Julie and Zach met the old fashioned way, like most couples their age... on a dating app (shoutout to hinge). When Julie came upon Zach's profile she was intrigued, but definitely questioned if Zach was being truthful about being a United States Marine Corps pilot AND a nice Jewish boy from the Upper East Side (to her surprise, it was all true!). On May 9, 2022, after both swiping right, they agreed to meet for drinks at The Binc in Brooklyn Heights (Julie's favorite and most frequented first date bar). They ended up spending hours together that night and realized how much they had in common including some circles of friends, which still shocks them! Zach was home in NYC for the month of May before moving to Texas for the next three years. They spent the month going on fun dates, getting to know each other, ordering in sushi, meeting each others friends, but knew it was going to come to an end when Zach moved to Texas in June. Julie had sworn off long distance, but when the end of the month came and Zach was getting ready to move, she found herself rethinking her views on long distance. When Zach finally moved down to Texas, he convinced her to come down to visit and after her first visit, they decided to put in all the effort of a long distance relationship. They spent the next year flying back and forth between Texas and NYC, going to Yankees games, exploring and eating their way through countless cities, dancing and singing their hearts out at concerts, getting to know and love each other's families, and of course, spending many hours on facetime realizing they were meant for each other. On May 26, 2023, Zach flew to NYC to celebrate his 31st bday. Julie “thought” she was planning a large surprise birthday party for Zach with all of their friends and family but little did she know, Zach was planning a surprise of his own. Before they made their way to the bar where the party was planned to take place, Julie and Zach went on a walk through Brooklyn Bridge Park where Zach proposed and luckily, Julie said yes! They finally made it to the party and Julie was shocked to find out that Zach, along with Julie's friends and brother, had re-engineered this surprise birthday party into a surprise engagement party. They were in for such a special night! Zach clearly knows Julie so well and knew she would want to plan her own engagement party, even if she did think it was his birthday party! Thanks for reading our story! We are so thrilled and really can't wait to celebrate with all of you in December!