Tori and Rick met in 2014 on Jekyll Island, Georgia. Rick was working at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center as an AmeriCorps research technician and Tori was a summer intern patrolling for nesting loggerhead sea turtles. Rick and Tori began dating that summer, and when Tori left the island to return to college, they decided to continue their relationship long-distance.

Over the next several years, Rick and Tori were states (or even oceans) apart. After graduating college, Tori found a job on Little St. Simons Island, where she and Rick were able to visit each other on the weekends. Even while in Georgia, Rick and Tori dealt with periods of being apart when Rick traveled back and forth to Athens for grad school and Tori worked throughout south Georgia.

After Rick finished graduate school in 2019, Tori and Rick moved to Fort Myers, Florida and began their full-time careers while finally living together in the same place! Rick started working for Lee County and Tori started working for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. They bought a house together and adopted a rescue rabbit, Morgan.

During a fall vacation back to Jekyll Island, Rick proposed to Tori. He popped the question on the same beach that they said goodbye to each other on, over nine years prior, and asked her to never be apart from him again. Even though Tori and Rick have been building a life together for nearly a decade, they are excited to take this next step in their lives and celebrate it with all their family and friends!