Joey and Allyson met the old-fashioned way - on a dating app (thank you, Hinge).

In September of 2022, both Joey and Allyson were on vacation... halfway across the world from each other. Joey was visiting one of his closest friends in Seattle (where Allyson lived), while Allyson was visiting her grandmother in Israel.

As any good single person does, they were both still swiping, even on vacation - and actually looking for the exact same thing: a Jewish person in Seattle.

Over breakfast at an incredible hotel in Jerusalem, Allyson got a notification that someone had swiped on her Hinge. When she opened up the app she saw it was someone she could best describe as: "he looks like the funniest guy at Jewish summer camp." Needless to say, that was exactly her type.

In a turn of events that could only be described as, well, fate, a misunderstanding is what actually brought them together. Joey had listed his current location as Seattle, and his hometown as Ferndale. Allyson only ever knew of a Ferndale in Washington, and, given his current location, just assumed he was a local guy she never crossed paths with.

About 12 hours into talking, Joey mentioned he had something he had to tell her... uh oh. A number of things were crossing her mind until he revealed to her he didn't live in Washington - he lived in Michigan. Ferndale, Michigan.

As far as Allyson was concerned that meant this was going nowhere, but their banter was great and why not meet new people, right? They continued to chat with each other from their respective vacation destinations, with the intention of meeting each other for coffee when she got back from Israel.

She got home on a Sunday, they met on a Monday, and he flew home on Tuesday - this one day window of opportunity was their only chance to get together. Puffy from pita and hummus for 10 days, severely jet-lagged, and just generally not in the mood to go on a date with a guy who she would never see again - she almost canceled. But, he seemed really excited to meet, and she was too, so she sucked it up and met Joey for coffee.

Their first date was a wonderful, easy 4 hours of walking around Green Lake Park and having coffee (well, Joey had coffee, Allyson ate a full meal because she wasn't planning on seeing him ever again so she was not nervous about being the only one eating). After they said their goodbyes Allyson left thinking "really nice guy, too bad I'll never see him again."

As the weeks passed, Joey made an incredible effort to keep in touch with Allyson. Though they weren't physically together, he made the time to FaceTime her several times a week, and their connection grew. He spent a lot of their conversations trying to convince her to come visit him in Michigan, which she was quite hesitant to do.

After some serious convincing from Joey and confirmation from her best friends, Allyson booked a flight for a long weekend in November. She figured if things got weird, she wasn't there for very long.

Joey and Allyson got so close during their conversations that they actually booked his next trip to Seattle before Allyson even went to Michigan for the first time. They just... had a good feeling about things.

That weekend in Michigan very much sealed the deal for them - they weren't sure exactly how they were going to make it work, but they would. They committed to flying back-and-forth to see each other without letting more than 4 weeks go by. They really kept their word on that commitment - over the course of 8 months they had racked up almost 20,000 miles to be together.

The thing about long-distance is that you can't really do it forever if you want to move ahead in a relationship - they had some serious decisions to make. During her visits to Michigan, Allyson really began to love it - Joey's amazing family and friends only added to the appeal of moving there.

In June 2023, Joey and Allyson drove her car from Seattle to Ferndale (Michigan!) and they have been there together ever since.

On November 21, 2023, Joey proposed to Allyson at the Henry Ford Museum... in front of the car JFK was assassinated in. The best, funniest, and most surprising memory they get to remember forever.

They are so excited to celebrate their marriage with you in September!