We're getting married!

Lillie and Ari went to high school together where Ari was completely oblivious to Lillie's existence. Lillie knew exactly who Ari was, but thought he was weird and had no interest in interacting with him. In fact, she made fun of her friend once for having a crush on him. Ten years later, Lillie received the longest instagram message she has ever read from Ari, asking her to go out with him. He had spotted her on her work's social media, thought she had a cool job and was cute, so tracked her down and slid into her DMs. Like a creep. He'd never done this before. She didn't really want to go out with him, but agreed anyway entirely out of pity. After their first date at The Porter, Lillie begrudgingly admitted that they had a lot in common and suggested they go out again. On their third date at Fernbank, Ari embarrassed Lillie by continually reciting each geologic period in chronological order, but also impressed her big time by correctly identifying a Green-winged Teal in the exhibit (it's a fancy duck). Months later when Lillie called Ari to share an interesting fact about snail reproduction she had learned, Ari immediately one-upped her with an even weirder fact about slug reproduction and she knew he was The One!

In December 2020, Lillie and Ari went on a four day wilderness canoe trip in Everglades National Park. They drove all their camping gear down to south Florida, rented a canoe, and embarked on their adventure with binoculars at the ready. They paddled during the day and camped at night in one of America's most beautiful places, watching herons, ibises, and spoonbills fly overhead all day. It was truly paradise. As they paddled their canoe together, they were reminded just how great a team they were. On their last night, they camped on Rabbit Key, a sandy island they had all to themselves. Ari asked Lillie if she wanted to watch the sunset, and it was then that Lillie discovered he had brought a ring on a canoe trip...in the Everglades...really?! Needless to say, Lillie could not have been more surprised, and Ari had to ask her to marry him twice before she finally understood what was happening and said "yes" :)