Dominic struck up a conversation with Rachael on Hinge and they hit it off right away. One of Dominic's ideas for a First Date was to build a Lego set in the mall food court. Rachael asked him if anyone had taken him up on it, to which Dominic said no, because no one appreciates the fine arts. Rachael then said that she would. They successfully picked out a Lego set and built one in the food court. They enjoyed each others' company so much that they talked for six hours before the date ended.

Rachael and Dominic had their third date at an aquarium. While seated at a rotating theater for viewing sea lions, Rachael grabbed Dominic's hand and so they held hands for this first time. After the date, Rachael asked Dominic what his favorite part of the date was, to which Dominic said seeing the otters. Rachael said her favorite part was holding hands. Dominic was immediately shocked and realized that he had answered incorrectly, and from that point on was always vigilant to never make that mistake again.

Dominic and Rachael's first kiss happened while watched the movie "Stardust." The movie was an old favorite of Rachael's and was showing it to Dominic for the first time. During the film, Dominic asked Rachael if he could kiss her, and she agreed.

Dominic and Rachael had been going on dates for a few months already, but had yet to make it "official". So Dominic took Rachael on a romantic date to a park with an observatory. After viewing the stars and sitting by the duck pond, Dominic officially asked Rachael to be his girlfriend, and she eagerly replied yes.

Dominic and Rachael took their first trip to California to show Rachael Dominic's hometown of Corona and introduce her to his grandparents. When they got to California, Dominic introduced Rachael to his paternal grandmother and showed her around the town, sharing his life memories. Unfortunately, Rachael broke her foot that night, resulting in a series of doctor and hospital visits the following day. She then met Dominic's maternal grandparents while confined to a wheelchair borrowed from his maternal grandmother. Fortunately, his grandparents still liked her in spite of her injury. Rachael and Dominic still enjoyed most of their trip and made it safely home to Arizona.

Dominic first told Rachael that he loves her on their six month anniversary while in Rachael's room. Dominic had been wanting to tell her for some time, but had delayed out of desire to wait for a special date to tell her. However, their options were limited due to Rachael's still-broken foot. After a simple but still wonderful 6th-month anniversary date, he decided he could not wait any longer and told her that he loves her. Rachael then told him that she loves him too, glad that he loved her despite her broken foot.

Dominic and Rachael took a second trip to California. First they went to San Diego so that they could go visit Sea World, Dominic's college of USD, and some of his college friends. On Christmas Eve they then drove up to Irvine so that they could spend Christmas Day with both sides of Dominic's family, where Rachael was introduced to most of Dominic's family members.

Dominic and Rachael had been talking about marriage for months, and in March had already gone looking at engagement rings, where Rachael found an Engagement/Wedding ring combination that she totally loved. By April Dominic had already bought the ring, but couldn't decide on how to propose. Since he and Rachael already had annual passes to Sea World from their previous California Trips, he decided that another trip to San Diego would provide him with plenty of options for a special date. He convinced Rachael that the end of April was a good time for another California trip, where they could spend time with Dominic's Grandparents, see their favorite animals at Sea World, and then visit Balboa Park, where there are several gardens and museums to visit. Rachael immediately figured out that Balboa Park was Dominic's planned proposal spot, as it was somewhat out of character for Dominic to insist on a trip to California, especially on a random weekend in April, and because his desire to specifically plan for Balboa Park was also odd. Dominic also knew that Rachael knew, so it became an open secret. On that lovely day, Dominic and Rachael visited Sea World as planned, then went to Balboa Park in the afternoon. She was wearing a beautiful dress she had picked out for that day, and changed into pretty shoes just for the park. This led Dominic to go back to the car so he could change his shoes. Rachael thought this was a cover, and that he had actually left the ring behind, but Dominic was honestly just changing shoes as he already had the ring on him. They visited the Japanese Friendship Garden, and they found a romantic bridge before a gently flowing waterfall. They got there just when nobody else was around, so Dominic gave Rachael a short speech and proposed to her. Despite knowing that it was coming, Rachael was still very excited and filled with joy. Dominic got down on one knee when he asked her to marry him, and she immediately said yes, so he was only down there for about two seconds. Dominic gave her the ring, they embraced, and enjoyed the rest of their stroll through the garden. On the drive back to Arizona, they began their planning for the special day that they would be joined together in holy matrimony.