Vilija and Mark first met out and about in the city of Chicago right before the Holidays in 2017. During this time Vilija was approaching the end of graduate school for Speech Language Pathology, while Mark was living in Aurora and working as an engineer. They met through mutual friends (shoutout to Sidney -Vilija’s friend from grad school and Stevo- Mark's friend from Purdue University) Soon after that, the dates started….and never stopped.

After months of dating, Mark moved to Bucktown where the city of Chicago offered endless adventures. Life together was pretty seamless-where frequently their main obstacle together was “what’s on the menu tonight?”. Mark and Vilija shared many incredible experiences together such as skiing in Colorado or visiting wineries in California.

After 4 years of dating, Mark proposed to Vilija, where needless to say she said yes with a beautiful view of the city where their love had started, flourished and grown.