How we met in September 2017:

We were neighbors at our apartment complex at Bradley University. Dane's friend Ryan was over and he started knocking on the kitchen wall we shared while my roommates and I were making dinner and hanging out. Ryan and I started knocking back and forth on the wall for 5 minutes until they finally decided to come knock on our door and introduce themselves. We were very close friends after that and would hangout 2-3 nights a week. We spent many nights studying together in the library, going out with friends and playing cards.

August 2019: Our Senior year at Bradley we finally went on our first date at a place called Thyme after coming back to Peoria from summer break. We started officially dating in September.

Our proposal on May 16th 2023 in Manarola, Cinque Terre: In May we went to Italy with Dane's brother Cade and his girlfriend Kiera. On the day Dane proposed we were leaving Florence to go to Cinque Terre. Once we got to Cinque Terre we had lunch and then started getting ready for a photo shoot. Cade told us he booked a photo shoot for Kiera for their 5 year anniversary and that we could join and get some pictures for the first 15 minutes. After taking some group and individual couple pictures Dane told me he had an idea and asked me to look out towards the town once we were along a walking trail overlooking the ocean. I looked out and when I turned around he was on one knee. I later found out that Dane actually booked the photo shoot for our engagement and we spent the next hour taking pictures throughout the town and had dinner to celebrate. Cade and Kiera were such a big part of our engagement and helped everything come together and go smoothly. It was a night we will never forget!