we're so excited to celebrate with you!

We met at a monthly "Young Professionals" Shabbat dinner at Adas Israel, a synagogue in DC, in December 2017. Brandon was not feeling too great earlier in the day and was not going to attend, but his friend Val convinced him to come (and, since the dinner was sold out, gave him the nametag of a friend who had a ticket but could not make it!). Sabrina spotted Brandon across the room during services. They had some mutual friends in common but had not met before. At dinner, Sabrina asked her friends if they could all sit where Brandon and Val were sitting, and Brandon and Sabrina struck up a conversation. They both chose the vegetarian option, and Brandon asked if Sabrina was vegan. She said yes, anticipating that, like many others, he would make some silly argument about why veganism is bad, but instead he responded that most of his family is also vegan! After dinner, we chatted occasionally, but went on our first date a month later. (Note: Sabrina came down with a terrible cold the day of the first date, but insisted on going [...that would never happen nowadays!] and while we hit it off, Sabrina doesn't remember much of the conversation.) When Brandon returned from the date, he immediately told his apartment-mate Andrew that he met someone who is "perfect," an assessment he continues to share to this day. The relationship turned more serious a month or two later; Sabrina offered to attend the funeral of a close family friend of the Leveys' and was introduced as Brandon's girlfriend for the first time. We got engaged exactly two years later.