Event planner Amanda Dubin and ABC News correspondent Will Reeves’s love story began online—a place where neither of them ever expected to meet their forever person. They matched in the late summer of 2022, but life logistics and scheduling conflicts meant that they weren’t able to immediately get together in person. “One of us got COVID, another had to travel, and so on,” explains Amanda, who runs the luxury event planning company Victoria Dubin Events with her mother.
After canceling on each other a few times, they finally set a date for a Friday in the fall—but on that Wednesday, Will got a call from work instructing him to fly to the U.K. to cover the death of Queen Elizabeth II—so he had to cancel again.
Upon arriving in London, Will went straight to the gates of Buckingham Palace to begin reporting. Back in the U.S., Amanda saw the news and texted Will her condolences, not fully realizing that Will was a television correspondent in England on location for work, and not in fact related to the queen in any way.
Between the time difference and the long days Will was spending on assignment, he missed her text and didn’t reply for over a week. As soon as he came up for air and realized his faux pas, however, he quickly re-engaged, insisting that he was not intentionally ghosting her and explaining that he was hopeful she might give him one more chance at a date upon his eventual return to New York. Happily, Amanda agreed to Will’s invitation to coffee in Greenwich Village.
They ultimately met at Banter on Sullivan Street. “It was apparent to both of us right away that there was a connection,” Will says. “Even potential for something big.” Soon, they were going out together almost every night.
They got engaged on November 8, 2024. “By that point, we had already lived together for a year, and an engagement was more of a question of when, not if,” Amanda says.
The summer before, Amanda had begun casually familiarizing herself with engagement rings so that she might have suggestions for Will when the time came. One day, she offhandedly mentioned seeing the perfect old mine cushion cut at a jewelry store, just to give Will an idea. He immediately called the jeweler and told him that he would be in the next day to design the ring.
Months later, in early November, Will worked with Amanda’s mom and his adoptive parents, Ralph and Ann Pucci, to arrange the proposal at Ralph’s design gallery, Ralph Pucci International, in the Flatiron District. (Reeves’s parents were the late actor Christopher Reeve, known worldwide for his portrayal of Superman, and Dana Reeve.) He organized flowers, candles, a photographer, and even a harpist.
In order to get Amanda there, Will concocted a fake event. The two were scheduled to attend a friend’s rehearsal dinner and wedding. Prior to their departure, Will had Ralph tell Amanda that it was important that they stop by an event at the gallery before leaving town. This ensured Amanda would get dressed up for a night out.
