The Most Romantic Place in America...

IS A BEACHSIDE RESTAURANT AND BAR IN NEW JERSEY: COUNTLESS PEOPLE HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE AT THE PARKER HOUSE THROUGH THE DECADES, AND NOW FOUR COUPLES ARE SHARING THEIR STORIES By LIZZIE HYMAN

- LIZZIE HYMAN

Matthew and Carley tookl their engagement photos at the Parker House; below: the night they met.

Searching for the Perfect Birthday Drink, She Found Him Matthew Golden & Carley Gatta

Carley wasn’t looking for love when she walked up to Matthew at the Parker House in Sea Girt, N.J., one summer night in 2018. But like other couples who first crossed paths at the venue since 1878, love is what they found. “There’s so much history,” Carley, 27, says of the restaurant and bar (which is owned by three families and collects its many love stories on its website), “and it just attracts so many people.”

Carley was celebrating her 21st birthday. Being gluten-free—and too nervous to have tried sneaking into a bar before—she needed a drink recommendation for her first official night out. When a friend said Matthew was also gluten-free and might have some tips, Carley worked up the nerve to introduce herself. “We hit it off right away,” says Matthew, 28. They talked so long that they even forgot about getting a drink. (Matthew then recommended the signature “spring laker” cocktail.) Six years to the day after they met, he proposed. Looking ahead to their July wedding, they’re thrilled for what Matthew calls “the whole next chapter of life.”