Dana's best friend was moving into a new home in Farvmille, Virginia and asked that Dana come down to help. She also requested the help of her brother and two of his friends, Kyle and Brandon. During a very hot and humid day, Brandon was taking a break and began a conversation with Dana about college football and religion. When the moving was done the group went to a local restaurant where Dana and Brandon couldn't stop stealing smiles from each other from across the table. On the way home Brandon asked his friend to see if he could get Dana's number for him. A long 24 hours later (according to Brandon) he was finally able to text Dana and set up a first date a week after their initial meeting. They went to True Food Kitchen for dinner which ended up being more talking and not a lot of eating. Conversation flowed freely and easily, leading Dana and Brandon to pursue a relationship. For the next nine months Dana and Brandon fell in love over coffee dates, hikes, Sunday Mass and football, wineries, breweries, cooking, and morning FaceTimes.

Dana went to Brandon's house on a Friday after work to cook dinner together for the first time after nursing him back to health following a tonsillectomy. Brandon had the food laid out, wine bottle uncorked, and Italian music playing in the background. However, this is a normal thing for Brandon to do so Dana was not suspicious and went right to work preparing the marinade. After several spontaneous dances around the kitchen (also not out of the ordinary), Brandon was growing more anxious to propose and asked Dana to chop the chives. While her back was turned and after asking several times if she was capable of chopping them, Dana turned around to see Brandon on one knee holding an open box that contained a beautiful engagement ring. "Dana, will you marry me?", he asked. For what seemed like forever in her mind, Dana stood there shocked, joyful, and excited before blurting out, "YES!" They danced again, decided to leave the half prepared meal, and go out to eat to celebrate.