Cullen and I met in 2011 at a mutual friend's pool party. We quickly became close friends and began dating on September 25, 2011! We have been together through high school, college, graduate school, and several years of long-distance after Cullen joined the military. We've had some tough times but the majority of our years together have been filled with love, laughter, and a bond that won't ever break. We can't wait to see what our future brings in this next chapter together.

For Christmas 2020, Cullen surprised Danielle with an all-inclusive trip to the Maldives for the following July. We arrived after 23 long hours of travel and were pretty jet-lagged, but had fun exploring the island for a few hours! The next day we spent laying out, riding bikes, having amazing meals, and relaxing. Cullen told Danielle that their butler would be picking them up for dinner to show them around. Danielle thought it was strange since it was already their second night and they had already gone to the restaurant the night before but went with it. As they were getting ready, Cullen asked Danielle several times if she needed to use the bathroom before dinner (seriously.....he asked like eight times). Danielle started to wonder what was up but again just went with it. Our butler picked us up for dinner and gave Danielle some beautiful flowers and said they were from Cullen. Once we got on the golf cart, Cullen whispered "Those flowers aren't from me, I don't know where they came from". Between that and Cullen asking Danielle if she needed to go to the bathroom like she was a toddler, romance was clearly in the air. We pulled up to a different restaurant that generally wasn't open for dinner, and that's when Danielle started to wonder if this was it. We walked down a pathway onto the beach and "Will you marry me?" was written in the sand. Along with that was a private dinner for two with the beautiful Maldivian sunset in the background. Cullen had also arranged for a photographer to be there, so we were able to document the evening and we look back on it all the time! We couldn't have asked for a more perfect way to start our newest adventure!