We're So excited to celebrate with you!

Lorraine & Luke met in undergrad at the University of Missouri (M.I.Z!) back in 2011. When they first met after a night out with some mutual friends, Lorraine wasn't exactly a fan and actually dating someone else. That all changed when a friend convinced Lorraine to let Luke play as a sub for her soccer team. Lorraine was impressed by his soccer skills and struck by his perfect smile. After a few games, they began to hang out with groups of friends and consistently saw each other around campus, but Lorraine refused to go on an actual date. Graduation came, and the two drifted apart and just lost touch (or so they thought...) After graduating, Luke moved out to Utah to get his Ph.D. in Bioengineering and Lorraine started building her career in event planning back in St. Louis. It wasn't until a year or so later that Luke reached out saying he missed her and wanted to "catch up". They started casually talking again and things just clicked. So, Luke decided to take a chance and flew out to St. Louis to be her date at a friend's wedding in February of 2014. It was then that Luke knew he was falling for her, but living halfway across the country he was nervous about long distance. Luckily, Lorraine was already looking to make a move and applying for jobs out West, so she agreed to extend her search to Utah. She flew out for several interviews and fell in love with more than just the mountains (*wink wink*). A few months later she made the move to Salt Lake, they officially start dating, and the adventures began... From early mornings on the slopes, hikes with Meeko (Lorraine's Border Collie and other love of her life), camping trips, checking national parks off their bucket list, trips abroad, and of course crushing the Halloween costume game - the two began establishing their life in Utah together. In 2018 Luke got his PhD and officially became Dr. Lucas Bennink. He then secretly began saving and shopping for a ring...

After almost 7 years together Luke finally had the ring and a plan to lock it down! He decided to schedule a surprise weekend getaway at Capitol Reef National Park. They had visited the park earlier in the spring on an impromptu weekend road trip and had been itching to get back and check off a bucket list hike. Since Lorraine's birthday was coming up Luke thought he had the perfect cover-up... but she wasn't totally fooled and knew something was afoot. Yet, Luke did have a few things up his sleeve and surprised her with a stay in a beautiful Tee-Pee just outside the park. After a day of adventuring around the park and jumping down waterfalls in Sulfur Creek, they cleaned up for a picnic at sunset point before dinner. Once they were settled in on a cliff overlooking the vista, Luke got down on one knee and asked her to be his lifelong adventure buddy... and so here we are!