Julie and Matthew both grew up in Long Island; Julie in Oceanside and Matthew in Baldwin. They spent their childhoods living about 15 minutes from each other. They celebrated their Bar and Bat Mitzvahs at sister-synagogues – and probably attended some of the same Bar Mitzvahs of their classmates as well. Although they lived in such close proximity, and even shared some mutual friends from school and camp, somehow they never met! Until…
Julie and Matthew both graduated from college in 2010 and returned to Long Island. Matthew started working as an engineer and Julie finished her physical therapy internships. Looking for love, they both joined JDate. After numerous dates with other people, “TallRedHead” decided to message “TallNYGirl.” Julie was getting a little tired of getting to know people online, so instead of the usual back and forth emails and IMs, she decided to cut to the chase and just make plans to meet up (for drinks, of course!) They had their first date at Cabo in Rockville Centre. After four hours of talking and getting to know each other, Julie and Matthew were both sad the night had to end. They decided to meet up again the following night with a few friends. For their third date, Matthew thought bowling would be a good idea; he is a pro, but he didn’t know how awful Julie was at bowling! Regardless of the difference in skill level, the two had a fantastic evening. After Matthew drove Julie home, she went straight into her parents’ bedroom with the biggest smile on her face; she was falling for him! On their fourth date, they had their first kiss, and they knew this was going to last a lifetime. After meeting each other’s friends and families, and spending quite a bit of time together, Julie and Matthew knew that what started as a blind date on JDate would forever be love.
Matthew surprised Julie by proposing when they were travelling through Europe at the end of 2012. After spending some time in Belgium, they hopped over to Paris. The two spent the entire day walking through Paris, seeing the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triumph, and the Louvre. To walk from the museum to the Jewish quarter, they walked over the Pont des Arts. This is a bridge where couples attach a padlock with their names written on it to the railing on the side of the bridge, as a romantic gesture. Julie and Matthew brought a lock to do just that. After taking self-portraits with their lock, they asked the most normal-looking girl to take a photo of the two of them. She took two photos of them with the lock and then handed the camera back. Matthew asked her to just take one more. Julie, puzzled as to why they needed to take another identical photo, stood up and smiled for the camera. After fumbling around in his jacket pocket, Matthew pulled out a little black box and bent down on one knee. When Julie turned to him in surprise/confusion, Matthew popped the question, to which Julie responded “Of course!”
Julie and Matthew
Oceanside, New York