In the summer of 2019, Juliana and Dom started working at Monarch Landing. They had just graduated from high school and began their summer jobs serving meals to senior citizens. That summer, they became friends, and when Juliana went to Saint Louis University for college, they occasionally kept in touch. Then, the pandemic happened. Juliana went home for spring break, and it became the longest spring break ever. Luckily, Juliana and Dom still had jobs because the residents still needed to eat. At first, Juliana was devastated to be away from her new friends, but then she and Dom started to reconnect. In Monarch Landing’s kitchen, they became closer and the two-week COVID shutdown extended to months and months. One day, Arin Rodriguez, their friend and one of the cooks, told Juliana that Dom had a crush on her. Dom kept suggesting that Juliana watch "Inception," one of his favorite movies, and Juliana told him they should watch it together. So, on one May night, Juliana came over to Dom’s house, and they finally watched "Inception." Fast forward to June 13, 2020, Dom and Juliana went to Matthiessen State Park, and Dom asked Juliana to be his girlfriend. Juliana and Dom did long distance for the next three years and visited each other often. From Pappy's to PBR to Soulard Mardi Gras to the St. Louis Zoo and even walks down West Pine, they enjoyed exploring St. Louis during Dom's visits. After they both graduated from college, Juliana moved home and started graduate school. Long distance was finally over! While Juliana was in graduate school, Dom started working at Merrill Lynch as a financial advisor. Juliana graduated in May of 2025 and is now a speech-language pathologist working with preschoolers. A month later, on their fifth anniversary, Dom proposed in Chicago at Millennium Park’s Lurie Garden. He didn’t tell anyone when or where he was proposing, not even Juliana’s parents! He did take them out to dinner and ask for their blessing though. On June 13, 2025, Dom secretly kept the ring box in his socks the whole day and had to sneakily switch it to his pocket while going through metal detectors. Besides the stress of Juliana potentially seeing the ring box, it was drizzling earlier in the day, so Dom was constantly checking the weather. He hired a photographer to secretly take pictures when he got down on one knee (see all the tears in the gallery section). Juliana was so surprised and overjoyed, as she thought the engagement would happen later in the summer or perhaps the fall. It felt surreal as they took their engagement photos in Lurie Garden. After their photoshoot, their day ended with a relaxing dinner cruise. At dinner, they FaceTimed their parents, who, coincidentally, were out to dinner together. Then, they shared the exciting news with their friends, put their phones away, and Dom told Juliana the details of his proposal plan.