Ruthie
and
Aaron
Please join us for our wedding weekend celebration
Our Story
In July 2020, Aaron had recently moved to Hoboken, NJ and Ruthie was living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The pandemic was in full swing, so Aaron was focused on building his business, Fringe Advisory, and Ruthie was adjusting to working from home full-time, now leading the HR team supporting IT at the Estée Lauder Companies. They connected through a dating app: Text messages quickly became phone calls and facetime, all very open, natural, interesting, and light-hearted. A few weeks after initially connecting, Ruthie passed through Hoboken on her way home from visiting her family in Philly and suggested that she and Aaron meet up IRL (in real life). It was a hot summer day, but outdoor activities were a requirement, so they took a walk on the Hoboken waterfront. Despite the sweaty circumstances, their multi-hour conversation flowed and they laughed a lot. At one point, Aaron put his arm around Ruthie, and out of instinct, she flinched and jumped away. They both ignored this moment, which Aaron would later confess, “didn’t feel great,” but when they agreed to a second date, he forgot all about it. Ruthie drove home that evening with a big smile on her face and described their date as “refreshing and fun” to her friends. After many years of online dating in NY, and many underwhelming first dates, this was a very promising review. Aaron also shared with his family that he was talking to Ruthie, and she seemed wonderful.
The following weekend, Ruthie & Aaron had their second date, which was supposed to be takeout sushi in Central Park, but it was oppressively hot, so they settled for staying indoors with the a/c in Ruthie’s apartment. On their first date, Ruthie had mentioned that she was assessing her home office setup, fully accepting that this work-from-home arrangement was not short-term. On their second date, Aaron showed up at Ruthie’s apartment with a computer monitor and webcam and proceeded to install both for her while she unpacked the food and poured the wine. She promised him repeatedly that if things didn’t work out between them, she would give it all back. Aaron just chuckled. After the sushi and wine were long gone, they continued talking for eight hours from opposite ends of Ruthie’s couch (it was long). Some topics of this conversation included comparing grocery sanitation habits and extensive family trees. At the end of the evening, they shared their first kiss, after which, Ruthie blurted out, “you know that we’re COVID married now, right?” They both laughed and agreed without skipping a beat.
After that, Ruthie & Aaron spent more weeknights and weekends together, taking drives, city walks, nature hikes, cooking meals, watching movies, and much more. They quickly confided deeply in each other about their hopes, fears, struggles, families, professional aspirations, life experiences, and personal goals. They repeatedly commented on how natural it felt to be together, how they never grew tired of spending time together and laughter and silliness punctuated almost every conversation. When the topic of being in an exclusive relationship came up in August 2020, it was again a very natural and humorous step in their relationship: Ruthie mentioned referring to Aaron as her boyfriend to her broker, with whom they were meeting the next day for an open house, asking if that was OK. Aaron said, “I guess we should talk about being exclusive,” to which Ruthie replied emphatically, “we better be exclusive!” They laughed and kissed, and continued eating dinner.
By January 2021, Ruthie was spending four to five nights per week in Hoboken, and taking a day or two to change her clothes and do laundry on the Upper East Side. Eventually, those trips got shorter and less frequent, and they decided she should move in. Ruthie packed her stuff, leaving towers of boxes to sit in her UES apartment, and moved into Aaron’s alcove studio with two suitcases.
During the next few months, Ruthie & Aaron worked and lived together full time. They regularly shushed each other when their conference calls conflicted (there was no door between the living room and bedroom), and sometimes even ended up wearing the same outfit. They often took long walks on the waterfront, cooked elaborate meals in their tiny kitchen, and worked together to design and renovate the apartment they planned to move into in April 2021. They were also getting to know each other’s families and friends little by little as socializing became more possible. They regularly spoke of their future together, the family they wanted to build, adventures they wanted to take, and goals they wanted to achieve. It was always about them together, as a team, and they commented regularly about how supported, loved, and connected they felt.
THE PROPOSAL
Getting engaged and married became a regular topic of conversation in Ruthie & Aaron’s relationship. In February 2022, they had planned to take a hike in Bear Mountain, NY, and it was an unseasonably warm and beautiful day. Aaron convinced Ruthie to first stop by Hoboken to get bagels before going to Bear Mountain. She thought this was odd since it was the opposite direction, but they had been talking about these bagels they missed and Aaron reminded her that they didn’t have a set schedule today, so she took a deep breath and agreed.
After devouring their bagels, they strolled on the waterfront, reminiscing about their time living together in Hoboken. Ruthie commented, “Why so mushy today?” and Aaron said, “Well, I have to ask you a question,” and got down on one knee. Ruthie immediately burst into tears, and a college track team passing at that same instant started cheering. The rest of the families on the pier joined in with hollers and applause. Ruthie, of course, said “yes” and they embraced as a kind stranger took lots of pictures of this special moment. As they walked back to the car, Ruthie asked, “so, are we going hiking now?”. Aaron said “yes,” and that she had 45 mins to call whoever she wanted to share the exciting news before they lost reception in the mountains.
