How to Get Featured in The New York Times Wedding Section
Meeting on OkCupid improves your chances more than any other dating app — just sayin’
There’s many an article on the difficulty of securing a spot in the coveted wedding section of The New York Times. Besides published requirements, such as partners’ eyebrows being on the same level in photos, there are also some not-exactly-stated (and yet obvious) patterns that make it clear not just any newlyweds (even those with aligned eyebrows) make the cut. And ultimately, those who do is up to the discretion of the powers that be — i.e. the almighty NYT editors.
Fortunately, like with many things in life, there’s a hack: if you meet your spouse-to-be on OkCupid over another dating app, you increase your chances significantly. No, you don’t have to take our word for it; we reached out to Todd Schneider, creator of Wedding Crunchers, to get the data — and it worked out in our favor. (Let’s be real, we probably wouldn’t be writing about it if it hadn’t.) By analyzing all of The New York Times wedding announcements over the past two years, Schneider discovered that OkCupid is credited as the meet-cute more than any other dating app.
OkCupid was mentioned 98 times, three times more frequently than runner-ups Match.com and Tinder. eHarmony, Coffee Meets Bagel, and Bumble lagged much further behind. Of course, though the NYT guidelines require hopeful couples to state how they met, it doesn’t mean they always do. But even if 100 featured newlyweds actually met on eHarmony, only nine were brave enough to reveal it — not the case with OkCupid.
In fact, omitting prepositions and the like, “OkCupid” is the 38th most-mentioned word in New York Times wedding announcements this year, coming in right behind “New York” and directly ahead of “vice.” Looking at the 100 most frequently used terms, it seems that brides and grooms in Manhattan who graduated magna cum laude from Columbia are in a great position for making their way into the wedding section. So are stepsons and stepdaughters of retired parents in Florida. But lest you fear that the Times only cares about elitist yuppies, it may warm your heart to know that “nonprofit” is the 42nd most commonly used word — in what context, however, is lesser known.
And that’s just the thing. Because — while discovering that OkCupid is the most mentioned dating app is a nice lift for our ego — we care more about the context: namely, the OkCupid couples who are featured in The New York Times, and what their stories are. So we reached out to two newlywed OkCupid couples featured in the NYT wedding section this year. While top-performing terms such as graduated, officiated, and OkCupid may have appeared in their announcements, there’s nothing cookie-cutter about these duos. One even got married in a pizza joint — seriously.
Rachel and David originally met in the summer of 2012, when both were working at a non-profit in D.C. Rachel was in a relationship at the time, however, and it wasn’t until she was newly single a year later that friends encouraged her to join OkCupid. “What I loved about OkCupid was that it allowed me to have fun dating in DC, while still letting me have control over whom I would get matched with,” Rachel explained in a call. “The questions were also a fun element and honestly the main reason why I preferred OkCupid over other dating apps.” After several months on OkCupid, Rachel received a message from David. “One thing I loved about Rachel,” David said, “was that she put at the bottom of the profile: If you’ve made it this far, mention ‘cupcake’ in your message so I know you read my profile.” In his first message to her, he mentioned “cupcake,” made the connection they had worked together, and asked her on a date. She said “yes” — and it obviously wouldn’t be the last time.
The couple wed just a month after their engagement. The venue? A pizza parlor. At the time, David was a student and Rachel was still in the midst of starting up her business, Starlight Social — so when a local pizzeria was offering free weddings on Pi Day, they jumped at the chance. “We were all crammed in there since we brought the max capacity,” Rachel said, “but it was really amazing and we had close family and friends there to celebrate with us.”
Amos and Rebecca are another OkCupid couple featured in The New York Times wedding section (twice). They made it in not only for their engagement, but also for a feature on Rebecca’s dress. Just like Rachel did with David, Rebecca appreciated Amos’s first message because he noted something specific from her profile. “His message mentioned meditation and the fact that I competed on a game show with my mom — both things I put in my profile,” she explained. “OkCupid I liked [over other dating apps] because I could really express myself on it,” Amos added.
They, too, quickly felt the connection on their first date. “We are two people who our whole lives felt a little different from everyone else, and we consider ourselves two weirdos who met,” Rebecca laughed.
Is making it into The New York Times wedding section a clear marker of “success”? Certainly not. At OkCupid, our definition of success doesn’t just mean a white dress — but it can. And it certainly does feel good to read about OkCupid helping couples — weirdos and the like — connect on a deeper level.
Written by Jane Reynolds. Data by Todd Schneider and Brenton McMenamin. Illustrations by June Tate (header image) and Hanna Kim.
Whether you care about being in The New York Times or not, OkCupid.com is a leading spot for finding what you’re looking for.
