What do the JCC, a Yankees jacket, and Facebook have in common? They’re all part of Alissa and David’s love story. Read on to learn about how they met, how David popped the question, and what they do to stay sane under the pressures of wedding planning.
How did the two of you meet?
The first time Alissa and I saw each other was at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Northern Virginia on November 1st, 2008. We were attending NFTY-MAR’s Fall Kallah, an annual event bringing together Jewish youth from around the Mid-Atlantic region. Alissa was in need of a jacket and I just happened to not be using my Yankees jacket at the time. When she asked me for it, I looked into her beautiful eyes for the first time. I knew then that I wanted to be friends with her but didn’t have the courage to say it at the time.
After the event, I mustered all my courage to make contact with her in the most personal way possible…a Facebook message. Alissa didn’t remember who I was until I mentioned the Yankees jacket but we promised to look for each other at Winter Kallah. We found each other on the bus and spent the whole ride watching Wall-E together, an incredibly quiet movie made louder by Alissa’s constant commentary throughout (a line of questioning that I somehow was more than happy to endure).
Our lives come down to some really important days but it is what happens in between that matters so much.
After a couple of years getting to know each other through NFTY, we found ourselves at our final event together. This was Spring Kallah in 2010 at Baltimore Hebrew Congregation. The final night was the first time we danced together and Alissa spent a good portion of the night tearing up at the thought of us never seeing each other again. She may not know this but I cried a bit too. It was a tough night but something told me this wasn’t the last time we would see each other.
Fast forward to 2012 and my 20th birthday. I was planning on hanging out with a couple of friends after class and I decided to invite Alissa, who I hadn’t seen in a while. This turned out to be a great decision and we spent the night watching Superman and playing pool. After a few days, we decided to call what we had the real deal. So three and a half years after we met, we were actually a couple.
The rest is history. After five years, we’ve been through so much (good and bad) together and have never loved each other more than we do right now. Almost eight years to the day of when we met (on October 30th, 2016), I asked Alissa if she would marry me and she looked back at me with those same beautiful eyes I had seen that first time as she said yes.
Give us the details! When? Where? How?
David proposed at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC on October 30th, 2016. After talking about their time together while walking up the steps, he got down on one knee under the rotunda of the memorial with the Tidal Basin and the Washington Monument as the backdrop.
What has been your favorite experience planning the wedding?
Building the website on Joy and talking with all of our friends and family about our plans has been a great experience, along with choosing Liberty Mountain Resort as the venue. It’s where we ski almost every weekend over the winter and is meaningful to both of us!
How do you stay sane under the pressures of wedding planning?
Mixing the fun parts with all the details. David enjoys the technology side and picking the music while Alissa enjoys the creative aspects, like picking the color scheme and venue details. We try to balance that with the harder parts like the guest list and travel arrangements.
What was your favorite part of using Joy for your wedding?
Setting up the website and making it our own has been really easy. I also love that there is an app (that actually works) and an easy ability to connect with guests.
What piece of advice would you give couples to ensure that they use Joy to its fullest potential?
Looking at the sample sites has been really helpful and also engaging with Joy employees through the chat feature has been great. Couldn’t have built our website without their help!
At Joy we believe that even though a wedding lasts a day, joy should last forever. What does that mean to you?
Our lives come down to some really important days but it is what happens in between that matters so much. Alissa and David met briefly at an event more than eight years ago, but are getting married after all this time together. First impressions are just a moment but relationships (and joy!) can last a lifetime.
