Whitney and Aaron met in 2010 at the University of Central Florida through mutual friendships at River Park apartments and neighboring Blanchard Park. They frequently played volleyball and spent time at the pool as part of a large group of friends. Admittedly, Aaron had an immediate crush on Whitney. As Aaron remembers, one night he told Whitney, “If your out of town boyfriend ever messes up, I would love to take you on a date.” Whitney of course kindly smiled and laughed at the notion.* (*The veracity of this cinematic moment is obviously paraphrased and still hotly debated.) Flash forward to 2014, both were UCF Alumni and entering the workforce, but far from a couple. On a typical night out downtown, Aaron ran into Christine Robertson (formerly Cline; and Whitney's Dynamic Duo whom were rarely seen in public without the other). To his surprise, Christine told him Whitney was single! While slightly overeager and with comically poor timing, Aaron texted Whitney upon hearing the news. Soon after, Aaron began his 6-month courtship of Whitney. For nearly a year, as Aaron wanted their relationship to evolve, Whitney preferred to remain “friends” and even considered many of the “dates" he planned to be “just hanging out." Divine Intervention (in the form of Whitney's mother Roz) shared her wisdom on one of her trips up to Orlando that, “The basis of great partnerships is friendship." The beautiful and oh so wise Roz eventually encourage her daughter to give the kid from Umatilla a chance...

The couple’s relationship grew slowly, and they officially began dating shortly before Robin and Cesar Sagastume's wedding in November, 2015. It wasn't always easy, but within a year they moved in together. To ensure their new house was suitable, the entire, enthusiastic Kicklighter family–led by Aaron’s parents; a freshly retired Meegan (Go ‘Huskers!) and Wayne (God’s other carpenter) Kicklighter– rallied around the young couple to spend a week painting, doing repairs, and drastically improving the space, to make their house a home.  By Christmas of 2017, motivated by the urgings of literally EVERYONE who knew him; Aaron started to realize Whitney is the woman he was meant to marry. While on a holiday cruise, Aaron built up the nerve to ask Whitney's parents for her hand in marriage. After quick, fatherly approval from Roger DeGraff and a few questions from Roz, he began to plan the engagement.  In March of 2018, the couple was vacationing in Asheville, NC for a week. Due to the planned schedule of the friends accompanying them, Aaron had the engagement ring on-hand and was planning to romantically drop to a knee on the first day he and Whitney had the house to themselves. As Fate would have it, after an abnormally hot week, it began to snow heavily on one of their last mornings in Asheville. As Whitney danced around the front porch excitedly, Aaron seized the moment. With snow romantically falling around them and the majestic Blue Ridge mountains in the background, she said, “Yes!”