A little over three years ago, I started Taylor Takes A Taste. It was January of 2010. I had moved back to Charlotte after almost 6 years in Wisconsin and California and was trying to figure out where to take my business. I knew that I wanted to be a photographer, but after a few months of trying to make it as a wedding photographer, I realized that shooting weddings was not for me. Food was what I loved. So what did I do? I started a blog. Taylor Takes A Taste was originally started as an outlet to practice food photography. Over the last 3 years it has turned into much more than that.

If you told me that today, I would be working with my Mom, as recipe developer on the site and on my cook book, I don’t think I would have believed it. The most amazing thing that has happened through the site has been indirectly meeting my wife, Sara. She isn’t my wife yet, but after tomorrow she will be! So I am going to go ahead and start calling her that.

So how does Taylor Takes A Taste lead to finding the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with? Well, I can thank online dating for that. Sara and I met through EHarmony. In the fall of 2010, I had done some work with Sara’s former company. For a few months I worked with one of Sara’s co-workers on some tailgating content from the first Tailgate Tour. He knew that Sara liked to bake, so he told her about Taylor Takes A Taste. Sara started reading and following the site. At the time we both had no idea that I had been at her office every week for almost 3 months.

In very early 2011, we were matched on EHarmony. On EHarmony, you start with a series of controlled multiple choice questions followed by giving a list of can’t stands and must haves. This then moves into guided communication where you are given a few questions that you can type in responses to. I don’t remember what questions I asked Sara, but I do remember her response. It had nothing to do with the question. She asked “Are you Taylor from Taylor Takes A Taste?” Apparently I am the only food photographer named Taylor living in Charlotte. Upon meeting on our first date, I came to find out how Sara had been following my blog for a few months and could see that I wasn’t crazy. She tried getting more information from her co-worker about me and came to the conclusion that I must not be that bad of a guy. So I like to think that Taylor Takes A Taste played a role in us meeting.

Sara and I had been dating for a few months, and it was time for me to meet her family. At the time, I didn’t know and I don’t think Sara did either, but her mom and sisters had found Taylor Takes A Taste. When Sara told her mom that she was dating a guy named Taylor who had a food blog, her oldest sister did some investigating. Again, there aren’t many male food bloggers in Charlotte names Taylor. During a weekend in trip to their house in the town we are getting married, her mom and sisters made this Double Chocolate Pie.

Like me, Sara is a fan of food. Her favorite foods involve bread, pasta, and cheese. So naturally when Sally developed this Red White & Blue Macaroni and Cheese for Taylor Takes a Taste, this became one of Sara’s favorite recipes. Click on the picture for the recipe.

Sara also likes cake. Her favorite cake is from a bakery in her home town. Sara and I have this running joke that if I was ever going to break up with her I would have to do it with a break-up cake. You know, a cake with something like “Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, I am sorry but I am just not that into you.” The cake could be eaten as a way for her to get over me breaking up with her. When it came time for me to propose, I knew there was only one thing I could do: say it with cake. So, I decided to give Sara an engagement cake! Without Sara knowing I called the bakery, had the cake made, and drove 8 hours round trip to her home town and back. What happened next is a lot easier to show you than explain…

So your next question may be, is that same bakery doing the cake for our wedding tomorrow? Yes they are!

3 years from now, I have no idea what other opportunities Taylor Takes A Taste will bring me, but whatever they are, I know that Sara will be along with me for the journey! I will have a few posts sporadically scheduled over the next few weeks, but during that time I am going to be taking a vacation and spending time with my new wife!