My fiancé and I met on JDate in February 2011.  A message from Lee flashed across my screen, but I was going to ignore it because he was a year younger than me and I was looking to date someone a little older.  Then I read his profile and saw  he had a great sense of humor and that we seemed to have a lot in common. So, I accepted his message and we chatted away.

We made plans to grab brunch on February 13th, a Sunday. His friends told him he was ballsy to not only schedule a first blind-date brunch, but to schedule it for THE DAY BEFORE VALENTINE’S DAY! I just thought it was refreshing that someone wanted to meet during the daytime.

We met at a delicious brunch spot and the conversation flowed naturally. We realized we had a lot in common and neither of us wanted the brunch to end. So after brunch, we took a walk down to Union Square and passed the movie theater. We both sheepishly admitted that we kind of wanted to see Gnomeo and Juliet – even though it had to be totally childish and silly. So we did.

After the movie we were in stitches over how stupid it was and how we were the only people in the theater who didn’t have several 7-year-olds in tow. We were cracking up and joking the whole walk home. Even though our first date lasted about six hours, it felt like we’d known each other longer.

Lee called me within the next few days to schedule another date for the following week. The day after that he called me again to tell me he had to move our date up because he was being sent to Chicago for work for six weeks on that Sunday!

That Friday we went for sushi, had a ton of laughs and then went to Chelsea Piers to go bowling.  We didn’t have a reservation and the bouncer told us that he didn’t want to discourage us, but that it was a two-hour wait. We both looked at each other and started giggling; each of us thought a two-hour wait for a round of bowling was certainly discouraging. Sorry sir, we’re out of here…

We ended up at Dave and Busters. Lee showed off his basketball skills against some 8-year-old kids, and then we both flexed our mental muscles during five rounds of a trivia challenge. It was fun and goofy… and perfectly “us.”

While I was disappointed that he was going to be in Chicago for six weeks and I wasn’t sure what could happen during that time, I knew that we would at least keep in touch. However, I did not anticipate that we would talk every single night on his walk back to his hotel after dinners and drinks with colleagues.

We’ve been together ever since and have shared some amazing dates, trips, occasions, and laughs. I’m so happy to have found such a witty, handsome, and brilliant partner.

Thanks JDate!

Emily & Lee’s Engagement story:

Lee proposed on a Friday in August. I was finished with some meetings and was planning to head to a spin class, but had some spare time in between. Lee happened to be working from home that day. He said he was on the roof enjoying the weather and that I should just come home. I was going to head straight home, but I hadn’t had lunch, so I thought I’d stop along the way to pick something up. Little did I know that Lee was waiting for me on the roof with champagne in hand and was planning to propose.

I came back to the building, but instead of going right up to the roof, I went back to our apartment to make a fruit salad. Lee knew I’d go to our apartment first, so he ran downstairs (he didn’t want to wait for the elevator because he wanted to beat me back to the apartment) with the ring, a present, and his laptop. When I walked in, I noticed he was a little out of breath, but he said he was fine, so I let it go and started to make my lunch.

Lee walked over to me with a box and said, “I have a present for you.” I opened it and was anticipating seeing an engagement ring, but it was a camera. So I opened the camera box, thinking maybe the ring was inside… but, nope, it was just a really nice camera. He sensed my confusion and told me to look ON the camera. Lee had taken the first picture on the camera; a photo he took at the South Street Seaport where he wrote in chalk on the bulkhead: “Will you marry me?” I obviously said, “Yes!” and then he showed me a picture slideshow of our entire relationship.

Emily and Lee
New York, New York