When they were just three years old, Dominic and Haley stood up in a wedding together as ring bearer and flower girl. We know what you’re thinking, no they aren’t related, and no they haven’t been together since 1997. Just a simple case of right place, right time, right age.

However, 15 years later, in 2012, Dominic and Haley both started college at University of Illinois Urbana – Champaign. Even though they had different majors and lived on different parts of campus, one night, they both happened to be at the same bus stop outside of a dining hall. Haley immediately recognized Dominic from pictures hanging in her house, but Dominic was certainly more skeptical. After calling his Dad to corroborate the story, and confirm once again that they weren’t at all related, they decided to spend the rest of the night eating Papa Del’s pizza, walking around campus, and getting to know each other.

After spending a brief eight years together, Dominic decided it was time to propose. One night in November 2020, Dominic mentioned he wanted to go see a “special moon” the next afternoon. For those who know Dominic, this is a relatively benign request and borderline common occurrence.

At 4PM the following day, Dominic insisted Haley join him outside, but Haley was in the midst of an afternoon snack. As a compromise, Haley brought her chocolate milk outside to “see the moon”. As they walked towards their viewing spot, Haley frantically gazed upwards and exclaimed, “Dominic, did you check the weather? It’s all cloudy, you can’t see any stupid moon today!” However, when she turned around, Dominic was down on one knee. Luckily for Dominic, Haley was able to squeeze out an enthusiastic yes between the monsoon of happy tears!

They spent the next six hours celebrating, sharing the news, and showing off the ring. As the story would have it, Dominic experienced his first encounter with kidney stones that evening and was forced to spend the remainder of the weekend celebrating with the emergency room doctors.

We can't wait to celebrate with all of you!