Samantha Jordan Podell and Robert Nathan Mitchell were new to online dating when they matched on the Jewish dating app Lox Club in February 2021. They were actually each other’s first match.
While messaging, they soon discovered that they had more than a dozen mutual friends and had both spent much of the pandemic in Boca Raton, Fla., with their families. Within a day, Mr. Mitchell asked Ms. Podell on a date.
Neither was interested in a serious relationship at the time. Ms. Podell had graduated from college the previous year, and Mr. Mitchell had in 2019. Both wanted to date around. “If you wanted any action or just to meet someone new, the only way during Covid was by going on dates,” Ms. Podell said. “Going to bars wasn’t a thing.”
At the time, Mr. Mitchell shared an apartment with two friends in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, while Ms. Podell lived alone in Nomad.
They met a few days later for drinks outdoors at Baby Brasa, a now-closed Peruvian restaurant in the West Village. Both had dinner plans with friends afterward, but quickly lost track of time.
“From the get-go, sparks were flying,” Mr. Mitchell said. “Sami was a pretty, blonde girl who dressed cool, and I immediately knew I wanted to date her.”
“Robby was funny with a great smile,” Ms. Podell said. “Conversation was easy, and we were laughing from the start.”
As they chatted about their upbringings and jobs, they discovered more overlaps: attending preschool at the 92nd Street Y on the Upper East Side, and belonging to Central Synagogue in Midtown. “We shared similar values, and the mood was very playful,” Ms. Podell, 27, said.
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One margarita turned into two espresso martinis, and they parted nearly three hours later — but not before making brunch plans for the next morning. That date, at La Pecora Bianca, an Italian restaurant in SoHo, led to more conversation and solidified their relationship.
“It was clear this was going somewhere,” Mr. Mitchell, 28, said. “We started discussing our next date for the following weekend as we were eating.”
The pair texted frequently over the next few days, and by that Wednesday, Mr. Mitchell texted Ms. Podell, saying he couldn’t wait to see her. He asked her to dinner the following evening, and they met for Mexican food and spicy margaritas at La Esquina in NoLIta. Ms. Podell walked Mr. Mitchell home after, and as she waited for her Uber, they kissed. “I had butterflies,” she said.
They saw each other again that weekend, and from then on, they met often. About a month into dating, Mr. Mitchell asked Ms. Podell to be his girlfriend. “After we were official, we started discovering all of these invisible strings that had brought us together,” he said.
The two spent all their free time together, texting and talking in between. Ms. Podell rarely watched television, and Mr. Mitchell introduced her to the pleasure of shows, with “The Queen’s Gambit” kicking off the more than 30 they’ve seen so far. A Jets fan, he also got her interested in football. Ms. Podell turned him on to dirty martinis. Ordering the drink at a bar to end their night out became a ritual they still follow.
Lazy Sundays, sitting in silence and doing nothing on Ms. Podell’s living room couch, were a favorite moment and remain so. “It didn’t matter what we were doing as long as we were together and in each other’s presence,” she said.
It was clear to both that they were headed toward marriage. “After we were dating for a few months, I felt very calm and at peace in a way I hadn’t felt before,” Ms. Podell said.
When his lease ended in September 2022, Mr. Mitchell temporarily moved in with his parents at their apartment on the Upper East Side. By July 2023, Ms. Podell’s lease had ended, and the couple moved into an apartment in Chelsea, where they still live.
Mr. Mitchell grew up on the Upper East Side. He is a vice president at Morgan Stanley in New York, where he works on the alternative sales team. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Ms. Podell is from Brookville, N.Y. She is a private banker for J.P. Morgan Private Bank in New York. She has a bachelor’s degree in human and organizational development from Vanderbilt.
In January 2025, Mr. Mitchell proposed in their apartmentwith a diamond ring set in rose gold.
They married Jan. 10 in front of 300 guests in the Terrace Room at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. Rabbi Angela Buchdahl of Central Synagogue officiated. Mr. Mitchell entered to “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” by Randy Newman, while Frank Sinatra’s “(Theme From) New York, New York” played during the recessional.
The reception, held in the Grand Ballroom, featured a black-and-white color theme, and a dirty martini was the signature drink. “I’ve dreamed of getting married at the Plaza since I was a little girl,” Ms. Podell said.
The post The ‘Invisible Strings’ That Brought Them Together appeared first on New York Times.
