As with so many love stories these days, Izzy and Michael’s began on Hinge. After matching and texting for a few days, things seemed to be going well, and an in-person meeting was in the making. The only problem? This match had occurred in March 2020. As the world around us began shutting down, Izzy went home for 'the weekend', which became the longest weekend trip of her life, clocking in at 6 months. We chit chatted and shared anecdotes from our ‘new normal’, and ultimately decided to have a FaceTime date. What could have been painfully awkward became hours of laughter and getting to know each other (Michael did do his best to make it awkward by showing Izzy his Japanese cooking knives, but she just found it hilarious). Michael and Izzy continued to make each other laugh every day at a time when happiness wasn’t always easy to come by. We exchanged recipes (Izzy unfortunately dropped a bag of sugar in the Bolognese, and will not be in charge of cooking for our wedding guests), movie recommendations (There’s Something About Mary is still surprisingly funny), and even drafts of graduation speeches (Izzy and her family threw a surprise graduation for her sister Ali since college commencements could not take place in person, and Michael was a key reviewer of Izzy’s address to the masses). Izzy finally returned to NYC in September 2020, and the reopening of the world caused a bit of a fizzle in our communication. After months of no contact, in April 2021, Michael reached back out to Izzy to finally plan a date. We arranged a dinner at Peppolino in TriBeCa. Even though Izzy was 45 minutes late (normally a dealbreaker for Michael), when we finally saw each other in person there was an undeniable connection that was so strong, Michael forgot all about her tardiness. We felt like we had known each other for a long time (and in a way we had). We bonded over our love for Italian food and Van Leeuwen ice cream, and the rest…was Tuscany.