Marc & JD: Nice and Easy

Marc and JD met on OKCupid in the Fall of 2012. JD reached out first, taking Marc aback. “I had noticed his account before, but I was too embarrassed to make the first move. In fact, even after JD messaged me and my having enjoyed our conversation, I ended up ghosting him by deleting my entire account!” Not only a bit shy, but Marc was also simply over the whole dating thing. 

Months later, JD noticed a new profile come online, recognizing one or two of the pictures as Marc. “Even though he was back on with a different username and bio, I remembered Marc. And I immediately asked him if we could text off of OKCupid,” JD said laughing. Knowing that Marc was not someone he was going to see out at the club on a Friday night, and that he was drawn to his shyness, JD was not going to let Marc slip away a second time. “There was an innocence about him that I was drawn to.”

About their first date, Marc explained: “JD was late and the bar was too dark for me to even see him!” This might have been a good thing given that JD was wearing a stuffy suit he’d worn for an interview earlier that day. But the conversation was so natural that the two decided to carry on for dinner. “Everything felt really natural and, because we were both interested in getting to know each other, well-matched,” Marc continued. 

A few months into their dating, Marc wanted to, as JD said, “DTR! He was eager to figure out what we were doing, and I was being a little bit more non-committal,” JD said. Marc went from runaway groom to “put a ring on it!” The two dated for about a year before deciding to move in together and, shortly thereafter, securing their beloved dog, Dakota. “I didn’t tell my parents we’d moved into together for a long time,” Marc said. “The only ones we were fooling were ourselves!” 

As he’d done before, Marc DTR’d again, when around their 5th Anniversary, he asked about ‘next steps in the relationship!’ “This was the catalyst for our engagement, which happened two years later,” Marc said. And on JD’s 32nd birthday, JD proposed quietly at the kitchen table. “I decided to do it on a day Marc wouldn’t expect!” JD gave Marc a Cartier Love Bracelet. “I didn’t like the idea of a ring, which didn’t feel meaningful enough for me. But I was hoping it would be harder to take off!” Marc interjected, “Hard to take off like a handcuff!” Following Marc saying ‘yes’, the two met friends for drinks nearby and JD declared: “Look what I got for my birthday!” 

It being 2019 when the two got engaged, it goes without saying that the big 2020 wedding they had planned for in Provincetown did not go as planned. “We were really far along in the process, people had booked rooms and houses, and even though some still encouraged us to have the wedding, we were like ‘why have a wedding at 30% of what we’d planned for and still not have a dancefloor?!’” Marc explained.

But, with fate on their side, the two learned that NYC was allowing outdoor gatherings for 50 people or fewer. Marc and JD knew they could make something work under those conditions and jumped at the opportunity. “We had a long-standing relationship with the Nomad Hotel having spent years of birthdays there, we knew the rooftop well, and they were so excited for the business, we ended up getting married there!” JD went on to say: “the stars really aligned for us to pull something off, so we did! We’d already waited so long to get engaged; we weren’t going to push another year.” 

Marc’s high school friend and former roommate officiated. Because she was living with Marc when he first met JD, she was witness to their relationship from the beginning. “We each wrote our own vows and without knowing what each other was saying, we referenced the same milestones, highs, and lows, making our vows even more special,” Marc explained. JD elaborated, “while our relationship hasn’t been without its challenges, so much of it has been nice and easy, and we felt that in our ceremony, and we reflected this back to each other.” 

And one of the challenges JD referenced, was their actual wedding. Up and until walking down the aisle, the two were unexpectedly stressed and down. From challenges involving planning, to a ‘rehearsal’ dinner that didn’t go quite as planned, to the general stress of orchestrating a wedding during Covid, Marc said that “we were going into it with the worst mood possible!” That is until they felt the love in the room and shared their love with each other.  

Despite all the Covid protocols—social distancing, no dancing, masks while not eating or drinking—the reception was decidedly intimate. “It all came down the speeches. Everyone brought their own perspective on our relationship which we truly appreciated,” Marc shared. “They were funny, sentimental and reminiscent and resonated with everyone. Most of the people who were there said that ours was the best wedding they had attended because it was so emotive and intimate. 

When asked how their friends would describe them now that they are married, they said: “the same, but with rings… and still nice and easy!” 

Credits:

Ceremony & Reception Venue: The NoMad Hotel

Photographer: Andrew Werner,  @andrewwerner    

Videographer: Amanda McDonnell                          

Floral Designer: Petal Design Studio