Megan Jericha Lerchenmuller was greater than a bit irritated after first assembly Glenn Kyle Williams Josey in Could 2018 on the building website of the Glasshouse, an occasion area on twelfth Avenue off the West Aspect Freeway in New York.
“That is Megan, she simply joined our group,” Mr. Josey, 46, the challenge architect, recalled a companion of the Glasshouse saying earlier than a gathering obtained underway in a makeshift workplace area.
Mr. Josey then blurted out: “Oh, you’re right here to take assembly notes,” underneath the impression the companion would deliver somebody alongside for the duty.
Ms. Lerchenmuller merely glared at him. She had truly been employed by the Glasshouse every week earlier as a advisor for enterprise technique.
“I’m going to tuck that piece of data away,” she thought, realizing they must work collectively “a bunch” over the following three years.
Mr. Josey, embarrassed by his assumption, ended up taking the notes, along with conducting the assembly. He had been working for Kossar + Garry Architects on the time.
Ms. Lerchenmuller, 39, is now the chief working officer of Elm by Atelier Collective, an occasion area in SoHo, which she collaborated on with Mr. Josey. She has a bachelor’s diploma in economics from Northwestern and an M.B.A. from College of Pennsylvania.
Three weeks after they met they’d a friendlier change after they joined the companion of the Glasshouse for drinks on the now-closed Clyde Frazier’s Wine and Dine bar, which was throughout the road in Manhattan’s Midtown West neighborhood.
“I discovered her very good, very good and extremely smart,” stated Mr. Josey, “and lovely.”
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He has a bachelor’s diploma in structure from the College of Oklahoma, and is now the proprietor of Glenn Josey Structure. Mr. Josey, who turned a Quaker in 2013, is a member of the Fifteenth Avenue Month-to-month Assembly of the Spiritual Society of Associates in New York and the clerk of trustees for the New York Quarterly Assembly.
As soon as Covid hit in 2020, group conferences went digital, and drinks with colleagues fell by the wayside.
In June 2021, in preparation of the Glasshouse opening in September, Mr. Josey visited the positioning on a regular basis, and infrequently checked to see if Ms. Lerchenmuller was round. As they chatted he urged they exit for drinks once more.
On the time, although, Ms. Lerchenmuller was on a juice cleanse.
“When is it over?” he requested, to which she replied matter-of-factly, “at any time when we get drinks.”
That Friday, the pair had drinks at Ink 48, a bar throughout from the Glasshouse, and after a few hours dinner adopted at a Mexican restaurant, owned by one in every of his childhood buddies from Riverdale, the Bronx. She grew up in Laguna Seashore, Calif.
At 1 a.m., he drove her residence to the Higher West Aspect, and after two good night time hugs he headed to his place in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
They nonetheless, with fun, name these seven hours collectively “a date non-date.”
Their first actual date, albeit together with her greatest pal, occurred a couple of days later over drinks within the V.I.P. lounge on the Glasshouse after she had simply completed a photograph shoot. They’d a primary kiss after they stepped into the south hall.
The subsequent day she left on a 10-day journey to go to buddies in Detroit, and rented a automobile to rejoice a pal’s fortieth birthday in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. She spoke on speaker cellphone to Mr. Josey the entire method there, which included a torrential downpour.
On July 4, he left his annual household barbecue early in Yeadon, Pa., to select her up at LaGuardia Airport.
“I obtained a household ribbing,” he stated, however obtained their seal of approval as soon as he talked about that she belonged to Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. His mom, his sister, two cousins and Vice President Kamala Harris are additionally members.
“You shoulda led with that,” he recalled his sister and a cousin saying. He packed a picnic basket for Ms. Lerchenmuller, together with his “Uncle Cal’s” well-known ribs.
“We’ve been collectively ever since,” he stated.
In August, a “six-month Megan tour” started, throughout which she met his household and buddies, and took cost of the playlist throughout lengthy automobile rides.
“He stopped listening to new music within the early 2000s,” she stated, introducing Mr. Josey, who was into hip-hop and R&B, to singers like Frank Ocean.
Ms. Lerchenmuller turned a fan of his cooking, particularly his oven roasted truffle rooster and garlic rice. That fall he moved into her Higher West Aspect condominium.
In October, after they flew out to California for her pal’s wedding ceremony, he advised her mom and grandmother that he would marry her.
On March 18, 2022, after taking her to the Guggenheim Museum, he proposed at her favourite bar — Bemelmans Bar on the Carlyle lodge. Whereas the pianist performed Stevie Marvel’s “Ribbon within the Sky,” he obtained down on one knee.
On April 27, the 2 have been married in a self-uniting Quaker ceremony, with about 200 visitors, on the Fifteenth Avenue Month-to-month Assembly of the Spiritual Society of Associates.
Later on the Assembly home they get pleasure from potluck dishes, together with curry goat and her mom’s lasagna and cupcakes. Leftovers went to the Associates homeless shelter and neighborhood dinner.
On Could 4, at Scotts Head cliff in Dominica, surrounded by rum punch, coconut drinks and tropical flora, they exchanged vows earlier than 55 visitors at Jungle Bay, a resort in Soufriere, Dominica.
“Our celebrations have been about love, household and giving again to the neighborhood,.” he stated.
