When Lily Gene Ramirez and Michael Anthony Fasano attended the identical December 2017 vacation social gathering in Denver, each had been nursing wounds from current romantic woes.
“I recall simply saying hello to one another in a short time, and I didn’t actually give him the time of day,” Ms. Ramirez mentioned.
The subsequent day certainly one of their shared persona quirks emerged, and the seeds of an unintentional first date had been planted.
Mr. Fasano has a propensity to disregard boarding occasions for his flights, and on Sunday morning he skipped his departure to his dwelling in New York Metropolis altogether. Ms. Ramirez, who tends to postpone journey plans relying on the scenario, additionally determined to remain. She had deliberate to fly to Gainesville, Fla., for the vacations that day.
Their associates had persuaded them to attend a Denver Broncos recreation later that Sunday.
Each received tickets on the final minute and sat collectively, simply the 2 of them (they took in a 23-0 thrashing of the New York Jets). For 3 hours, they received to know one another. Each appreciated what they noticed and heard.
“We weren’t in search of something romantic,” Ms. Ramirez mentioned. “We simply went to the sport and had a enjoyable time collectively.”
“I moved my flight once more to Tuesday, and we ended up spending the day collectively on Monday,” Mr. Fasano mentioned.
They exchanged numbers, stored in contact, and rapidly started to speak day-after-day.
“It was tremendous straightforward,” Mr. Fasano mentioned. “There was by no means any dialog about ‘the place we stood.’ We each simply knew we needed to be collectively.”
The couple visited one another each different weekend. Their shared background as athletes additionally bore out a love of meals, traversing the culinary scenes of Denver, New York and past. Mr. Fasano ultimately moved to Denver the place they briefly lived collectively. Then Ms. Ramirez handed the Florida bar examination and located a brand new alternative in Miami, the place they now reside.
Ms. Ramirez, 33, was born and raised in Gainesville, Fla. She has a bachelor’s diploma in criminology and was an all-American swimmer on the College of Florida, following within the footsteps of her father, Robin Ramirez, a member of the category of 1981 and Alumni Corridor of Fame Honoree. She has a regulation diploma from the College of Denver Sturm School of Regulation in 2016 and practiced regulation in Colorado till transferring to Miami in 2022, the place she is a senior affiliate with Kasowitz Benson Torres.
Mr. Fasano, 36, was born in Bridgeport, Conn., and grew up in close by Southport. He graduated with a bachelor’s diploma in economics from Arizona State College and was a member of the rugby workforce. He’s now a director at RIPCO Actual Property in Miami.
The couple’s bond deepened about two months into their relationship when Ms. Ramirez traveled to the Fasano household dwelling in Vermont. She acknowledged one other vital side of their personalities — love of household.
“My mother and father are head over heels in love and have been collectively for greater than 35 years,” Ms. Ramirez mentioned. “They had been a mannequin couple for me to search out the love of my life. I knew that evening I had discovered him.”
Their moms echoed comparable sentiments about their relationship.
“They actually ‘get’ one another,” Ms. Ramirez’s mom, Susan Ramirez, mentioned. “I appreciated Mike instantly as a result of Lily appeared so taken with him, and I may inform he was a superb particular person.”
Mr. Fasano’s mom, Laura Fasano, mentioned: “There’s a lot joyfulness after they’re collectively. There’s by no means any drama with them.”
The couple flew to Portugal proper after Christmas 2021 to ring within the New Yr at a black-tie occasion, for which they bought formal apparel. The couple spent quite a lot of time planning this journey solely to understand after strolling up that evening to the social gathering in Cascais that that they had not bought tickets to the occasion.
“We determined to make the perfect of it. We ordered a pleasant takeout dinner and had an ideal evening exploring the town,” Ms. Ramirez mentioned.
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Each knew the proposal was approaching this journey — Ms. Ramirez merely didn’t know when. In fact, Mr. Fasano didn’t both. Till the morning of Jan. 1, 2022.
“Each time we had been doing one thing romantic on the journey, I may see her taking a look at me to see if it was time,” Mr. Fasano mentioned. “However I needed to shock her. In order that morning we had simply received again to the lodge with a tremendous view of the dawn on the Mediterranean Sea, and Lily was distracted. I knew that was the right time.
The couple married Oct. 13 on the Addison of Boca Raton, in Florida, in entrance of 165 friends. Karen Steinhauser, a lawyer Ms. Ramirez used to clerk for who was ordained by Common Life Church for the event, officiated.
When it got here to the second of permitting anybody to object to this union, Ms. Steinhauser proclaimed, “To the various attorneys right here, we all know that movement ought to’ve been filed a very long time in the past.”
Underneath the cover of two gargantuan banyan timber within the Addison courtyard, the couple exchanged impromptu vows.
“He’s all the time put me first and been there for me unconditionally,” Ms. Ramirez mentioned. “He makes me a greater particular person.”
Mr. Fasano mentioned in his vows, “I’m actually at my happiest once I could make her joyful. And I’m going to chase that feeling for the remainder of my life.”
