Lily's Version

We met our freshman year of college because Truett McConnell is a small campus and friend groups easily overlap, but we didn’t know each other. He had dated a couple of girls I knew and I had talked to a couple of guys but hadn’t really dated. He was a soccer player and in a friend group that - he later told me - referred to themselves as the “Bad Boys of Truett.” All I knew was that they were always causing trouble and I avoided trouble.

In December 2021, during our junior year, we were both invited to go on a mission trip to Kentucky during winter break. We talked the whole time, almost exclusively with each other. In the van on the way up, scraping floors together at a refugee apartment complex, during meals, in the van on the way home…I saw his heart for the Lord and his love of the Word and by the time we were back home, I knew I was beginning to like him in a way that might get my heart broken. We talked and texted over winter break so much that I knew I wanted to date him.

Soon after we got back to school in January, there was a confusing situation that could have ended our friendship. Instead, it became the catapult to our expressing our feelings for one another. The next day he was my plus-one at our mutual friends’ wedding. He took me on my first real date on January 22, 2022, and six days later he officially asked me to be his girlfriend.

On Saturday, November 4, 2023, he took me to an early dinner to celebrate my birthday. I was sure this was the day he would propose and the gift bag in his car confirmed that. Once settled into our seats at the restaurant, he set the bag down and said, “This is not a ring.” I opened the bag after dinner and he was right. He’d given me diamond earrings to throw me off. After dinner, his friend called him and invited us to watch him and his wife get their maternity pictures taken. We drove to Glenn’s Orchard to meet them, only their car wasn’t there when we arrived, so we decided to wait for them inside the tiny chapel. He opened the door, and the small chapel was flooded with flowers. As I walked up the aisle, the realization hit me that this was far too extravagant for maternity pictures. I turned to face him and found him smiling. With the help of our dearest friends and family, he’d surprised me with the most beautiful and meaningful proposal. Of course I said yes!

Seth's Version

The first time I met Lily was sometime during my freshman year of college and though it’s been some time since then, I can remember her like yesterday. Although we were never that close, I can recall how often I saw her laughing, and how contagious her joy was.

In December of 2021, I was invited to go on a mission trip to Kentucky, where, I would help local missionaries and learn about their experiences overseas. The day came to leave for Kentucky and I remember thinking that I did not know anyone else going on this trip. So when we loaded into the van I was happy to see someone I recognized, Lily. The duration of my time on the trip was spent wrapped up in Lily’s jokes and stories and we let our laughter do most of the talking. I quickly realized how lovely and wonderful I found her to be, she was all I thought about that entire ride home. As our friendship and relationship grew and I learned more about her throughout the following months, I remember sitting down one night with my two dear friends Blake and Kennah, and confessing to them that I believed she was the one.

Almost a year and a half later I wanted to propose. I needed to find a way to make it special without her catching on. The day I asked her to marry me, we went out to a nice restaurant where I bought her dinner and gifted her beautiful earrings. Although she was excited about the gift, I could tell she was slightly disappointed it was not a ring unknowing to her that this was the plan all along. I then took her to a beautiful chapel and with the help of her family, especially her sister Emily (thanks again Emily), I was able to create a beautiful scenery where I got down on one knee and asked Lily to marry me. (She said yes!!)