Brandi moved to Chicago in June 2016. Daniel was born and raised in Chicago. In September 2016 they both “swiped-right” on Tinder. After a few days of chatting, they agreed to exchange cell phone numbers and continue chatting via a more permanent medium. Then Brandi abruptly stopped responding and Daniel thought that was the end of that. Unbeknownst to Daniel, Brandi’s mother was visiting her in Chicago and accidentally erased all of her contacts! Luckily Brandi was able to contact Daniel again on Tinder to let him know what happened. A suspicious Daniel cautiously agreed to continue chatting. This eventually led to a first date on October 13, 2016 at Happy Camper in Old Town. This “just getting drinks” date went on for many hours. Daniel walked Brandi home and suspiciously kept forgetting to call his Uber. Eventually he did.
Two days later Daniel asked Brandi to go to brunch at Kanela in Old Town. While waiting for their table they explored aquariums at a shop next door. They were having such a great time that neither of them wanted to leave each other but Brandi needed to take a nap before her 24 hour shift.
Daniel walked to his friend Andrey’s house and spent time with him and another friend Brad. A few hours went by and Brandi texted hello to Daniel. Daniel asked “how’d you sleep?” She responded “Not well, I needed arms around me." Andrey, Brad and Daniel were perplexed. What does she mean? Does that mean she wants Daniel’s arms? The boys deliberated for ½ an hour staring at Daniel's phone. Eventually they settled on texting back to Brandi “I have arms."
After just two dates Daniel and Brandi were inseparable.
Daniel knew he wanted to ask Brandi to marry him but he didn’t know how. He knew the most important thing to Brandi was that it was a surprise. Daniel also wanted it to be spectacular. He decided to use a helicopter! But how to get Brandi to take a helicopter ride without her realizing something fishy was going on? Remember, Brandi is a very smart girl. Enter Kevin, the best man. Here’s the ploy: Kevin wanted to take a new romantic interest for a helicopter ride over the city (Kevin is known for sometimes going over the top when it comes to women). The woman Kevin was taking on the ride was in medicine just like Brandi. So naturally inviting Brandi (and Daniel) on the helicopter ride and subsequent dinner would make for good conversation. Or so it was told to Brandi. When the time came, Brandi and Daniel arrived at the heliport but Kevin was nowhere to be found. Apparently his lady wasn’t responding because she was out late the night before. Brandi asked if we could reschedule to which Kevin smartly responded: “The helicopter company won’t give me a refund or let me reschedule so you two better just go.” Brandi reluctantly agreed. Through all this hullabaloo Brandi didn’t realize that the rented helicopter didn’t have enough seats for 4 people; just her and I!
While all this was going on my father, Jim Sochor, was strapping down a premade giant sign on his roof that said in large font MARRY ME BRANDI! Daniel knew the flight path of the helicopter and knew it would fly past the roof twice. Unfortunately from the helicopter there was too much distance and noise that they couldn’t see the sign on the first pass. On the second pass Daniel pleaded with the pilot to hold steady over the house but no luck. All we saw was a giant red blob which was actually Jim in a red coat standing on a ladder on the roof waving to the helicopter!
Brandi and Daniel returned to the heliport. Brandi was feeling overjoyed at her first helicopter ride while Daniel felt defeated. Not sure what to do, Daniel said we have to stop at Jim's house. Brandi said we’re going to be late meeting Kevin for dinner. Daniel said don’t worry, this won’t take long. At Jim's house Daniel said he wanted to show his dad the camera lens he rented on the roof. Brandi followed them up to the roof a few minutes later. Waiting on the roof was Jim with a video camera who skillfully caught Brandi walking up to the roof sign, reading the sign, and being absolutely shocked! The improvised plan worked and she said yes! After regaining her composure Brandi immediately called her mother who had a list ready with people to invite to the wedding, lol.