We love love. And we are so excited to share the stories of all these wonderful couples!
Meekie and Shawna-kay
@jamaica_0827
What do you both currently do for a living and what are your dream jobs?
I’m currently a full time mom. My wife is a veteran and a freelancing mobile barber in Manhattan. Our dream job is to extend our mobile businesses. I am looking into having a food truck and she is looking to franchise her mobile barbershop.
How did you meet, and how long have you been together?
We met in cosmetology school. I was new in class and they gave me her seat because she was out sick with the flu. When she returned we became inseparable, that was 10 years ago but we have been married for 2 years now.
How have you handled the quarantine as a couple?
We found out we was pregnant the first week of quarantine. We were ecstatic preparing the house for our new edition, it was almost like a new chapter of our relationship. We even did a vlog on YouTube about the beginning of our IVF journey.
What is your favorite date night spot in Jersey City?
We love the vibes of Rumba Cubana, the drinks and food is amazing. Honestly, Jersey City has some gems and we enjoy living in a city where we can try somewhere new every time we step out.
What is the secret to success in your relationship?
Be vulnerable and honest. We use terms of endearment everyday. It gives off positive vibes even in bad times.
What is 1 fun fact about your relationship?
We love the markets on Grove Street and before this pandemic, you could find us both working some artisan events at Groomed Guys, the barbershop on wheels –@groomedguysinc
Teresa and Paul
@sweet.tee.22 @pnyatome
What do you both currently do for a living and what are your dream jobs?
Paul: Firefighter. It IS my dream job! I wake up everyday (well every 4th day lol) happy and excited to go to work. I love the guys I work with and serving my community. Doesn’t get any better!
Teresa: Executive Clinical Director at Effective School Solutions. A company that partners with public schools to provide intensive level therapeutic support for their most challenging students. I too am lucky to say that it IS my dream job! Being able to support struggling students and families in need is the most rewarding professional feeling in the world.
How did you meet, and how long have you been together?
We met on Hinge. As it turned as were “connected” via facebook by many mutual friends. Our first date started at Porta and ended at South House 7 hours later!
How have you handled the quarantine as a couple?
I would say quite well since we decided to get married after quarantine started and got married in September! Experiencing quarantine together brought our relationship to the next level thanks to being forced to be at home to simply enjoy each other as is. I also fell in love with his dog so I had to keep him ha! Through it all, we have been able to create our own joy during these trying times.
What is your favorite date night spot in Jersey City?
Ahh that is tough one because we LOVE all that Jersey City has to offer! I have lived here for 13 years and Paul moved to JC at 8 years old straight from Kenya, so 29 years! Honestly, it all depends on our mood, but our main go-to’s are JSQ Lounge, Ani Ramen, Surf City, O’Learys, and Harrys Daughter.
What is the secret to success in your relationship?
For us it’s a combo:
Laughter – we love to laugh together, and at each other!
Open communications and honestly – At dinner we sit together at the dining table (when Paul is not at the firehouse) with no cell phones and use that time to connect. We are currently doing “365 Connecting Questions” for couples edition where each day of the year there is a “connecting question” we talk about at during dinner to continue to learn about each other, share feelings and thoughts, and grow. I cook, he cleans!
We have a lot of common interests which helps: fitness, watching and playing sports, traveling, exploring, and most importantly eating and drinking. We also absolutely LOVE each other’s friends and spending time with them; so his friends have become mine and just the opposite. We think they feel the same!? Ha
Finally, we make an effort to have “me time” and support each other to continue do the things we used to before dating and marriage. For Paul, it is continue to represent JC and train/play for JCFC (Jersey City Futbol Club). Also, go on his annual trip the World Rugby tourney with friends to cheer for his home country or Kenya. For me, it is to go to Crossfit and attend multiannual girls weekend in Dewey Beach, DE, and annual international travel trip to anywhere from Bali to Africa to Belize to Amsterdam with 3 special college friends.
What is 1 fun fact about your relationship?
We were never engaged or planned to get married yet this year we planned our surprise, pop-up wedding within under 30 days in the thick of quarantine. Sooo we went from boyfriend/girlfriend straight to husband/wife due to a crazy day that changed my (our) lives forever! On July 30th 2020, I went into the hospital for a relatively routine same day surgery and came out with something shockingly scary.
What was discovered is that I had a rare form of cancer and an oncologist had to perform an emergency surgery. After receiving this news, Paul immediately made it clear that he wanted to get married and gently asked me every few days for a few weeks until I agreed lol. I am forever thankful that he wanted to make “my battle,” “our battle” and that he wants to go on this journey by my side to face it all: the good, bad, and ugly that is in store for my future.
