Hilary and Andrew met in 2010 in Bloomington, Illinois. They were set up by Gosha, Andrew's Best Man and college roommate at UIUC. Fun fact: Andrew asked Hilary to her high school prom in French! See some of their Prom photos in the Gallery section :) For better or worse, they only dated for a few months; little did they know that the best was yet to come!

Fast forward 12 years... Hilary & Andrew remained friends on social media but hadn't been in contact. The two started talking again (nonstop, actually) doing video calls every night to catch up on each other's lives. On October 3rd they decided to just get on with it and became a couple! Over the next few years the pair did a LOT of traveling together—to New England, Colorado, several National Parks, visiting family in Ohio and Illinois and, of course, doing the whole long distance thing between Mountain View, CA and Lockport, IL. Like the saying goes—when you know, you know... and they knew. The distance was worth the effort!

Of all the places Hilary thought Andrew might propose, Yosemite National Park was near the bottom of the list. She had an inkling Andrew was going to pop the question during the summer of 2025 but didn't know exactly when or where. Being the type-A nurse that she is, she asked Andrew if he was going to propose somewhere they had been before, and he said yes. So, naturally, she made a list of potential proposal locations. One fateful weekend in July, Hilary flew into SFO. When Andrew picked her up, she nonchalantly asked if they needed to be anywhere early the next day (you know, to try to get some information.) Alas, he said they didn't. Confused, she dropped the subject. The next morning while having their habitual coffee Andrew confessed, "Ok so all we have to do today is drive to Yosemite." After the 4-hour drive—Andrew took her to Mirror Lake in Yosemite where he had said "I love you" for the first time a few years before. He politely accosted some English tourists to take some photos, took her by the hand, and dropped to one knee. We are so excited to embark on this journey together and are thrilled to be surrounded by our favorite people for our wedding! See you in California! Willow approves this message.