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Ari Gilliam

and

Jack Needles

June 13, 2026

Winston-Salem, NC

How We Met

The Famous Marathon Date

We like to say we met the old-fashioned way—on Hinge. After a short flurry of messages (and one questionable accidental text from Jack —ask us about it over a glass of wine), we decided to meet in person. We brought one bottle of wine, thinking we’d hang out for maybe an hour. But one bottle turned into two, the sun began to set, and we were still deep in conversation, laughing, people-watching, and trying to pretend we weren’t already completely smitten. Eventually, we made our way across the street to let Louie out for a walk, and he quickly gave Jack his stamp of approval. That was the night we discovered we both have an unreasonably deep love for Les Misérables and somehow ended up singing show tunes in the living room for hours while Louie looked on, mildly concerned. Neither of us said anything, but we both quietly canceled the other dates we had planned that week. And that was that. We’ve been choosing each other ever since.