Soooo in 30 days we planned a small intimate backyard surprise pop up zoom wedding in our city, Jersey City. I bought a clearance dress off the rack at David’s bridal for $250, ordered simple weddings bands from Costco.com without even trying them on, invited 25 guests, placed like 37 online orders of decorations and wedding items, and I created a zoom meeting inviting 50 other people who thought they were signing on to hear my most recent “medical update” after my recent Dr appt at Sloan Kettering. Then BOOM they signed on and were shocked when they realized they were actually attending our wedding! We did it all start to finish with he help of our amazing friends and family who helped with flowers, to table decorations to catering to the cake to speakers and on and on! It wasn’t how ever envisioned my wedding but it ended up being our BEST.DAY.EVER and we wouldn’t change a thing.
Joel and Vanessa
@j_fitt1 @mel___vee
What do you both currently do for a living and what are your dream jobs?
Vanessa: I’m a stay home mom with two girls. My dream job would be to work in the fashion industry. I have a college degree in fashion marketing and a couple months after graduation I got pregnant. I put my life on hold to raise my girls full time, one of the best and rewarding decisions I have ever made.
Joel : I work in Human Resources for the US Government. I love what I do it gives me great purpose.
How did you meet, and how long have you been together?
We’ve been together for 15 years. We met at my 18th birthday party. I invited a friend that I have know from grammar school and he brought him along. They both went to the same school which is how everything sort of connected. I remember seeing him sit at the top of the stares not knowing anyone. Bored out of his mind. He tried making conversation with me, but I kept it short. (Poor guy) Somehow I still gave him my number. He called me later that night and the rest is history.
How have you handled the quarantine as a couple?
Better than I expected to be honest! Especially being parents to two kids. Throughout our relationship, he would be away for training so that meant being apart . I always like to look at it as making up for lost time. Plenty of movies nights and staying active.
What is your favorite date night spot in Jersey City?
Mathews Food and Drink! Go for the Black garlic Mac and cheese. You will not be disappointed!
What is the secret to success in your relationship?
Communication and having date nights. We’re not afraid to admit when our relationship needs some work. Putting our egos aside so we can better ourselves for each other.
What is 1 fun fact about your relationship?
You know how some couples have been together for 2 years and married for 10. We’re the opposite. Together for 15 years and married for 7 years. Somehow we manage not to get sick of each other.
Christa and Kevin
@apetaltopeddle @senorquigley
What do you both currently do for a living and what are your dream jobs?
Christa is a floral designer for weddings and events and Kevin is a camera operator working in TV and film. Christa is currently living out her dream as the owner of local small business A Petal To Peddle and Kevin would love to get into bigger production projects in the industry.
How did you meet, and how long have you been together?
We met on OK Cupid and have been together for almost 8 years!
How have you handled the quarantine as a couple?
Because of Kevin’s career and travel requirements we have always had 2-3 days apart each week. Since the pandemic shut down work and travel we had to adjust to not having any personal space which can be difficult as we both value our alone time. We made things work by recognizing when one of us was feeling crowded and doing our best to provide space by taking a walk or a drive to get away. Quarantine also brought us closer by allowing us to create a daily routine with each other, a luxury we have never really had before. One of our favorite new habits is alternating making dinner for one another!
What is your favorite date night spot in Jersey City?
Making homemade pizza together at home! Kevin makes the most delicious pizza dough from scratch and we love coming up with different topping ideas!
What is the secret to success in your relationship?
Respect and communication are key pillars of our relationship. By always coming back to this foundation we have continuously grown in love and overcome any obstacles that we’ve faced.
What is 1 fun fact about your relationship?
We have never been friends on Facebook. Early on, we wanted to cultivate a relationship of trust and avoid things that could create division and jealousy. It worked so we stuck with it!
Smitty and Cristin
@JerseySmitty @CrizzleMarie
What do you both currently do for a living and what are your dream jobs?
Cristin: I work for the fitness and female empowerment brand Jane DO, I am a head trainer, copywriter, and content creator. I also work as a freelance copywriter/creative marketing creator and as a nutrition coach. I’m kind of living my dream job(s). As a former professional dancer, I love fitness and I get to flex my creative muscle for a brand that inspires me and other women. It’s a pretty amazing thing to be able to check all those boxes daily.
Smitty: I’m an Actor, Voice Over Artist, and Bartender (when the world opens back up). My dream job is basically Chris Pratt’s career. Where he got to be chubby and funny on a TV show with Amy Poehler and Aziz Ansari then got ripped and had witty banter with Chris Hemsworth in a Marvel movie. Oh and Law and Order, any version of Law and Order.
