I Do!: T.J. Broesler and Alexa Cerulli, of Lynbrook

He’s a spreadsheet kind of guy. She hates Excel.

But T.J. Broesler’s detail-oriented nature became a romantic function when he typed a sort of dossier on then-girlfriend Alexa Cerulli alongside her contact in his phone. It stated:

• No. 1 Bachelor fan (referring to the reality dating show)
• No white condiments
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, new episodes trump the old ones
• Hasn’t seen most good movies, like Goodfellas
• Favorite color is purple
• Favorite flower is sunflower
• May 2023 first date at a Valley Stream hibachi and sushi restaurant

“I didn’t want to forget,” said Broesler, 31, a budget analyst for the Nassau County Legislature’s budget review office. 

They first set eyes on each other in October 2022 playing in a dodgeball league in Massapequa, and Cerulli asked a friend about him. The two started talking.

“We clicked very well,” Cerulli recalled. “We were hanging out all the time.”

He told her about his note-keeping from the start: “It’s hysterical,” said Cerulli, 29, a real estate agent.

The two got engaged in the backyard of her parents’ house in an intimate, casual setting surrounded by family on Oct. 21, 2023. Broesler had secured her parents’ help in picking the ring at the same jeweler where they bought their rings three decades ago.

Broesler got on one knee and the nerves took over. “I barely got the words out, ‘Will you marry me?,’ and she said yes,” he recounted.

The newlyweds agree their personalities balance each other — he plans ahead, she’s spontaneous — but they are alike in many ways.

Take, for example, their sense of humor.

At his bachelor party, Broesler’s friends grilled and videotaped him. “They asked me what I loved about Alexa, and one of the things I said was ‘she does amazing laundry.’ Which is true.”

“That was the only part of the video they sent me,” Cerulli recalled. “That was pretty funny.”

Nominate a couple who has gotten married in the past 12 months. Email your love story, in 250 words or less, to lilife@newsday.com, subject line I Do!