Country Roads Take Me Home

How one couple’s love story overcame a few unexpected hiccups.

Carissa Michelle Elkins & Mason Robert Tyler
Hico | 5.22.21

Photographed by ThE Oberports

Written by Taylor Maple

When Mason Tyler visited a South Dakota hospital to interview for a medical residency in 2018, he didn’t expect to find more than a potential career move. But as he toured the facility, he came across something much more. He said a brief “hello” to Carissa Elkins, working as a resident at the hospital at the time, as he passed by. It was a small interaction, but it had a lasting impact on Mason. “I was like, ‘Well, I could definitely come to this spot if she’s here,’” he remembers years later.

The interaction that day was so small, Mason jokes, that it didn’t even register with Carissa, who clocks them as officially meeting six months later. “She obviously did not care at all,” he teases. Carissa first remembers meeting Mason when she sat next to him at his welcome luncheon after he’d accepted the residency position. They got along well, but were both extremely busy in their residencies. Yet, over the months, colleagues and friends who spent time with the two of them sensed that they were destined to be more than friends. “Anytime we worked together, everyone always asked me, ‘What’s going on with you and Dr. Tyler?’” Carissa says. “I feel like there was a palpable chemistry there that other people picked up on.”

She Said Yes

After about a year and a half, the couple was ready to take the next steps, and Mason took care to hatch the perfect plan. He would take Carissa to one of their favorite hiking spots. He arranged to fly her parents out from West Virginia and have friends come along to watch. He was ready. But then, COVID-19 threw a wrench into the plan.

The sudden onset of the pandemic resulted in cancelled flights and myriad other problems Mason had to deal with at the very last minute. To top it off, the trail where he wanted to propose was packed with snow on this particular day, making the picturesque set-up he’d envisioned more difficult to arrange. And, although his Plan B was to FaceTime Carissa’s family during the proposal, he found that there was no cell phone service to be found. In the end, Mason pulled it off with the help of a photographer, plus a friend who delivered Carissa a letter from Mason and helped her get where she needed to go on that snow-packed trail. She said yes, and in that moment, nothing else really mattered.

The Big Day

Mason and Carissa’s wedding wasn’t one single event—it was a weekend full of celebration. In addition to all you’d expect from a wedding, the festivities included a post-rehearsal dinner pool party, a whitewater rafting excursion, and games like cornhole. “I’m very proud to be from West Virginia,” Carissa says, noting that people were flying into the state from all over the country for their nuptials. “I wanted to show all these fantastic people who live in beautiful places what West Virginia really had to offer.”

Like their engagement, the wedding day had its share of hiccups. Mason and his groomsmen were tasked with hanging delicate paper cranes throughout the ceremony space—something they thought would take 30 minutes but ultimately required hours of work, putting them behind schedule. And if that weren’t stressful enough, one of the groomsmen’s garment bags was missing his jacket, throwing off the group’s cohesive look. After a frantic search among guests for a spare navy jacket and, ultimately, a three-hour round-trip to a shop that had one in stock, Mason was ready for a breather. “I had no idea,” laughs Carissa, who was getting ready for her bridesmaids during all this time. “I appreciate that they sheltered me from all of this.”

But as always, once the focus returned to the two of them, all was well. In front of their family and friends, Mason and Carissa exchanged both traditional vows and personal ones. They also performed a foot-washing ceremony to symbolize how they wanted to start their lives together. “In the Bible, it talks about how Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, and it’s a very humbling experience,” Carissa says. “So we wanted to emulate that and start our marriage off with that servitude toward each other.”

A “mocktail hour” followed, with drinks like the Pikes Peak Peach Bellini to pay tribute to Mason’s Colorado hometown and the Mountain Mama Blackberry Spritzer, a nod to Carissa’s beloved West Virginia. As the newlyweds prepared for their grand exit, another happy accident created one of the most magical moments of all. After closing the reception with “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” their getaway car was nowhere to be found. “We’re standing in the middle of all these people holding sparklers, all our friends and family, and the song ends, and our car’s still not quite there,” Carissa says. “So then everyone just starts singing the song again, a cappella this time. That was probably one of my favorite parts—obviously that song means a lot to me, and it was the biggest day of my life with the person I love most.”