In the relationship of former Miss Texas USA Taylor Kessler and gummy-candy entrepreneur Maxx Chewning, three isn’t a crowd. Kessler, Chewning, and Chewning’s vlog camera have been happily together since the couple met, in 2021. A combined social media audience of close to one million followers watched their love story unfold, witnessing date nights, family introductions, and even Chewning’s proposal, documented in a YouTube video titled “So Yeah, We Got Engaged.” The couple swears that content doesn’t rule their lives, though the word “sponsorships” was uttered during their vows.
The Insta-ready couple wed on a Saturday in late October at Houston’s Briscoe Manor, a short drive away from where Kessler grew up. Their 150 guests (with an alleged combined following of 26 million) comprised a who’s who of internet personalities, including family vloggers Brad and Aubrie Bromlow; Christian Guzman, owner of Houston mega gym Alphaland; fitness influencer Heidi Somers; pageant hairstylist Eric Vaughn; and more. A candy bar stocked with Chewning’s brand, Sour Strips, was a feature at the reception, and many of the guests took the opportunity to dunk the gummies into their frozen margaritas, which were offered in strawberry, mango, and Chewning’s hybrid flavor, strawbango.
Chewning and Kessler met nearly three years ago at, perhaps fittingly, a fellow influencer’s Halloween party. “Taylor was wearing this adorable little Playboy bunny outfit, and she had her little ears kind of bent in a certain way,” Chewning tells me. He decided to tease her about it: “I could tell, just because I’m a fashionista, that her ears were not properly adjusted.” They went on their first date a few days later. “She was authentically just a sweet Southern, Texas girl that has a lot of love in her heart,” he said.
The bride knew that Chewning was the one almost right away. “A couple of months after we had gone on our first date, I got very sick. He was like, ‘What can I do for you? Can I get you medicine? Can I get you soup? Can I get you all these things?’ ” she recalled. “He was ready to take action and take care of me, and I’ve always been that partner in the relationship.”
Chewning moved to Sugar Land, just south of Houston, in December 2018. Originally from Virginia, he had built a following as a fitness YouTuber and decided to move closer to fellow gym influencers he had met in Texas. For years, Chewning chronicled his entrepreneurial ventures online. He struck gold with Sour Strips; the Houston-based brand crossed the milestone of selling 25 million bags of mouth-puckering gummies last year. Around the time Chewning became a Texan, Kessler was serving her first term as Miss Texas USA. She’s been on the pageant circuit since she was seventeen and now works in social media, managing both her own brand and that of a Houston jewelry store.
“Being from Texas and being Miss Texas, it’s a big part of who I am and my story,” Kessler said. “At the end of the day, I wanted [the wedding] to [represent] who we are. There’s not a lot of fluff.”
The couple held their afternoon wedding ceremony outdoors—a risk in Texas, even in October—but the weather was a comfortable 80 degrees with a picture-perfect breeze. The guests, all clad in black, as mandated by the bride and groom, sat in chairs arranged in two crescents surrounding the altar. The wedding party trailed down the winding sidewalk to the altar, each couple looking more Greek godlike than the last, to piped-in orchestral versions of Taylor Swift love songs. “My palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy,” Kessler began her vows, nodding to her groom’s love of Eminem. (You won’t have seen that bit on any guest’s Instagram stories, as the couple had a no-phones policy during the ceremony.)
At the cocktail hour in the venue’s turf-covered courtyard, guests were greeted with a champagne wall, the flutes doubling as place cards. They could order Taylor-tinis (espresso martinis) or Maxxaritas (margaritas) at the bar, while servers circled the grounds with platters of Asian meatballs, as well as grilled cheese and tomato soup shots. In addition to the Sour Strips, the couple served Chick-fil-A chocolate chip cookies and macarons printed with the face of Dood, their goldendoodle.
The bride wore a total of four dresses throughout the evening: a ball gown for the ceremony, a glittered pantsuit for part of the reception, a bedazzled mini dress for the dance floor, and a hooded pantsuit for her farewells.
At the reception, Janice Kessler, who one guest described to me as a Kris Jenner type, surprised her daughter with a gift: a live painting of the festivities by Houston artist Michelle Collins. For the duration of the party, Collins worked on her canvas, making sure to add Dood—in great detail—next to the couple. Under the elaborately draped ceiling and twinkling chandeliers, Kessler and Chewning danced with their parents, the groom waltzing with his mother to Sammy Davis Jr.’s “The Candy Man.”
At 11:30 the social media moguls (and Dood) left for their afterparty at Alphaland in a white Jeep; Ghost energy drink cans attached by string rattled behind them. Waiting for them at the 30,000-square-foot gym bedecked with black-and-white balloons were a few dozen friends and a feast of beef tacos, with all the dressings made by Alphaland owner Guzman’s mother. There, Chewning had one final surprise for his wife: a five-minute fireworks show. The evening was dipped in a dream, as Willy Wonka might say. But don’t just take my word for it—it was all filmed for the vlog.