How did you meet, and how long have you been together?
We met at South House working together. The classic industry love story. Subtle glances at service bar lead to a few dates before the world shut down. Time in the Q doesn’t make sense so it’s between 11 months and 15 years. Let’s call it a year. (1)
How have you handled the quarantine as a couple?
We’ve been quarantined together since April. Considering we really didn’t know each other all that well before shacking up, and no one is dead yet is a good sign. We are both creative types, so we have been able to work on ourselves and with each other. Booked a couple of gigs, made a couple of obligatory TikToks, worked out a ton, go on family dog walks, and finished every episode of every murder documentary.
What is your favorite date night spot in Jersey City?
NACHOOOOOOS! Whether date night happens at home or in a yurt under a heat lamp, nachos are always on the menu. Fox and Crow was one of our first dates and we’ve continued to order nachos from them almost every week throughout this year. We love to stay in the heights for date night. Fox and Crow for nachos, hit up Milk Sugar Love for something sweet, then end up at Lo-Fi for a night cap… which is literally our perfect date night.
What is the secret to success in your relationship?
Laughter and knowing when to take a walk to the store so everyone can get some alone time. We are both performers and our love language is making the other one laugh. We have a lot of silliness, even though this year has been a tough one for both of us in different ways. Making each other laugh fills our cup and makes any of our worries seem just that much smaller. We are also really compatible in the bedroom…oh god can we say that?!?…we said it.
What is 1 fun fact about your relationship?
We have been writing a musical with original songs. It’s pretty good.
Victoria and Brent
@cardonut16 @brentbully
What do you both currently do for a living and what are your dream jobs?
- I am currently unemployed and working on fashion and makeup content creation on Instagram. As previously working as an Assistant Buyer, my dream job still remains in fashion but to be more on the creative side than business.
- Brent works at Soled Out in Downtown Jersey City as a buyer in training and e-commerce/social media coordinator. His dream job is to be the youngest CEO of a company, even if it’s his own.
How did you meet, and how long have you been together?
We initially met in high school when one of his friends took me to their senior prom BUT what started our relationship was actually a DM through Instagram and we’ve been together for a little over 3 and half years since.
How have you handled the quarantine as a couple?
We are extremely fortunate to live about a mile away from each other, so it’s fairly easy to travel and see each other. Aside from him having to work in person, both of us and our families are extremely careful and cautious when going places and get tested frequently, making it easier to be together. It also helps that we FaceTime every day we don’t see each other (even pre-pandemic) so we are always in contact. Dates on the other hand have been the biggest adjustment but we have a lot of home/outdoor dates (watching movies, binge new shows, get different types of take-out, go on drives, or when we do eat out it’s at places with strict capacity limits, extremely clean, and easy social distancing.)
What is your favorite date night spot in Jersey City?
We don’t really have a favorite date night spot because we usually try to go to a new place every time, but a frequent spot we’ve gone to (mainly pre-pandemic) was City Diner by Exchange Place.
What is the secret to success in your relationship?
Our secret to success mainly stems from support. Whether either of us going through something good, bad, ugly, sad, or weird it’s extremely important for us to talk to each other, keep each other in the loop, be as honest and real as possible, and truly be there for one another in unity – as cliché as that may sound.
What is 1 fun fact about your relationship?
A fun fact about our relationship is we technically only went on one REAL date (coffee shop) before becoming officially boyfriend/girlfriend.
Melany and Loui
@melanycecilia @ldibarro
What do you both currently do for a living and what are your dream jobs?
I am a Digital Entrepreneur & Content Creator! Loui is a Small Business Owner & Food Consultant. We’re both extremely fortunate to be living out our dreams with both the nature of our careers!
How did you meet, and how long have you been together?
We met at 1Oak in NYC- a true embodiment of an NYC love story lol! We met in 2015 and have been dating since 2017!
How have you handled the quarantine as a couple?
We took on a big home project and redid our entire backyard and office space. It was a really nice distraction to have especially because it was something we could both work on and create together! Quarantine definitely came with really rough moments for us both as individuals and as a couple- especially due to the nature of both of our jobs and the amount of adjusting/adapting we had to do. Overall, I can say that we grew tremendously as a couple have become that much closer with the curve ball we were thrown this past year!
What is your favorite date night spot in Jersey City?
Corto has been one of our faves. AMAZING home-made pasta and BYOB! You cannot beat that combo!
What is the secret to success in your relationship?
