We initially found each other on a dating app. Considering it was the height of the Covid shutdown (and since we are both awkward people), online dating was our way to try to meet people. Josh found my profile first and thought “She’s cute and funny. Hopefully she’s not a mean Packer fan.” Then once I saw Josh’s profile, I thought “Please still have that beard!”. After a couple weeks of chatting we wanted to meet each other. Since it was during the shutdown, we had limited options so a walk around the local park was the plan. I was told to look for a black Cruze. Well a black Cruze never showed, but a charcoal one did! Too bad for him that my job is all about color accuracy so he’s never going to live down being wrong. Now for the moment of truth… he still had the beard! We walked around the park, making small talk and asking your typical first date questions. Both of us were very nervous and being awkward. Josh spent a majority of the time talking about his dog, Leia. Lucky for him, I liked listening to him talk about her. Before we knew it, we were back to the parking lot and the first date was over. He nervously asked for a second date and I happily said yes. And now here we are! -Danielle

I knew pretty early in our relationship that I wanted to marry Danielle. As our relationship progressed, we started talking more and more about our future. I knew I wanted to propose to her at the park where we met, but needed to come up with a plan to go there without raising her suspicions. In order to do so I recruited help from Tim (my brother and best man) and Kellie (my sister-in-law). Once I game up with the plan, it was time to ask Danielle’s parents for their blessing. Linda and Rod came to visit us for Mother’s Day weekend where Danielle and Linda made candles and did some shopping while Rod and I found a bar and had drinks. Extremely nervous, it took about 4-5 (tall) beers before I asked him. Turns out there was no need for being that nervous because all he said “Oh yeah, you didn’t have to ask. We figured you would at some point.” Then the hard part was getting a few minutes with Linda without Danielle around. Eventually at the very end of the night I was able to talk to her where she said pretty much the same thing as Rod, “ Of course! You didn’t have to ask, but I’m glad you did.”   I didn’t initially plan it this way but on May 20th, the day after Danielle’s birthday, I decided it was the day to pop the question. I had Tim and Kellie ask us to lunch at the restaurant next to the park. I told them to wait 15 minutes after we left to then tell us their son had blown out his diaper and they will be late. I used that to ask Danielle if she’d want to go for a walk while we wait for them. Little did she know, Tim and Kellie were already waiting for us in another parking lot in the park. The closer we got to the spot I wanted to do it, the more nervous and sweaty I got. Once I saw Tim and Kellie come running over to us with their phones out, I knew Danielle figured out what was going on. I grabbed her hands and had her face me. I had a whole speech prepared for her but I could barely get any words out. I cried, she cried, but thankfully she said yes when I could finally get the question out. Don’t worry, she made me tell her the speech on our walk back to the restaurant. We spent the rest of the day and night celebrating with family and friends. -Josh