On their first date, Dayton Samuel Munson and Emily Francis Orozco were “so engaged in the conversation,” he said, that he “didn’t find a way” to work in an important piece of information.
On their second date, he told her he had a daughter. “When I started getting back out there after Margot was born,” Mr. Munson said, “my plan was always to mention it on the first date.”
Neither the information nor the timing fazed Ms. Orozco. “I didn’t feel duped in any way,” she said. “Being a parent is tied to your identity, so it was nice. For that first date, I knew him as just Dayton.”
On the second, she said she was “delighted” to learn the news. They spent much of that meal, at Left Bank, a restaurant in Manhattan’s West Village, talking about Mr. Munson’s daughter, who came from a previous relationship, and sharing photos.
Mr. Munson and Ms. Orozco met in early April 2024 on Bumble. Mr. Munson had mentioned in his profile that he loved karaoke, so Ms. Orozco messaged him asking, “As a karaoke fan, have you been to Sid’s?” She was referring to Sid Gold’s Request Room in the Chelsea neighborhood. He replied, “No. But would you like to do a duet?”
About a week later, they exchanged numbers. From that point, Mr. Munson texted “‘Good morning’ every single morning,” Ms. Orozco said.
Their first date followed on April 24 at Hudson Clearwater, a restaurant in the West Village. “I remember thinking he was perfect,” Ms. Orozco said.
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At the time, Ms. Orozco was living in Sutton Place, and Mr. Munson had just closed on a new apartment in Hoboken, N.J. On their third date, after dining at Sushi by Bou in Hoboken, Mr. Munson invited her to his apartment for a drink.
“Ever the skeptic, I wanted to validate that Dayton really was a single dad,” Ms. Orozco said. “Sure enough, he had Pampers on the kitchen counter and a bassinet in his room.” (Mr. Munson shares custody of his daughter.)
That third date also confirmed that there would be many more dates to come.
About two months later, after a night of dancing at the wedding of Ms. Orozco’s sister, Phyllis Orozco, Mr. Munson told Ms. Orozco he loved her for the first time. “Lucky for him, I said it back,” Ms. Orozco said, jokingly.
Ms. Orozco met Mr. Munson’s daughter, only 11 months old at the time, a week later.
Margot woke up singing, they recalled. “It was a really sweet morning,” Mr. Munson said. “Emily went in there and didn’t skip a beat. She very quickly became Emmy.”
Ms. Orozco, 34, is a correspondent and producer at Access Hollywood. She earned a bachelor’s degree in arts administration from Wagner College in Staten Island. She was born and raised in Ramsey, N.J.
Mr. Munson, 38, is the regional vice president of advertising at Demandbase. He earned a bachelor’s in marketing from Rutgers University. He was born and raised in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Mr. Munson proposed to Ms. Orozco on Dec. 18, her birthday, at Pier A Park in Hoboken.
“He woke up very nervous,” Ms. Orozco said. “He’s a bad liar.” She knew he was up to something and couldn’t help but tease him. “We went to brunch. We were having mimosas, and I was like, ‘Oh, these are going to make my fingers swell,’ and he said, ‘Oh, then go slow.’”
The plan was to go to the pier, where Mr. Munson had a photographer waiting, and propose before meeting family for dinner. To get her out of the house early enough to do that, he told her they were meeting friends at the pier for drinks beforehand.
But they arrived too early. The photographer wouldn’t be there yet. Mr. Munson had to stall. “We’re driving around the block, and I’m acting like I’m looking for a parking space,” Mr. Munson said. He was so nervous, “I wanted to put him out of his misery,” she said.
When they finally made it out to the pier that cold and dreary day, Mr. Munson asked, “Will you make me the happiest man alive?” Ms. Orozco could not have been happier to say yes.
On March 8, Ms. Orozco left her “Carrie Bradshaw, Midtown Manhattan apartment of eight years,” as she referred to it, and moved in with Mr. Munson in Hoboken, where the couple now live.
The couple were wed before 136 guests on July 5 at the Ashford Estate in Allentown, N.J., by the bride’s aunt Tracy Forsyth, who was ordained by Universal Life Church Ministries for the occasion. Mr. Munson’s daughter, who will be 2 in August, was the flower girl.
“Your story has all the magic of a classic Nora Ephron film,” the bride’s older sister, Phyllis, said in her maid of honor speech. “A little wit, a New York state of mind, just enough neurotic energy to keep things interesting — and, of course, a deep, steady, soul mate kind of love.”
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