I don’t have any groundbreaking secrets, but the one thing I would offer is communication being key in a healthy relationship! Being open and honest with one another has always helped us tremendously as we’ve essentially grown up together from college, to careers, first home and now into the next steps of life. Also lots of love, patience and acceptance!
What is 1 fun fact about your relationship?
I am fully Dominican and Loui is fully Palestinian!
Roger and Shannon
@roger_barthleyfit @thatsosham
What do you both currently do for a living and what are your dream jobs?
Roger currently works for Peloton, but his dream is to one day own and operate a fitness center in his native country of Costa Rica- with a goal to also provide programs to guide our youth in living healthy, active lifestyles. I own and operate a food truck in Hudson county (Joey Mac’s, Harrison) and bartend part time. My dream job would be to open a small cafe and create the time to “flip” furniture -I love to thrift and find treasure in another man (or woman’s) trash.
How did you meet, and how long have you been together?
Roger and I met this summer….and we have covid to thank- as strange as it sounds.I began working at Grace O’Malleys when my place of employment pre-covid (Dorrian’s RedHand, near Newport Mall) had no plans of reopening until late fall. It just so happened Roger started working a couple nights doing security….and well, saying yes to dinner and drinks has been the best decision I’ve made to date. *Cue Rihanna’s Found love in a hopeless place
* 2020 wasn’t too bad after all.
How have you handled the quarantine as a couple?
Dating was a little unconventional considering indoor dining was still not allowed when we first started dating – definitely stuck it out for a few dates under umbrellas in the rain just so we could spend that much-anticipated time together. But it’s been great otherwise. I got to show off my cooking skills for lots of home cooked meals and exploring what Netflix has to offer (neither of us watched too much TV on our own- but something about binging with your partner that makes it that much more enjoyable). We’ve been together 6 months now.
What is your favorite date night spot in Jersey City?
Date nights? Porta is a favorite. But we actually enjoy grabbing some Ani Ramen and Baonanas at District Kitchen for lunch dates while enjoying the nice weather and people watching in the courtyard outside.
What is the secret to success in your relationship?
Secret to success? COMMUNICATION. We’re both very laid back people but if anything has bothered us, we say it then and there. There’s no guessing or grudges held. But really, we just have fun together. He’s my best friend- and I think that’s how any relationship should be. We trust each other and can be totally ourselves around each other at all times……Roger wanted to add patience to this- probably because of the accumulated hours I’ve had him wait for me to get ready for just about anything. LOL
What is 1 fun fact about your relationship?
1 fun fact: We LOVE binge watching food shows. Anything from Street Eats to Final Table. It’s become how we plan our next travel adventure or date night.
Adam and Michelle
@frommdizzle @Mo.ohhh
What do you both currently do for a living and what are your dream jobs?
We’re both currently employed and entrepreneurs! My girlfriend is a General Manager at Giglione-Ackerman of AIL, she helps NJ Union Members and their families make sure they are properly insured and I am an Exercise Physiologist and Wellness Coach at CentraState in Freehold. I work with individuals who need a tailored program and guidance due to special circumstances and medical disabilities. We are also launching a new clothing brand, LayerC4KE which will be a bold & eccentric streetwear line for those who want to be different and stand out in the crowd.
How did you meet, and how long have you been together?
We actually met on Hinge back in January 2019 and thanks to the beautiful Hoboken and Jersey City life we have been together 22 months exactly today! April will be our 2 year anniversary. Time flies when you’re quarantined in JC.
How have you handled the quarantine as a couple?
Well it was an adventure to say the least! I was living in Hoboken at the time and when my lease was up we decided to pull the trigger and move in together to JC in April 2020. (No big deal, just in the middle of a pandemic!) It was our first time officially living together and also spending 24/7 within the walls of our 650sq ft condo with our pup. Needless to say, some expected growing pains but also tons of laughs and memories, we made it out great. Our quaranteam even grew from 3 to 5! We rescued 2 Chiweenie puppies and are loving the JC life with our little family!
What is your favorite date night spot in Jersey City?
Ooh this is a tough one! We love so many places in JC – but if we had to narrow it down, we’re a sucker for The Franklin and Taqueria downtown!
What is the secret to success in your relationship?
Quarantine really helped us figure this out. Honest communication, patience with each other and most importantly keeping it fun. Stumbling upon Lynn’s instagram and blog helped so much with our transition to living together in JC. So many great suggestions for date nights, delicious food, and exciting new things to do.
What is 1 fun fact about your relationship?
We both have an obsession with FRIENDS – and watch reruns every night before bed since we met!
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