It turns out that Justine and Matt had been crossing paths for years — showing up at the same get-togethers, weddings, and nights out through their mutual friends, Nicole and Scott Fanara, but somehow never were introduced. That all changed on the coldest night of 2022 at the Lansdowne Pub in Boston, when they finally met. After lending his jacket to Justine to walk from place to place in the Fenway that night, Matt got the courage to text and ask her out that following weekend. Their first brunch date turned into a full afternoon, then a whole weekend the next week — and soon enough, weekends were spent traveling between Bridgewater and Cambridge. From meeting each others families, going to see their favorite bruins games in the winter to summers in Falmouth, becoming each others friends friends and every new adventure along the way- everything felt easy and fun, like they’d known each other all along. In the fall of 2023, Justine and Matt moved into their first apartment together in Braintree. Since then, they’ve been there for each other through everything — new jobs (four new school teaching positions for Justine and a new career path for Matt), new nieces and nephews, and all of life’s ups and downs. Then, on April 19, 2025, Matt somehow convinced Justine to pivot before dinner to go for a walk around Sunset Lake in Braintree. The walk ended with a proposal, and a night celebrating with their closest friends and family at one of their favorite spots, Southside Tavern. What started on that freezing Boston night has turned into something truly special. Now they can’t wait to celebrate this next chapter surrounded by all the people who helped bring them together.