Meet Our Couples: Justin & Eliana

Eliana first spotted Justin in 10th grade. He was the NCSY president and a friend of hers roped her into doing an NCSY mail stuffing one night. It was instant crush for her, but she was a bit on the shy side and he never noticed her (Justin's note: only because she literally hid behind said friend the entire time). They had some mutual friends and would see each other at parties once in a while through the end of high school, but she still never went up to him! They both went their separate ways to Israel for a year and then when they came back, they both became NCSY advisers. The first NCSY shabbaton they did together was in March 2003, and this time Justin noticed her. He approached her, being the charming guy that he is, and she was hooked! A few months later, NCSY planned a road trip and Justin was asked to drive the food van. Eliana wasn't planning on going on the trip, but Justin dropped down on his knees in front of all her friends (and most of the city of Silver Spring) and also insisted she go along. Seeing that she would face endless public embarrassment if she didn't relent, Eliana agreed to go for part of the trip. Since she left at a different time, she had her own car and so the two of them drove ahead of the rest of the bunch to set up food for the group and have been inseparable ever since!
That fall, Justin went back up to NYC for college and Eliana (who was living in Baltimore at the time) spent the next 2 years on the NJ Turnpike accumulating a massive number of speeding tickets. Seeing each other at least once a week and spending several hours on the phone every night, they became best friends. As graduation neared, Justin was trying to figure out what he wanted to do next and realized that he couldn't move anywhere without Eliana. Three weeks later they were engaged and three months after that they were married!
They moved to Atlanta shortly after the wedding and just celebrated their 5th anniversary.

Meet Our Couples: Darren & Lana

From Darren: "Lana moved to Atlanta on Labor Day weekend last year (2009.) One night I was scrolling through jdate and I saw a picture of the most beautiful woman I had ever seen (yes, Lana.) Recognizing her home city of Toledo, Ohio and based on her screenname, I thought it had to be a friend of mine's sister. So I emailed my friend and asked her if it was indeed her sister on jdate who had just moved to Atlanta then would she please put me in touch with her. Stef (Lana's sister) fortunately gave me Lana's number and I called. We set up our first date for a run around Piedmont park for Saturday evening (that would have been in four days after the call.) Well the next day (Wednesday) I called Lana and told her I was too excited to meet her and could we please speed up the courtship and go out for a drink the nect night (Thursday night.) I had never done this before, but something about Lana just felt very right. We went for a drink to Whiskey Blue on the Thursday night. When I dropped Lana at home that night, I drove away knowing that I wanted to proposed to her. From that night on we were inseparable.

Lana had been in Atlanta for less than one week when we met. I helped her negotiate her lease at Post Chastain and later break her lease at Post Chastain! Six months after we had our first date, I flew up to Toledo in the middle of the week and asked her dad for permission to propose. Two weeks later, I proposed in Chicago.

Two facts I know: One, our dating period of six weeks was short relative to most! And two, thiose six weeks would have been a lot shorter if I knew her dad would have said yes after six weeks! :)"

Meet Our Couples: Yasha & Julie

Julie & Yasha were married June 23, 2010. Yasha describes how they met below:

Julie and I met at a bar / restaurant that our friend Renee had invited both of us to for dinner and a football game. Since I am not a big fan of football I really didn’t care for the game, Julie was unfortunately not really in to me, so the entire evening we sat around the table with our friends Julie talking to everyone but me. After dinner she came up to me and said “ so what’s a Yasha ?” before walking away, my response was "I will show you what’s a Yasha", I was hooked at that point I was determined to show her what’s a Yasha.

I soon came to learn that Julie is a very busy person and to schedule time with her would be very hard, (just to go on a date I had to wait over a week) I had to compete with events, friends and some potential dates as well. Once we overcame the scheduling, we found time to cook together, go on hikes, weekend trips and just about keep with each other’s busy schedule, just try to fit time into that schedule.

There is a saying that “there can only be one chef in the kitchen” and I agree, Julie is my chef and I am her sue chef, every once in awhile I get to be the executive sue chef, but you can be sure she is always in control. Julie AKA “me julie “ makes me happy and complete. All I can say is that I can’t wait to see what the next day will look like with her by my side and one more thing - being corrected on my grammar and pronunciation for the rest of my life.

Meet Our Couples: Michael & Amy

Michael and Amy first met in 2005 when Michael saw Amy dancing on a table at his AEPi formal. His first thought was “Wow, this girl definitely does not go to Ga Tech.” It was a year later that Michael and Amy met again while after she returned from studying in Israel. They began hanging out in 2006 but since Amy lived in Athens it was hard for them to see each other often so they remained friends. They continued to talk online daily and after many months of driving to Atlanta to see Michael play in his band they began dating in 2007. They now live in Roswell with their puppy Maddy.

Meet Our Couples: Peter & Missy

Peter and Missy have been married for over a year and a half. When they met is debatable-- some say a Mommy and Me class at the JCC in Augusta, while others claim it was at a Lamaze class pre-birth. Needless to say, these two have known each other quite some time. However, they never dated until after college when Missy moved back to Atlanta from the Mississippi Delta and Peter was in law school. The rest is history! They live in Toco Hills with their cat, Jenny. In their spare time, Pete and Miss love painting pottery, frying food in the deep fryer, and online shopping.

Meet Our Couples: Andrew & Margaret

Margaret & Andrew met in 2001 when they lived across the hall from each other in the dorms at Reed College. Although Andrew is originally from Detroit and Margaret is from Los Angeles, they decided to make a big move together when they relocated from their college home of Oregon to Georgia, so Margaret could begin graduate school at Emory. They were married in 2007 and live in Decatur with their lab mix George. Some of their favorite activities include cooking, hiking, and movie marathons. They also can't get enough of the Dekalb farmer's market.