- [Eric] Okay, you guys ready?
- Yeah. - Uh-huh!
- [Eric] This is 20 years ago, or more, let's see.
- I think it's wonderful, we never would've met otherwise.
I think it's a great way to expand your social circle
and to get to know somebody before you actually meet them,
'cause you get to have the email interaction
and then bring it to a phone,
and then finally meet if you choose to.
- Mother's pretty, girls.
Aww. - So is your daddy.
(lighthearted piano music)
- Christine and I met online on match.com.
- His profile was a little bit silly.
"Are you looking for me?" was his headline.
(both laugh)
- It's a good headline!
(lighthearted piano music)
- I really liked his profile because
you could tell that he was easygoing and fun,
and the picture was intriguing.
So we started emailing,
and that was where I really felt the connection.
(lighthearted piano music)
- Back then, it was a lot harder to scroll through pages.
There was only a single thumbnail profile picture,
if you had one.
A lot of the profiles didn't have any pictures.
But Christine's picture really stood out.
Her smile and I could just tell
that there was an energy and a certain life there.
So, until I stumbled across her profile,
then when I read it and she had things in her profile
like skydiving and living life to its fullest.
Today, there's lots of pictures and videos
and everything else, but back then,
you had to put more work into what you wrote.
I could tell she was a great writer
and that she really enjoyed life.
- We met Feb. 16, 2000.
That was our very first date.
- We met at a Mexican restaurant in Tarrytown, New York.
I had already spoken to him and really liked him,
but the minute I saw him in person I absolutely,
I had never felt the way I felt.
- I do remember feeling the same way
the first time I saw Christine.
When she walked in it was like a beam of light
and almost like when you see a movie
that goes from black and white to color.
(lighthearted piano music)
I'm trying to remember when we first said I love you,
and that was actually a funny story
that tells you about how times have changed
with the internet.
Just a quick story was that I emailed her
saying "I love you," and she had a dial-up account.
She didn't get it right away
and then I started freakin' out
because I wasn't getting a response.
So then I wrote her another email,
and I said, "You know when I said I love you,
"I meant, y'know, life and love,
"and y'know, you're an amazing person,"
and I started like somehow trying to...
- There was one line I remember.
"Love means many things to many people."
(both laughing) - Right!
- [Christine] In one of the six emails you sent to me.
- Right.
So I was totally freaking out
because she wasn't responding right away,
and so, finally, when she dialed in
and got all of my emails (laughs),
she probably thought I was nuts.
But she sent me one beautiful, perfect email
that said, "I love you, too."
Met, first date in February,
things got serious in April and May,
moved in together in July,
and then we got engaged in September.
(lighthearted piano music)
- The best thing about Eric's proposal to me
was that it was at home
and we were about to go to Europe for 10 days.
- We were at the house looking at a beautiful Hudson River.
I had, of course, a hot tub (laughs)
because I was a bachelor, and we were in the hot tub,
and I had the ring hidden.
In the hot tub there was a little place
where you could put a bottle of wine,
so I had it hidden in there.
It got dark out and the stars came out
and it was a beautiful night
and it was just a perfect moment.
So I brought the ring out and proposed to her
while we were in the hot tub. (laughs)
(lighthearted piano music)
- After Eric and I met, we both had Match Memberships.
Eric and I had to cancel ours and I believe we both,
separately without talking about it,
had enclosed a little note saying,
"Hey, we had a really good success story, thank you."
They reached out to us and said,
would you be willing to be interviewed?
Things just kind of snowballed and we got to be,
I can't remember which interview was first.
- Well we did the match.com Games,
which was a really great contest
for couples that met on Match and that were engaged.
So the idea was that they were gonna help you
pay for your wedding.
So to participate, first of all, you had to write an essay
and tell your story, and Christine,
being an amazing communications person,
wrote a great story of everything that happened with us.
So we were one of 10 couples in the country
that participated in these games, it was in New York.
It was really fun and silly and it was televised.
- You bring out the best in me.
My love for you will forever be.
- [Christine] Know I've never been this happy.
Dates and life before you, well, it was crappy.
(family laughing)
- Looking back at all the footage
back when my parents were engaged
and did all the advertising for match.com,
some of it's a little dorky, the stuff that they did,
but it's all pretty cute.
Being able to see what they were like back then
and it's pretty cool that they were on TV like that.
- Mm, that's really good.
- Salad?
- [Christine] Mm-hmm.
- [Eric] Bam!
- Your homemade lasagna is the best thing
that I've ever tasted. - Woo, high five!
High five.
- [ Girl 1] I think I've learned a lot
from my parents' relationship.
They have a gorgeous relationship.
I really look up to their relationship a lot.
(playful music)
- I think that it's a little bit more common now,
so I don't think they appreciate
how we were braving new terrain back in the day,
because there was really a stigma
back when Eric and I met on match.com.
In fact, one of the early disagreements Eric and I had
was that I wanted to lie, I wanted to say
that we had been set up initially,
and Eric talked me out of it.
He said, "That's silly, we should be proud of how we met."
'Cause I thought people would think it was weird
that we met online.
- I think with our kids and them knowing how we met,
I like to think that what they have learned
is to never be ashamed of who you are,
and who your friends are and the choices that you make.
Back in 2000, you'd meet someone online,
it was weird and it was creepy sometimes.
And that's just, nobody really, people were embarrassed
to talk about it and we weren't.
We were like, listen, I signed up for match.com and boom,
look how great things worked out.
And I would've never met her.
She was in Jersey and I was in Westchester.
I wasn't going to Jersey to meet people
or going out to the nightlife or anything.
So it really brought us together and I was proud of that.
(playful music)