Abby Patterson (New York, New York)
& Aaron Brody (Brooklyn, New York)

Success Story

Abby and Aaron’s story began when they met on SYAS through matchmaker Julia Weinberg. She was 22 and lived on the Lower East Side, he was 32 and lived in Brooklyn. She had been on the site for 10 months while he had been on SYAS on and off for a few years. Abby had been suggested Aaron before off the site but when she was suggested him on SYAS, she was intrigued by what he wrote in his personal essay because it gave her insight to his personality. Although she didn’t think they matched up on paper, she saw he was a warm caring person with the middos she was looking for and decided he was worth a try. Before they even met, Aaron knew things were going to be interesting when he arranged to call before their first date, but didn’t know when to call her after Abby accidentally dropped her phone in the sink! She improvised by using her friend’s phone. Thankfully, their first conversation flowed very easily because Aaron had previously attended yeshiva on the Lower East side and realized that they both knew a lot of people in common. For their first date was in the Marriot Marquis, which was also Abby’s first time there. They both knew it was serious early on – he knew he wanted to get married to her by the second date and she knew it was serious by the third and fourth date. After about a month in their courtship, Aaron proposed by driving Abby to the Palisades Parkway, where she describes “a nice view of the hiking trails and the Hudson River. He took me to a cliff where he proposed and we were overlooking the beautiful view. We asked people who were passing by to take pictures of us… and got a perfect shot after the third time!” Afterwards, they went to Times Square where she saw on the Hershey Store’s electronic banner “Abby Will You Marry Me?” She was presented with a giant Hershey’s Kiss with a “Will you marry me?” paper strip on top of the wrapper and a “Will you marry me?” chocolate bar – now how is that for a sweet proposal?! Abby is thankful for SYAS because “being a baalas teshuvah – some didn’t get where I was coming from and I wasn’t as connected as someone who is observant from birth. What was great about Julia Weinberg is that she is literally one of my best friends. She was objective, encouraging, casual, not pushy, not critical, and not too involved. I would say to anyone who is dating go for SawYouAtSinai and be open-minded to a degree while also not getting too relaxed on the things that are important to you.” Abby and Aaron got engaged on March 27, 2011. They will be married on September 4, 2011.