Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, Cedric DuBose of Houston was completing a nine-week online course called “Love Alchemy.” The workshop, intended to get him thinking about his relationship skills, was a prerequisite to hiring Amari Ice, a Washington-based matchmaker. Image Mr. Ice’s matchmaking services include teaching clients how to write the perfect dating profile. “Your…
Ashley Gruber always made a point of paying attention in church. This helped salvage her wedding. Ms. Gruber and her fiancé, Jeph Mwaituka, had planned to be married March 21 before 230 guests, some traveling from as far as Tanzania, when group-gathering restrictions because of the coronavirus started tightening in Alabama. “It went from 50…
Most people prefer to keep their relationships private, and then there are those who choose to broadcast their personal stories, along with some advice and a few laughs, to the masses via podcasts. Formatted to entertain, educate and facilitate self-help, these podcasts often uncover hot topics and sensitive issues, from tales of singledom to parenting…
Because marriage is an ever-evolving experience, we constantly shift, change and, in some cases, start over. In It’s No Secret, couples share thoughts about commitment and tell us what they have learned, revealing their secret to making it work. (Answers are edited for context and space.) Who Dr. Monique Collier Nickles and Dr. Leroy Nickles,…
Adrianna Kruyt, a Canadian in the first year of graduate studies in Manhattan at the New School, didn’t have plans for Thanksgiving in 2016. So her parents arranged for her to spend the long weekend celebrating the American holiday with friends in Bedford Hills, N.Y. Isaac Wasserman had also received an invitation to spend the…
When Bennett Eastham needed a mental-health break last June from working long hours at a Virginia law firm, he made plans to travel to Copenhagen to see Andrew Bird, an American singer, perform there. Before departing, Mr. Eastham, 28, also contacted Ebba Palmstierna, 27, “an old friend from Sweden,” as he described her, who in…
Ayana Coston and Clinton Jordan Jr., friends for 17 years who began dating about 18 months ago, had set a wedding date for May 23 with a guest list that kept growing. “We were looking at about 300 guests from my side of the family alone,” said Mr. Jordan, 46, a network engineer at Lockheed…
Martin Schmaltz, a physics professor at Boston University, preferred to study the rate of the expansion of the universe over dating. “After my divorce I was withdrawn,’’ said Dr. Schmaltz, 53, who researches theoretical particle theory and cosmology. “But I was starting to feel it would be nice to reconnect with the rest of the…
Ariel Ball and Ross Weinstein held fast to their original wedding date, and were married April 25 in Stuyvesant Cove Park along the East River in Manhattan. Mark Stokely, a Universal Life minister and a friend of the couple, rode his bicycle from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to officiate. “April 25 ended up being the perfect day,”…
Sean Gottlieb and Matthew Kerns met for the first time on gay pride day last year in St. Louis, after finding each other on Scruff, a site that helps gay men connect. Mr. Kerns (right), 47, who is both the executive director of St Lou Fringe, an arts festival organization, and an associate director of…