Dan and Sydney begin their journey at Belmont University. Little did they know that their individual decisions to go there, although a difficult decision for both, would lead them to finding each other.

Dan and Sydney meet each other through mutual friends early on in College. Sydney even was blessed (or cursed) with multiple Christmas cards throughout the years. Between 2016 and 2023, their friendship continues to grow. Sydney and Dan begin to start to crush on one another, despite both thinking the other didn't like them. That was until one magical day.

Sydney made the first move and asked Dan to go for a run on the greenway that his work and her apartment shared. Somehow, it didn't click for Dan still that Sydney was also interested in him until this unofficial date. After agreeing to run and telling Dan to get most of his run done beforehand, Sydney ended up only wanting to walk. Therefore, Dan was a sweaty mess and Sydney looked beautiful on this walk. Despite that, it was here that Dan and Sydney hit it off and it clicked that they were both interested in each other. After hanging out one more time with Dan's friends who were in town, Dan asked Sydney out on an 'official' date.

On August 10th, 2023, Sydney and Dan have their first date! The date consisted of dinner at Red Headed Stranger (highly recommend) and going to see the Barbie movie. Believe it or not, it was Dan's idea. We had a blast and Dan got a new perspective on being a girly pop. It was clear there was chemistry between the two and we had a blast together. Getting to build off of our existing friendship and grow together was and is so much fun!

On September 24th, 2023, Sydney and Dan officially began dating! Depending on who you ask between us, either August 10th or September 24th are the anniversary of 'dating'. Being that Dan is creating this website, he's going to take the liberty to say here that it was official August 10th, however to appease the masses I will put officially dating as this title. Regardless, September 24th was the day at which we officially became boyfriend/girlfriend (awwww). So begins (again, depending on who you ask) our love story!

As the year went on and rolled into 2024, Syd and Dan, also known as SyDan by some, began to fall deeper for one another. It was clear that every challenge that our lives threw at us, we were there for each other and cared deeply for one another. It was busy times for Sydney with starting law school at Belmont University (did I mention she's also going to be an amazing lawyer? How lucky am I?) and busy at work for Dan (not as cool as law school) and yet we were able to fit so perfectly into each others lives. It was around this time that the topic of marriage began to be discussed. Although, it wasn't really discussed as both of us knew without a doubt that's what we wanted! We went ring shopping together and picked out the perfect ring for Sydney! Then it was a wait and plan for the big day (not as big as wedding but still big).

December 14th, 2024 Dan proposed to Sydney. It was months of preparation, including a full rocking bench that was built for the occasion. Sydney would always playfully joke that Dan couldn't build a rocking chair, after he mentioned that they are difficult to build. So, Dan built her a rocking bench instead. The proposal took place at Old Hickory lake near Dan's house. Our mutual friend Sarah helped out tremendously (shoutout Sarah) and setup the bench on the shore beforehand, along with hiding to take photos. The rouse Dan planned was to convince Sydney that we were taking a funny Christmas card photo, but that we should take the occasion to take a serious photo beforehand so that we were all dressed up. To be fair, we did end up taking a funny Christmas card photo too. To redirect Sydney, Dan did a big Christmas holiday celebration day the day before to make her think that the proposal would be then. It worked. We were running late to the lake and Sydney didn't suspect a thing, even when we first saw the bench. We walked toward the bench and then Dan gave Sydney the journal he'd been keeping to document the process of the propoal preparation. He got down on one knee (as you do when proposing, or at least that's what google said), fumbled through the words "I love you so much, will you marry me?" (I wrote down a whole speech but pretty much blacked out and couldn't think). She said yes! From there, we went back to Dan's house to let everyone know and celebrate. Sydney's parents (shoutout Dave and Mary), Syd's sister (shoutout Shersty), Dan's parents (shoutout Tim and Julie), Dan's brothers (shoutout Nick and Matt) all joined that night for a dinner downtown, followed by some dancing and hanging out at Robert's Western World. It was truly a great day!

It feels weird to leave out an entire year on this timeline, so wanted to include some snippets on wedding planning and general life as an engaged couple. It continues to be so much fun to get to spend so much time with the person we're meant to be with! Getting to support each other through work, life and planning is beautiful. While a lot of work, we've had and continue to have so much fun creating a great night for you all to enjoy with us!

Finally, we're going to be married! The day is upon us and we can't wait to celebrate our love with you all fine folks!