I have a loud personality, and humor is important to me. Needless to say, my JDate profile picture was of me in a bubble bath with a rose in my mouth, and my opening line was “Crazy, loud, obnoxious guy who snores; still interested? Tell her what she’s won Johnny!”

My mom and sister said I wouldn’t find anybody that way. Despite their advice, I felt that the person who I decided to marry must have a great personality and an amazing sense of humor. So, I stuck with my gut. In the end, mom and sis were right; I didn’t find “The One,” SHE FOUND ME!

Her name was Debbie. She thought my profile was hysterical, and after a few emails we shared a couple of phone calls. On the last call before I asked her on a date, I told her my mom was in the room and that she had a list of questions she needed to run by her before we went on a date. I then proceeded to pretend I was my mom. Yes, I know it was mean, but Debbie was a great sport and played along. We were supposed to meet in front of a bar; however, she was running late, so I sat on a bench and started playing a game on my phone. All of the sudden, she scoots up next to me and says, “Is this seat taken?” I thought she was so adorable.

We had a drink, struck up a conversation, and quickly realized how much we had in common. I’d have done anything for the date not to end. We ended up taking a long walk afterwards. As the night came to a close, we approached that ever important moment of truth… every man’s measure of greatness… the defining moment of every first date… the “goodnight kiss” attempt.  Dare I call it a kiss; I didn’t want to ruin the date by diving in for a full-out kiss, so (like a gentleman) I planted a blundering on-the-cheek-but-I-would-have-kissed-your-lips-if-I-wasn’t-a-wuss kiss. It was the most awkward half-cheek kiss ever, but it was fine. I was so happy.

I continued on my venture of plenty-o-JDating®, but it got to the point where every date I went on, all I did was compare the date to Debbie. I had made plans to go on a third date with a different girl I had met on JDate, but a few hours before we were to meet, I called her apologetically to cancel. I explained that it wouldn’t be right for me to go on a date with her since I knew I’d just be thinking of Debbie. From then on Debbie and I were inseparable. Within six weeks, we were official. We even spent a week together during Christmas break. I was so head over heels that I made my own music video for her for Valentine’s Day, forcing my friends and family to help.

I’ve never believed in love at first sight. I’ve always believed in taking things slow. And, I never believed that there was only one right person. But, all of these ideas were tossed in the trash when I met Debbie. She complements me so well, it’s UNREAL. She’s a smart, beautiful, responsible, laid-back, open-minded, independent woman with a great sense of humor. I made sure to ask all the hard questions early, so there’d be no complications down the road. And although she felt like I was quizzing her all the time in the beginning, it made it that much easier for me to fall deeply in love.

I’ll never forget when my dad asked me if I loved her. I answered, “Not only do I love her, but this is ‘The One.’” I told her right from the get-go that I would never let her go and I never will. She has to work so many hours being an attorney at a prestigious firm, but she makes time for our dance classes on Wednesdays and I make sure my weekends revolve around her. Once I had my arms around her, that was it, I was hooked. No person, place or thing fills my life with such joy and happiness.

After dating for six months, I bought a ring to propose. I never thought I’d rush into marriage, but although we knew each other a very short while, it felt far from rushed. With the amount of time we spent together, we knew each other so well. Now that I’m a bit older (having recently turned 30), I know what I want in a partner, best friend, lover, wife and mother of my children. The only hard part was deciding how to propose. I wanted it to be a big surprise that would knock Debbie off her feet the way she’s knocked me off mine. Considering how JDate has had such an impact on our lives, I asked for their help to set up a surprise proposal for Debbie. JDate agreed and you can view our ‘Ultimate NYC Proposal’ video here.

Part Two (After The Engagement)

The good news is, Debbie ultimately said, “Yes” to marrying me. I know many of you thought the video might have gotten more viewers if she didn’t, but to say the least, I am relieved the video did not go that way. However, there were definitely some moments during the day of the shoot when I was worried.

It was a hot Labor Day Weekend and Debbie was meeting me at Times Square. She did not eat any breakfast that day. We were told to put on our headphones in order to listen to our Success Story video which would be airing as a commercial in Times Square. Standing and waiting for some time, Debbie started to feel ill and says, “I’m not feeling good. I am going to faint.” I respond with, “No, not yet!” I then started running around trying to get her food and water. Thankfully, she was fine and pushed through, as I couldn’t imagine asking the crew of a dozen or more people to come back on another day to tape my impromptu proposal that was about to happen!

Once our Success Story video started, it cuts in and out with scratchy lines as if the video is cutting out. At that point, Debbie got worried and wanted to run to the director to tell him there was an issue with the video. I had to keep on telling her to just watch the video. Then as the video cuts to me, explaining how much I love Debbie, I asked her to marry me and we started crying. With our families by our side, Debbie asks, “How’d you have time to do this today?” She was still in shock and didn’t realize this took months to plan. Later, we celebrated our engagement at dinner with our families and Debbie asked where the other JDate Couples that were supposed to be shown in the video were. She still didn’t realize everything had been done for her and there were never any other couples that were supposed to be there that day.

Soon after the video went live, it became viral. Third cousins I only see at weddings and funerals were contacting me, telling me they saw us on JDate. I knew it was big when random people would post our video and friends of friends would tell us their friend posted the video on Facebook. We did get the full celebrity feeling when we even saw obnoxious remarks on YouTube regarding our video and I had to explain to Debbie that it comes with the territory of being JFamous. I’m proud to represent JDate for all that they have done for me, and happily share our story on how we met!

Since all of the hoopla, not a week goes by that Debbie and her mom aren’t working hard on all of the planning and wedding arrangements. I definitely have helped, and we now have all the major items planned for a “Long Island Summer Wedding” this year.  There are so many more details that you can’t imagine, but I am ecstatic about sharing this one moment in time with Debbie. I know it will be a day I will never forget.

Debbie and Dan
New York, New York