We met at a mutual friend's party over the summer at CUA (big shout out to Tom), having previously known of each other but never interacting much. The night wore on and after a little liquid courage, Daniela went in for the kiss. Zach, being the gentleman he is, leaned away and asked Daniela if she was sure, which of course made her want to kiss him even more!

One of us took their sweet time asking out the other (*cough* Zach *cough*), but we began dating December of our junior year. Our relationship blossomed and grew stronger, through good times and few hard moments. We tackled a year of long distance when Daniela got her master's in London, and celebrated the everyday joys of exploring new places; around the world or down the block in our beloved DC.

After about five years of dating, Zach began to notice some subtle (re: very obvious) signs that Daniela was ready to be engaged. He decided to have some fun and pretend that he needed extensive help in choosing a ring. He convinced Daniela that they would make a date out of ring shopping. They got dressed up, went to lunch at Menomale, and then went for stroll in the National Arboretum before supposedly going to the jewelry store. Daniela noticed that Zach was acting a little weird throughout the date. For one thing, he refused to take off his jacket despite it being warm in the restaurant (he was hiding the ring box). He also kept texting his "fantasy football league" (it was really the photographer), and his heart was beating a mile a minute. While they were walking around the Arboretum, Zach guided Daniela to a beautiful, secluded corner where he got down on one knee and asked his best friend to become his wife.