Gastropub Dance Party

• By Tyler Stratman

Ed Hambleton & John Martinez

reBar
January 29, 2012

While riding the school bus as a seventh grader in Dallas, Ed Hambleton, now 28, was not expecting to meet the love of his life. But as fate would have it, he fell for eighth-grader John Martinez, now 29 and a special-events supervisor. By high school, they had become close friends, and before they graduated, they were dating. But the couple drifted apart—John was off to New York University, and Ed to Columbia University the year after. In New York, they saw each other now and then, and in May 2010, Ed, an elementary-school teacher, made a move. “I got this goofy Facebook message from him that said, ‘How is your life?’ ” says John, who nervously accepted his invitation to dinner. “Four months later, John asked me to marry him—then I asked him to marry me,” says Ed. “It was a huge shock, but I love him.” The couple tied the knot one year later at reBar in Dumbo. “Our mothers were sobbing,” says John. The night ended blissfully with a “major dance party” and a photo booth “diva off.”