Samantha Meredith Rosenberg and Jonathan Abraham Darche, both assistant district attorneys in Kew Gardens, Queens, were married on Saturday in Westhampton Beach, N.Y. Justice Arthur J. Cooperman of State Supreme Court in Queens officiated at the Westhampton Bath and Tennis Hotel and Marina.
The bride, 28, graduated cum laude from Colgate, and received her law degree from Brooklyn Law School. She is the daughter of Nancy Peters of Spotsylvania, Va., and David Rosenberg of Westport, Conn. Her father retired as a senior vice president for account management at Grey Global, an advertising firm in Manhattan. He is now an English teacher at Middle School 201 in the Bronx. Her mother retired as a recruiter of financial analysts for E. J. Lance, an executive search firm in Manhattan.
The bride is the stepdaughter of Joseph Peters and Nancy M. Axthelm. Her stepmother, who is retired, was the executive vice president and the director of broadcast content at Grey Global.
The bridegroom, 35, graduated from Empire State College and received his law degree from City University of New York. He is a son of RoseAnn Darche and Gary M. Darche of Fresh Meadows, Queens. His mother is the education secretary to the Queens borough president, Helen M. Marshall. His father is a lawyer in Fresh Meadows.
The couple met three years ago on Sept. 6 — Ms. Rosenberg’s birthday — during training on their first day at the district attorney’s office.
“I noticed Samantha’s pretty smile right away,” Mr. Darche said. “I soon found out that she was really sweet and really smart.”
On July 6, 2006, Justice Cooperman summoned Ms. Rosenberg to his courtroom for a noon meeting. She had just wrapped up her first felony trial, and thought she was to receive an evaluation.
She did not know that earlier that morning Mr. Darche, a diamond ring in hand, had peeked into the courtroom, expecting it to be empty and the ideal place, given how they had met, for a marriage proposal. To his surprise, he found Justice Cooperman presiding over a trial.
“Nothing was supposed to be going on,” Mr. Darche recalled. “I was about to run out and get the flowers, and now I was worried that the whole thing was ruined.”
Through a court clerk, Justice Cooperman, who recently presided over the trial of three detectives in the death of Sean Bell, was apprised of Mr. Darche’s intentions. Mr. Darche was told to come back at 11:30, when the judge would call a half-hour recess.
“He said not to worry, because Samantha was always early,” Mr. Darche said.
But Ms. Rosenberg, who was presenting a case to a grand jury, did not get to Justice Cooperman’s courtroom until 11:59, one minute before the trial was to resume.
By the time Ms. Rosenberg arrived, the judge had company: a prosecutor, a defense lawyer, court officers, interns and a defendant. Mr. Darche was also there, wearing a suit and a nervous smile, holding a ring and a bouquet of flowers.
“What are you doing here?” Ms. Rosenberg asked Mr. Darche.
“I’m guilty of being madly in love with you,” he replied.
He bent down on one knee and blurted: “Sentence me to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Silence ensued.
“It felt like hours had gone by before I heard a response,” Mr. Darche said. Finally, she said yes, and the entire courtroom, defendant included, erupted in applause.
