Tradition plays a big part in Jeffrey and Allie (Levine) Mandeau’s story.

They met in what has become a traditional way, on a dating app. What caused Allie to swipe right?

“I wore a green tie in my main picture,” Jeff, now 36, said. “Then I wore a green quarter-zip on our first date. I didn’t even know green was her favorite color.”

Allie, now 32, acknowledges that was part of the reason they hit it off. (Jumping ahead, you’ll see her bridesmaids wore green.)

“The green tie part is definitely true,” she said. The bigger part, she said, was that they had “a really nice first date” for drinks in Newton Center in April 2023. “Actually, we both were sick, but both of us kept to the date, which is a good thing. I feel like if one of us didn’t, who knows what the history would be for us. We got drinks and just hit it off and enjoyed talking and getting to know one another.”

Jeff wearing a quarter-zip in Allie’s favorite color didn’t hurt, either. Or that green is also the color of the Boston Celtics, their favorite team, which has a tradition of excellence and of winning.
“A lot of our early dates revolved around the Celtics,” Allie recalled. “We’re big sports fans, and so we got to watch Celtics games together, which was fun. Whenever we watched them together, they typically won.”

The Green won a lot in the first year of Allie and Jeff’s courtship, including the 2024 NBA championship.

Jeff followed raising Banner 18 in the traditional way: with a wedding proposal in October 2024. Allie’s family – the Levines of Larry Levine’s fame – have a house near Narragansett, Rhode Island. Jeff concocted a ruse to get Allie to the beach there, where he had spelled out in ceramic letters, “Allie, will you marry me?”

Beforehand, Jeff had secretly procured the ring that made Allie’s face light up when she saw it where her sister Hillary works at Long’s Jewelers.

“I was so happy,” Allie said. “He pulled it off! I thought it was sort of fishy, but it was an awesome, awesome surprise. It was a beautiful fall day, and we were just so excited.”
Their choices around the wedding ceremony were based on family tradition.

Allie and Jeff were married in October 2025 at Temple Emanuel of Newton, Jeff’s hometown synagogue. Emanuel’s Rabbi Wes Gardenswartz and Cantor Elias Rosemberg shared officiating duties with Rabbi Richard Perlman of Allie’s hometown synagogue, Peabody’s Temple Ner Tamid of the North Shore.

“It was important to us that we had both of the rabbis from our upbringing there,” Allie said.

To add meaning, both she and Jeff were wrapped in tallit for part of the ceremony. “Two of the tallit were from my zaydie and my grandpa, and Jeff had his tallit, as well,” Allie said. Their ketubah, from ketubah.com, was signed by “really long term friends of ours.”

Family and friends surrounded the couple. Allie’s sister Hillary was her maid of honor, and she had seven more green-clad bridesmaids: Becca Alter, Sarah Cuna, Amy Harrington, Haylee Manning, Michelle Munley, Brooke Nacht and Gabby Pope. Jeff had two best men – Garhett Solomon and David Krinsky – and two more groomsmen, Noah Merlin and Josh Primak.

Allie’s dress was from Vows. “It was the hardest thing to keep as a surprise for Jeff. I really wanted to show him,” she recalled. “It was very me. It had pearls on it, and fit like a glove. It was just perfect, lovely. I’m not a super girly girl, but it was just the right dress for me.”

(To complete their outfits, during the reception the couple switched from their formal shoes to sneakers that light up in changing colors.)

Oliva DoCanto did the hair and Lisa Roche did the makeup for the bride and all the bridesmaids.

Allie’s bouquet, Jeff’s boutonniere and all the floral arrangements, including on the chuppah, were from Flowers by Darlene. Samantha Yanofsky of SLY Photography took all the pictures.

The 200-person reception was held at Temple Emanuel, with music by a Wilson Stevens band, The Hub. (There are reports that Allie’s dad, Todd Levine, joined the band onstage for a rendition of the Commodores’ 1977 funk classic, “Brick House.”)

Of course, it wouldn’t be a traditional Levine family wedding without Catering by Tevya, the banqueting aspect of Larry Levine’s Kosher Meat Market and Deli.

“That was obviously a big deal for us,” Allie said. She said having her father, Todd, cater the wedding was a lot of fun. “We joke that we didn’t get to have a wedding tasting – my dad would always say, ‘You’ve been tasting my food for 30 years.’”

Leading off the “over-the-top” festivities was a “massive” cocktail hour that included a kosher Mexican food station and a deli carving station that was “cleaned out,” according to Jeff. Since Jeff is gluten-free, Todd Levine created kosher, gluten-free appetizers that included corn dogs, stuffed mushrooms, and lamb on polenta cake.

For the main meal, guests were offered a choice of fish or beef. “To no surprise, a lot of folks chose the beef,” Allie said. “It was a beef short rib with potatoes and asparagus. Then we had gluten-free flourless chocolate cake and a crème brûlée for dessert. Not that anyone had room.”

Allie’s dad also baked a small cake for the couple to cut ceremoniously.

“I’ve had multiple friends, some are big foodies, who said it’s the best food they’ve ever had at a wedding,” Jeff said.

“Yeah, nobody went hungry,” Allie added.

Today, the Mandeaus live in Framingham. Allie is a fundraiser for Boston University and Jeff works several jobs, including engineering at Channel 5 (WCVB-TV) and in-game entertainment at Fenway Park. They’ll soon be jetting to Hawaii for their honeymoon.

Thanks to his work in TV, Jeff surprised everyone at the rehearsal dinner – also catered by Allie’s dad – with a video of Channel 5 news anchors Maria Stephanos and Ed Harding, on set, announcing the Mandeaus’ wedding.

“When I first met Allie at Fenway Park, I said something that I’m going to repeat right now,” Stephanos said. “‘Everybody go to Larry Levine’s Deli in Peabody.’ The delicious food you’re eating right now and will be eating tomorrow is courtesy of the owner and operator of the establishment, Todd Levine. The soon-to-be bride and groom want to extend their deep gratitude and appreciation to him for preparing all of this amazing food.”

Motioning to the anchor desk, she added, “We would like the leftovers here.”

“There’s plenty of room,” Harding agreed.