What's your love story? Kyler and Ari Martinez

Ari and I went to church together at the Heart Mountain Young Single Adult Ward of the LDS Church, aware of each other but not ever formally introduced. Despite this, I had a big crush on her, and I appointed a wingman who knew her to help me try to get a date with her. Marshall would later be ring bearer at Ari and my wedding. So, when we were at a ward activity in May of 2025, Marshall dragged my shy self over to her to have a conversation, where we talked about renaissance fairs and the like.

Marshall then randomly exclaimed, “Ari, I just realized, we’ve been friends for a while, and I still don’t have your Snapchat! Oh, and you should get Kyler’s Snapchat, too, since you’re friends now.” According to Ari, she didn’t realize that was a clever trick to get us to swap contact information.

Later at the activity, Marshall and I were hanging out by the root beer float station when Ari came up to us and asked, “Hey guys, how do I reject someone nicely?” Turns out, another guy had the same idea to ask her out that night, and she was not interested in the first person. This worried me, as I was offering ideas on how to reject a guy while trying to figure out how to save my chances to ask her out.

After giving the advice and once Marshall left to go home, Ari and I were still standing by the root beer floats when I pushed through my anxiety and asked, “So, I kind of feel bad because you already rejected someone else, but I was actually thinking about asking you out tonight, too.”

Much to my surprise, she said yes. We got sushi from Blair’s and ate it in the park, talking about our families and interests until it was time to go to Institute. Too focused on being relieved that the date went well, I didn’t ask her out on a second date. After our Institute class, though, she hunted me down like a leopard stalking her prey and asked me on the second date.

On September 24, I was ready to propose. Ari had told me a story of how her dad proposed to her mom with a rose, and they picked her ring out later together. I followed suit, though her ring was already purchased and was taking too long to arrive in the mail for my taste. So, with no patience left in me, we went stargazing in the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains, taking my mom’s convertible she had left with me. After a bit of taking in the view of the night sky, I told Ari I needed to go use the restroom and discreetly got the rose ready. I then walked back and told her a lie I knew would work.

“Ari, I found a frog back over there. Want to come see it?” She got out of the car and walked with me, looking for this non-existent frog. “You keep looking over there, I’ll check this way.” When she heard my boots shuffling in a way that sounded nothing like walking, she turned around and found me on one knee with a massive rose in my hand, and I proposed. The rest, despite our youth, is history.