While in the car, Ruthie was confused because most of their family did not pick up or accept a facetime call. Aaron swore that he had nothing to do with it. Then, Ruthie realized that they were not driving towards Bear Mountain, and as Aaron pulled into a farmstand in New Jersey, he explained that they would have a private lunch date to celebrate, just the two of them. Ruthie was very touched. Then, when she walked into the greenhouse, she saw both of their families standing there, waiting to hug and congratulate them. Naturally, she burst into tears again and Aaron embraced her with a huge smile on his face.
The following weekend, Ruthie & Aaron had their second date, which was supposed to be takeout sushi in Central Park, but it was oppressively hot, so they settled for staying indoors with the a/c in Ruthie’s apartment. On their first date, Ruthie had mentioned that she was assessing her home office setup, fully accepting that this work-from-home arrangement was not short-term. On their second date, Aaron showed up at Ruthie’s apartment with a computer monitor and webcam and proceeded to install both for her while she unpacked the food and poured the wine. She promised him repeatedly that if things didn’t work out between them, she would give it all back. Aaron just chuckled. After the sushi and wine were long gone, they continued talking for eight hours from opposite ends of Ruthie’s couch (it was long). Some topics of this conversation included comparing grocery sanitation habits and extensive family trees. At the end of the evening, they shared their first kiss, after which, Ruthie blurted out, “you know that we’re COVID married now, right?” They both laughed and agreed without skipping a beat.
After that, Ruthie & Aaron spent more weeknights and weekends together, taking drives, city walks, nature hikes, cooking meals, watching movies, and much more. They quickly confided deeply in each other about their hopes, fears, struggles, families, professional aspirations, life experiences, and personal goals. They repeatedly commented on how natural it felt to be together, how they never grew tired of spending time together and laughter and silliness punctuated almost every conversation. When the topic of being in an exclusive relationship came up in August 2020, it was again a very natural and humorous step in their relationship: Ruthie mentioned referring to Aaron as her boyfriend to her broker, with whom they were meeting the next day for an open house, asking if that was OK. Aaron said, “I guess we should talk about being exclusive,” to which Ruthie replied emphatically, “we better be exclusive!” They laughed and kissed, and continued eating dinner.
By January 2021, Ruthie was spending four to five nights per week in Hoboken, and taking a day or two to change her clothes and do laundry on the Upper East Side. Eventually, those trips got shorter and less frequent, and they decided she should move in. Ruthie packed her stuff, leaving towers of boxes to sit in her UES apartment, and moved into Aaron’s alcove studio with two suitcases.
During the next few months, Ruthie & Aaron worked and lived together full time. They regularly shushed each other when their conference calls conflicted (there was no door between the living room and bedroom), and sometimes even ended up wearing the same outfit. They often took long walks on the waterfront, cooked elaborate meals in their tiny kitchen, and worked together to design and renovate the apartment they planned to move into in April 2021. They were also getting to know each other’s families and friends little by little as socializing became more possible. They regularly spoke of their future together, the family they wanted to build, adventures they wanted to take, and goals they wanted to achieve. It was always about them together, as a team, and they commented regularly about how supported, loved, and connected they felt.
THE PROPOSAL
Getting engaged and married became a regular topic of conversation in Ruthie & Aaron’s relationship. In February 2022, they had planned to take a hike in Bear Mountain, NY, and it was an unseasonably warm and beautiful day. Aaron convinced Ruthie to first stop by Hoboken to get bagels before going to Bear Mountain. She thought this was odd since it was the opposite direction, but they had been talking about these bagels they missed and Aaron reminded her that they didn’t have a set schedule today, so she took a deep breath and agreed.
After devouring their bagels, they strolled on the waterfront, reminiscing about their time living together in Hoboken. Ruthie commented, “Why so mushy today?” and Aaron said, “Well, I have to ask you a question,” and got down on one knee. Ruthie immediately burst into tears, and a college track team passing at that same instant started cheering. The rest of the families on the pier joined in with hollers and applause. Ruthie, of course, said “yes” and they embraced as a kind stranger took lots of pictures of this special moment. As they walked back to the car, Ruthie asked, “so, are we going hiking now?”. Aaron said “yes,” and that she had 45 mins to call whoever she wanted to share the exciting news before they lost reception in the mountains.
While in the car, Ruthie was confused because most of their family did not pick up or accept a facetime call. Aaron swore that he had nothing to do with it. Then, Ruthie realized that they were not driving towards Bear Mountain, and as Aaron pulled into a farmstand in New Jersey, he explained that they would have a private lunch date to celebrate, just the two of them. Ruthie was very touched. Then, when she walked into the greenhouse, she saw both of their families standing there, waiting to hug and congratulate them. Naturally, she burst into tears again and Aaron embraced her with a huge smile on his face.