Mattilyn Gets Married

Los Angeles, CA: Mattilyn Rochester marries Joshua Kravitz. Here is how they found each other:

Not unlike many other couples, we were introduced to one another by an elderly Canadian in a small coffeeshop full of homeless people and bonded over visits to an assisted living facility. We know, it sounds like a cliché but it’s true.

Both of us used to write at the same Coffee Bean in Westwood. A regular named Litta was the unofficial queen of the place, staking out a corner seat all day, every day and friendly with everyone who came in. Litta introduced us, figuring two writers would get along. When we met it was love at first sight, at least for Josh and Mattilyn’s dog Kichi. But Mattilyn came around eventually.

We started off as just good friends, telling one another embarrassing things about ourselves that we wouldn’t have told a romantic partner. It would be rude to say whose stories were more embarrassing but it was Josh. Definitely Josh.

Amazingly, we found one another’s so-called faults and mishaps to be endearing. We each started going to the Coffee Bean more often, hoping to run into one another. Josh even started going with Mattilyn and Litta to visit Mattilyn’s mother at her assisted living facility every week.

Inevitably we began to fall for one another, but we were afraid that getting involved could hurt our amazing friendship. Yet we finally took the plunge, in large part due to prodding by Kichi. Thankfully, our romance and our friendship merged into something even more beautiful. The term ‘soulmates’ gets thrown around a lot but in our case it applies.

A year after our first date, Josh proposed to Mattilyn by having an elephant carry over the ring in her trunk. He couldn’t think of anything more original. Yet even without Kichi there to push her, Mattilyn said yes!

A year and change later, we were preparing for our wedding when massive fires hit Los Angeles. The venue we had planned to use - in two days - was right in the middle of it all. Josh, Mattilyn, and her bridesmaids quickly went to work finding a new place and moving dozens of out-of-town guests to new hotels. We finally found a new venue and saw it for the first time just a day before the wedding.

As you can see in the video below, things worked out great. You wouldn’t even know all that went on behind the scenes. It just goes to show - when you find the right person, you can weather anything!