Their love story began in an unexpected, almost cinematic way.
In the summer of 2015, Maya Bradford, playing a cool goth, and Lily Marotta, portraying an over-the-top reality TV producer in a “crazy wig,” found themselves starring in a satirical video project. Despite their exaggerated on-screen personas, Maya was instantly captivated by Lily’s charismatic personality.
“Lily’s humor and infectious laugh were irresistible,” Maya recalls.
Lily, for his part, definitely noticed the “hot goth” across the set.
The sparks continued to fly on the car ride home from their Rockville Centre shoot. They bonded over a mutual appreciation for author Janet Evanovich and singer Miranda Lambert, soon realizing their lives were already intertwined through a shared creative community in Brooklyn.
Lily, 38, is a vibrant comedian and co-host of two popular podcasts: “Celebrity Book Club with Steven & Lily” (with Steven Phillips-Horst, who playfully describes him as the “nexus of mosh pits and martinis”) and “Tunnel Wars,” a WNBA-focused show with Ian Isiah. A Cambridge, Mass., native, Lily holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in film and video from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Maya, 37, is an assistant director of publicity at Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, based in their Manhattan office. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was raised in Brooklyn’s Park Slope and Ditmas Park neighborhoods.
Following the shoot, Maya made an effort to attend Lily’s comedy shows, always seeking him out afterward. Their flirtation intensified at a Memorial Day party in 2016, hosted by Lily and his housemates in Bushwick.
“My room opened onto the rooftop,” Lily recounts, “so my go-to line was, ‘Do you wanna see the roof?’ And that’s exactly where we shared our first kiss.”
Even in their early months, a future together seemed clear. Lily vividly remembers a charmingly chaotic date in an East Village community garden where Maya, under siege from mosquitoes, had to make a swift exit. Her good-natured response struck Lily as a perfect scene from a romantic comedy, much like a moment from “Hitch.”
He confided in his best friend, “I think Maya gives off serious wife vibes.”
“We simply couldn’t stop talking on our dates,” Maya recalls. “And from the very beginning, I knew Lily was an incredible listener – a quality that still holds true today.”
Their bond deepened over shared interests in books, playful gossip, and beyond. “Lily has always been genuinely curious and supportive of all my hobbies,” Maya shares, “even the ‘nerdy stuff’ like my love for comics, anime, and cartoons.”
Lily was also quite smitten with Maya’s career as a publicist. “I remember telling her, ‘Oh my God, you’re like Samantha Jones!'” Lily said. “And she corrected me, ‘No, no, no, I publicize graphic novels. It’s actually quite the opposite!'”
“Lily finds immense charm in a classic desk job,” Maya chuckles. “Whenever I take a work call out in public, he’ll just look at me, mesmerized, as if to say, ‘Oh my God, are you seeing this magic?'”
It was during their first weekend getaway to Southampton, N.Y., in October 2016 that Lily realized he was deeply in love. Strolling along the beach and exploring an estate sale — which quickly became a cherished couples’ activity — solidified his feelings.
By 2018, they shared a home in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and have since settled into an apartment in Ditmas Park, complete with their beloved cat, Orzo, and a delightful collection of estate sale treasures.
In June 2024, during a Barcelona vacation, Lily proposed to Maya as they prepared for an Olivia Rodrigo concert. “I said yes, and then we celebrated by partying with 20,000 Spanish teenagers,” Maya happily recounted.
Their wedding took place on October 4th, with 154 guests, at the picturesque Provincetown Inn in Provincetown, Mass. The ceremony was officiated by Luke Studebaker, a dear friend and Universal Life Church minister.
The reception, also at the Inn, featured a memorable moment when the couple and their guests recreated the iconic group dance from the Netflix series “The Perfect Couple.”
“You realize, ‘Oh, this is precisely why you have a wedding,'” Lily quipped, “so you can essentially coerce everyone you know into doing something wonderfully absurd.”
For their first dance, country music artist and friend Sam Buck performed Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman,” a song they adore for its touch of melancholic romance. Maya explained, “The lineman in the song misses his wife.”
“Just like me,” Lily added, earning a laugh from Maya, “when I head off to podcast once a week!”