Sydney Dana Reade was drawn to Samuel Bennett Zweighaft’s Hinge profile in mid-January 2021 after seeing the initials TCM, which she immediately recognized as Turner Classic Movies, the classic film TV channel.

“He said his perfect date night was watching TCM,” Ms. Reade said. “80-year-olds watch that channel, not 30-year-olds. But I watch it.”

After matching on the app, the two had a first date on a video calling platform on Jan. 31. The conversation flowed and went deep. Mr. Zweighaft, 31, asked Ms. Reade, also 31, if she wanted children. They also discussed how religious they were (both are Jewish) and their shared desire to continue living close to their families in New York. Before they knew it, four hours had passed.

The video date was followed by other virtual meetings over the next few days until their first in-person meet-up on Feb. 15. Part of the plan was to hang out at Ms. Reade’s apartment in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Manhattan and, yes, watch a classic movie: “An American in Paris.”

Neither loved the film and Ms. Reade dozed off with her head on Mr. Zweighaft’s lap. “It was a good sign that she was comfortable enough to fall asleep on me,” he said.

More good signs and good dates followed and, in September 2022, Ms. Reade moved into Mr. Zweighaft’s apartment in Sunnyside, Queens. By that point, they had already talked about marriage. “We were dating with the intention of finding people to marry,” he said.