Before the two ever met, Daniel knew Stephanie's father, Paul. Paul helped install phone lines and Internet in Daniel's pizza place. After owning his store for almost 4 years, Daniel finally came to the New Carrollton Pool, one of the places that ordered his pizza constantly. That is where Stephanie met Daniel.
Both shy at first, neither new what to say to break the ice. So Daniel decided to start playing volleyball with Steph's mom, Sue. Of course, Sue comes right up to Steph asking if she saw that "really cute guy." Um... DUH! After about a week of Daniel being a member at the pool, he comes to one of the infamous adult nights there. To Stephanie's surprise, he had brought her a small pepperoni pizza. This was the first thing he said to her: "Your dad told me you liked Manny and Olga's 102 pepperoni pizza more than mine. So I made this for you."
After a couple of months of still being awfully shy, October Rolled around and Nick, Stephanie's brother, brought her to Buffalo Wild Wings. Unbeknownst to her, Daniel was coming, too! So they sat, watched football, and ate wings. A commercial for Saw 3D came on and so started a hilarious conversation about how they were all about "creative ways to kill people." Later that night, the two became friends on Facebook and Stephanie asked him if he wanted to go see Saw 3D soon.
October 28, 2010. Daniel arrived (looking super handsome) at Stephanie's house at 10:30pm to pick her up to see Saw 3D. They had a fun night in Silver Spring, playing pool at the spot that would become a favorite and seeing a late movie, which would become an almost biweekly occurrence. They hung out at IHOP until 4am and had a lot of fun.
The following Monday, they went to breakfast, she made him a Taylor Swift CD, and they made plans to see Paranormal Activity 2 on November 4th. That was a night neither of them would ever forget. Scary movies are, of course, scary... So Steph was practically breaking his hand during the last half of the movie. After it was over, the went to IHOP again. At 4am on November 5th, Daniel asked Stephanie if she would be his girlfriend. Of course she said yes.
The next month, on December 11, 2010 (12-11-10, haha!) they took a trip to New York City. That evening Daniel took Stephanie up the Empire State Building for her first time. They reached the top, which was pretty frigid (it was snowing), and he turned to her outside and told her that he loved her.
The rest is pretty much history. They are constantly "doing stuff" together like seeing movies, buying timeshares (haha, just one), going bowling, playing pool, taking random trips to Charlestown for the casino, going all out for each others' birthdays, and going to New York... :)
Aahhh, New York again! March 1, 2012. Daniel took Stephanie to NYC again. They stayed in a super snazzy hotel in Brooklyn and had a fun day in the city. That evening, since they had tickets, they went up the Empire State Building AGAIN! This night was much better than the first (not nearly as cold) and the city seemed so much brighter.
After spending a lot of time taking pictures, Daniel comes up to Stephanie outside and says, "You know this is the first place I told you 'I love you' right?" She nods her head, smiling. Suddenly a saxophonist comes out and Daniel says, "well, this is also the place where I ask you to marry me." He gets down on one knee in front of her, at the top of the Empire State Building, pulls out a ring, waiting for her answer. Stephanie was so surprised, it took her a small moment to realize that it was actually happening.
... She said yes! She couldn't walk for a good fifteen minutes afterward, but the couple were blissed out. Daniel had a car pick the two up and take them back to their hotel where they received a complimentary bottle of white wine from the staff and she received a beautiful bouquet of flowers that Daniel picked for her.
Now the two are busy planning for their big day! They thank you for being a part of this amazing time in their lives! :)
