A 10th Reunion Love Story

On November 26, 2024, Tyler Goddard ’12 got down on one knee in the middle of the Assembly Hall stage and proposed to his girlfriend of two and a half years, Lanna Wang ’12. She happily accepted. The proposal was a surprise, carefully planned by Tyler to lead Lanna to this symbolic spot without raising her suspicions.

His mother, Science Instructor Sydnee Goddard, joined them for a “routine stroll” across campus while they were in town for Thanksgiving weekend. Although Tyler and Lanna had never met while they attended Exeter, he says he chose the stage because Assembly Hall is the one place they surely had been together — two mornings a week, for four years.

Shortly after the engagement, the old stage was dismantled to prepare for the renovation of the Academy Building. Sydnee salvaged a few boards, and she had a beautiful bench made from the wood as a wedding gift for her son and daughter-in-law.

Tyler was born in the town of Exeter and grew up in Wheelwright Hall. He and his sister, Brooke ’13, attended the school as day students. A Chicago native, Lanna lived in Browning House, next to Fisher Theater and the music building. “I didn’t venture outside my little triangle much,” she says, “except to go to Assembly Hall.” She directed student plays and sang with the concert choir and glee club. Meanwhile, Tyler was on the lacrosse team and spent his days across campus near the sports fields. Although Lanna took a science course with Sydnee, she and Tyler never crossed paths. The two met for the first time at their 10th reunion in 2022, in the upstairs room at the Sea Dog restaurant in downtown Exeter. Tyler had not attended their fifth reunion, and stopped by this time only because he happened to be in town. As Lanna remembers, she was sitting with some former day students who knew Tyler when he offered to take drink orders.

“Tyler paid for the drink, and I am very independent,” she says. “So I Venmoed him the amount back, then we just kept talking.” She was struck by how caring and considerate he was to everyone the whole weekend. “What a romantic story of Venmoing,” Tyler jokes. But they both knew something special was beginning. “The first thing we discovered,” Lanna says, “was that we both listen to the Harry Potter audiobooks.”

“Obsessively,” Tyler adds, “like on a terrifying level.” They also both love Legos. Lanna even stockpiles sets to save for future building. A week after the reunion, they had their first official date — at a wedding in New York for one of Lanna’s friends. Tyler was Lanna’s plus-one. At the time, she was living in Los Angeles, developing and producing indie films and documentaries, and Tyler was in Exeter, working primarily from home as a digital marketing consultant. They continued long-distance dating for nine months, then Tyler joined Lanna on the West Coast.

Together, they have traveled to Portugal, Brazil, French Polynesia and China, among other countries, always following Lanna’s carefully researched itineraries and always seeking top-rated dining. “We like to find restaurants that have things that nowhere else in the world has,” she says.

In late 2025, they relocated to Chicago to be near Lanna’s parents and her brother’s family. A wall at their new home is filled with framed menus from their most special dinners.

This May, Lanna and Tyler returned to Exeter for a weekend of wedding festivities, with the Academy at the heart of their plans. A Friday night rehearsal dinner was held downtown, followed by a welcome party. Saturday morning, Tyler led a tour of the campus for any interested guests.

Lanna’s attendants included Tyler’s sister as well as Chloe Walton ’12 and Harlin Lee ’12. Fletcher Williams ’12, a close friend who also headed the L.A. alumni chapter, officiated the ceremony, and numerous Exonians and instructors attended. The bridal processional was a Lord of the Rings medley specially arranged for a string quartet by a friend. At the reception, guests created their own Lego mini figures at a brick-building station. The dinner tables were named after buildings on the Exeter campus, and the menu featured the couple’s favorite dishes.

The speech Lanna’s father, Zhidong Wang, gave was perhaps the wedding’s most poignant moment. He spoke about arriving in America from Beijing in 1988 and working for six months at Hao Kang, a Chinese restaurant in Exeter. He said he often walked past the Academy, thinking those were the luckiest students in the world. When Lanna was accepted to Exeter 30 years later — without her knowing this story — her father said he considered it his “American dream coming true.”