Our Story
How We Met
Lilli: We met in the spring of 2005 at Oberlin College. Cary was my house-mate Julie Medalie's boss. We met a few times during the semester but didn't really hang out until just before graduation. I was captivated by Cary's deep, warm laugh so I told Julie, who relayed the message to him as, "She thinks you've got a sexy voice." Cary said something crass and manly like "she's hot," and the message was relayed "Cary thinks you're the most beautiful thing God has ever created." As soon as we started talking and spending time together, I knew that Cary would be around for a loooong time. I just had a feeling :)
Cary: As soon as Lilli and I started spending some time together, I completely fell head over heels. She was artistic, she was insightful, she was beautiful, and I was helpless. To make matters more desperate, we both knew that time wasn't on our side; Lilli was planning to move to Phoenix, and I to New York. We made up for what we thought was destined to be a long-distance relationship by emailing many intricate love letters to each other and sending hundreds of flirty text messages. While visiting my good friend Ed and Lilli's good friend Ariana in New York City, I sought their advice. To my astonishment, neither of our trusted friends thought that I was completely deranged for wanting to run after Lilli to Arizona! So I drove 2,028 miles to Phoenix. I'm glad I did.How We Got Engaged
Lilli: I was totally in the dark leading up to May 23rd, 2009 when we stopped for a weekend at my parents' in Philadelphia, en route to Montreal. Cary got down on one knee and started revealing all his secrets and proposed on a walk down Boathouse Row. I said "Yes, of course."
Cary: All of the secrets and lies started eight months prior to the proposal. One thing you may already know about me is how I cannot keep a straight face while keeping a secret.
Here's the laundry list of secrets that I had to keep a straight face for:
- spend two months searching for the perfect ring;
- lie to Lilli that I was visiting friends in NYC, and fly out to Philly instead to talk with her mom and dad;
- sneak through her address book, Facebook, and cell phone to gather her friends' contact info;
- email and phone 36 of her friends and family to coordinate a surprise engagement party;
- purchase "The Producers" tickets as a decoy for our "romantic night out" in Philly; and
- pretend that we were simply stopping in Philly for one night to drop off our dog before driving to Montreal.
Lilli: After the initial la-la land moments of our engagement, Cary said we had to stop home to show my parents before we went out to dinner. At this point, I was worried that we were going to be late for said-reservations, but I just went with it. As we pulled up to my parents' house, I recognized a few extra cars out front. But imagine my surprise when we walked in to the backyard to see friends and family from all walks of life waiting for us, all smiles. I can't believe everyone kept quiet for so long and Cary planned such an event! It was an amazing way to celebrate :)