Hmm, do you think that little paper on 42nd street will choose us for their wedding section? Cross your fingers that our mugs will be in the NY Times on June 14. I submitted 2 photos - one is slightly blury (snapped by a Miami bartender), but has perfectly aligned eyebrows, as per the requirements. The other one is laid back Cali style. I mean, we're no Michelle Rosen and David Zornitsky, but we're cool. Here is our story:
Frank Ozmun and Robin Zakoura are Midwest natives who have lived in New York for 10 and 12 years respectively. They met online - on the Jewish dating website, JDate. When she joined JDate, Robin never anticipated meeting a non-Jew who she would eventually marry.
Robin noticed Frank online first. She was drawn to his profile simply because he seemed like a nice guy. It was straight forward and authentic – lacking the generic descriptions that dominated most profiles: “I am just as comfortable going to the bars as I am watching a movie at home.” The only questionable description was his religion, which was “I’ll tell you later.” Robin made a mental note to ask him about this.
Frank discovered the website, while helping his friend Gabe jazz up his JDate profile (Gabe would later meet his wife on JDate, and in time become Frank’s Best Man). Frank was a member of several other dating websites, but in an attempt to diversify his online portfolio, he signed up for JDate. Not only did he find the women on JDate attractive and interesting, he had an equal enthusiasm for the website’s interface and format. “It’s so much easier to use than Match,” he declared.
Six months and many bad dates later, Frank found himself extremely frustrated. One night, at home after an unsuccessful date, he shouted, “Where is she?” The next day, Robin emailed him.
Frank and Robin immediately clicked. Their first phone conversation lasted 45 minutes, where they spoke about their jobs, their hobbies and Eames Furniture. Robin commented on the rare breed of Jews in Oklahoma, which was how she discovered Frank was not Jewish. “Well, I was going to tell you about that…” Frank began. Instead of being bothered, Robin reveled in the irony and made a date to meet Frank the following week at Otto, the West Village Italian Restaurant.
When they toasted their wine at Otto, there was an undeniable correlation between the clink of the glasses and the spark in their eyes. “Now THAT was a toast,” Robin declared. As any savvy online dater would do, Robin had arranged for her friends visiting from San Francisco to meet her there for dinner. Since the date was going so well, Robin extended the dinner invitation to Frank, which he politely declined. Although disappointed to see him leave, she understood why he declined; he too was a savvy dater.
At their fourth meeting - a BBQ on Robin’s roof deck – Frank’s feelings for Robin were solidified. When he saw Robin holding her friend’s baby, a calm wave came over him; this is really going to be something. A little more than a year later, Frank proposed to Robin at the Bridge Café, the city’s oldest surviving tavern, directly across the water from their home in Brooklyn Heights.
Frank and Robin will marry on June 13 at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, a working farm and restaurant presided over by chef and partner Dan Barber. The ceremony will take place steps away from their organic garden and well treated animals. Immediately following the ceremony will be a cocktail reception on the restaurant’s patio and dinner in their private dining room.
Robin first dined at the restaurant with her family on Fathers Day in 2006. At that meal, a year before she would meet Frank, Robin told her parents that she wanted to get married there. Months before they got engaged, Frank and Robin had dinner at Blue Hill where Robin confessed her wedding wishes. Between bites of his beet burger, Frank echoed her feelings, saying that he couldn’t have picked a better place.
