Loading
Loading
Loading
Loading
Loading
Loading
May 29, 2022
Columbus, OH
#WagnerDownTheAisle

Felicia & Kenny

    Home
    Schedule

Gold DropsGold DropsGold DropsGold Drops

Kenny Wagner

and

Felicia Lilien

#WagnerDownTheAisle

Columbus

OH

May 29

2022

How We Met

A tale of two cities...

It was the night of the first OSU game of the season - Kenny had just moved to Columbus a week prior and Felicia was moving to Cincinnati in a week. A mutual friend invited Kenny to an event at the Nefts' house where Felicia was a frequent guest. They ended up sitting next to each other to watch the game in the furnished basement their friends referred to as "The Cave". The two of them talked to each other for the entire evening. When it was time for them to part ways, they decided to ignore the spark as they were about to become "geographically unsuitable". Time passed and while they remained friends on social media, contact between them was infrequent for months and kept alive only by the occasional Facebook like or comment. One fateful evening in October 2018 while browsing through prospects on JSwipe (the Jewish version of Tinder), Felicia saw a familiar face and swiped right. Around the same time, Kenny was doing the same and each received a notification on their phone letting them know that they had matched! It was clear that the feelings they had for each other were mutual and they decided to pursue it further. In early November, Kenny invited Felicia to return to Columbus for an evening to grab a drink and spend some time together. They agreed to meet at The Bottle Shop, a local boutique cocktail bar, at Felicia's suggestion and it was as if no time had passed. They talked all night long and decided to do it again soon. Felicia was speaking at an event and they were going to have dinner after. When Felicia called to let him know she was on her way, he responded "Oh...shit...that was TONIGHT?" Not knowing his sense of humor well enough yet Felicia assumed he was joking...but he wasn't. He had accidentally scheduled himself to work (from home) that evening. Kenny convinced her to come over to his apartment and swore he'd make it up to her. He showed up to the door in his tuxedo and they ordered in Chinese - it wasn't what they planned but it worked out.

The Proposal

About a year after their second date Felicia moved back to Columbus and about a year after that they moved in together. They had talked about the prospect of marriage and Felicia picked out a ring. On January 31st, 2021, Kenny and Felicia met up with a mutual friend, Marissa. She planned to meet an online match in person for the first time that evening and wanted to meet up beforehand to loosen up and relax before the date. They had planned to meet at a bar called Hamptons on King...which happened to coincidentally be located across the street from The Bottle Shop where they had had their first date. When they arrived at Hamptons it was dead - they were the only ones there. When Marissa showed up she looked around and suggested we go somewhere else to which Felicia responded "How about Bottle Shop? It's right across the street!" Everything was going according to plan - Kenny knew Felicia would make that suggestion and she totally fell for it. They agreed to go across the street, grabbed a couple of carry-out drinks and sat on the patio. While the three of them were sitting at the table, Marissa received a mysterious phone call from her mom and had to step away. While she was gone, Kenny presented Felicia with a small book of ad libs called 50 Things I Love About You. He wrote something on each page detailing the ways that he loved her and when she got to the last page it said "I love you so much...I want to marry you!" At first, she didn't realize he was proposing. They had talked about marriage a lot so she assumed this was just a romantic gesture. He saw she wasn't quite getting it so he grabbed her hand and got down on one knee. At that point she had figured it out. Their friend and photographer Amy Tannenbaum then leapt out from behind a food truck and started snapping photos as she exclaimed "no no no, not now!" in disbelief. Eventually she got to "YES", they did a photo shoot, and when they got home friends and family were awaiting them inside to celebrate.

Footer image
For all the days along the way
About ZolaGuest FAQsOrder statussupport@zola.com1 (408) 657-ZOLA
Start your wedding website© 2025 Zola, Inc. All rights reserved. Accessibility / Privacy / Terms