It worked out for both of us,” Tyler said.

The Wedding In Detail

On a day that was only slightly marred by a rainstorm, Megan and Tyler Breckenkamp exchanged their wedding vows before friends and family in a ceremony conducted by Rev. Mike Boehm. 

The bride wore a trumpet-style wedding gown with lace overlay and veil from Washington’s Wedding Creations. 

The bride carried a bouquet of brightly colored pink flowers, including partially opened peonies and garden roses and was escorted down the aisle by her father. The floral arrangements were designed by Four Seasons Florist of Washington. 

Preceding her walk down the aisle were five bridesmaids, dressed in blush floor-length dresses, carrying bouquets of similar flowers. Escorting the bridesmaids were five groomsmen, each attired in a classic-styled black tuxedo. 

Following the ceremony, the newlyweds joined their bridal party and other guests for a catered reception at Sunset Bluffs in Washington. Among the highlights at the reception was the three-tiered vanilla and chocolate cake covered by a buttercream frosting. The couple’s first dance was to one of their favorite songs, James Arthur’s “Say You Won’t Let Go.”

The reception ended with a fireworks display.