Like all modern day fairy tales, this one started with two swipes to the right, and two bottles of wine. 🍷 Hear it from her: I'm not gonna lie, I almost swiped left on Pedro because he had such a weird selection of pictures for a Tinder profile (wearing a helmet that covered his face, sunglasses, pics that were blurry and he was bloody...) but thanks to my tindexpertise, I determined he was probably a normal straight guy that didn't know how to showcase himself, and that he was probably much better looking (or at least normal and not bloody) IRL. Luckily for me, I was right. Within the first two minutes of meeting on our first date I remember looking up at him and thinking to myself, "I can totally picture myself having a boyfriend who looks like him." Little did I know that behind his devilishly good looks was the man I had been waiting for my entire life. Hear it from him: Recentemente chegado a Bruxelas, sem conhecer ninguém e com pouca vontade de ficar em casa decidi instalar a Tinder. O rabiosque da Laura chamou-me logo a atenção e depois de algumas mensagens escolhi um rooftop para o nosso primeiro encontro. Foram 4 horas de boa conversa, duas garrafas de vinho, sorrisos e muitas gargalhadas, na hora de me despedir arrisquei no primeiro beijo (o melhor) e a caminho de casa dei por mim a pensar “woooow nunca conheci ninguém assim” Naquele momento soube que ela era especial!

What started in Brussels, didn't stay in Brussels. 🌍 Brussels - Rotterdam - Amsterdam - Bruges - Milano - Porto - Lisboa - Douro - Paris - Los Angeles - El Dorado Hills - Santa Barbara - Lake Tahoe - Mendocino - Luanda - Benguela - Ciudad de Mexico - Sayulita - Vilar Formoso - Salamanca - Ciudad Rodrigo Hear it from her: After the first date, Pedro texted me while I was still in my Uber on my way home to plan a second one. I was so excited that he was as excited as I was to see each other again. Within two weeks we went on a weekend away together to Rotterdam and Amsterdam, and even after 48 hours of nonstop togetherness I couldn't get enough of him. In the beginning we never shied away from planning trips or fun things to do together, because at that time we thought our romance would be short lived due to him going to Angola and me going to Paris. But after only 2 months of dating, I was stunned when Pedro told me he was in love with me at a gay club in Milan, but it only confirmed that I was feeling it too. We decided pretty easily that we would try long distance, even if it seemed crazy. And before we knew it we began our year chasing each other around the world, from Europe to Angola to Mexico and the US, we spent the year rendezvousing in exotic places, and the time we spent together was even more special after time apart. What's truly crazy in all this is even though we were far apart for the majority of a year, I never felt closer to him. Hear it from him: Inseparáveis a partir do primeiro dia! Graças à Laura nunca vou esquecer os 3 meses que passei em Bruxelas, ela fez com que a minha experiencia fosse completamente extraordinária, conheci pessoas incríveis, dançamos em festivais, jantamos com amigos, fizemos piqueniques, passeámos pela Bélgica, Holanda e ainda fomos a Itália, no trabalho gozavam comigo por todo o tempo que passava na Rue Américaine e na Place do Châtelain, tudo foi incrível!! Quando tive que vir embora estávamos tão apaixonados que a decisão de continuarmos juntos era mais que obvia, vamos percorrer o mundo um atrás do outro e foi isso que fizemos, Portugal, França, Estados Unidos, México e Angola, curioso que a distancia fez com que nos aproximássemos ainda mais. Sem duvida a melhor decisão da minha vida!

From boyfriend and girlfriend to husband and wife in a matter of minutes, we surprised everyone when we eloped in California. 🤍 7-11-22 🤍 Hear it from her: Because Pedro and I were literally living on opposite sides of the planet, we were faced with making big decisions about our future early on. We weren't sure where we wanted to live (Belgium, France, Portugal, California, or heck, we even considered Angola) or what we wanted to do, but the one thing we did know was that no matter where we would end up, we wanted to be together for the rest of our lives. In order to set ourselves up for success and make sure that we would always be able to stay together wherever we were, we decided to get married. So on July 11th we tied the knot with a small ceremony at the courthouse in Placerville, California with just my parents in attendance. After the ceremony we went out on my parents' boat and I tried to teach Pedro how to wakeboard, but failed miserably :P. Hopefully he'll have better luck teaching me how to surf! Hear it from him: Quem sabe, sabe e após várias conversas para determinar o nosso futuro a conclusão era sempre a mesma “Vamos Casar” e vamos faze-lo o quanto antes! Durante as nossas ferias na Califórnia e depois de passamos uns dias fantásticos em Los Angeles, decidimos dar um passo em frente, fizemos uma pequena cerimonia, surpreendemos toda a gente e tornámo-nos a família Dailey Marques. Antes de regressar a Angola ainda tivemos tempo para passar uns dias na nossa cabana no Lake Tahoe (mini lua de mel) onde não conseguimos parar de sorrir.

In the courtyard of a palace overlooking Mexico City, Pedro popped the question. 💍 Hear it from him: Quem já pediu em casamento sabe a aventura que é, e toda a preparação que está por detrás. O anel foi feito nos Estados Unidos, o pedido no México e eu estava em Angola, como devem imaginar combinar todos estes elementos não foi fácil! O tal dia chegou e penso que todos os homens passam pelo mesmo, onde é que eu vou esconder esta caixa sem ela perceber? Começamos o dia a ouvir Mariachi ao pequeno almoço, passeamos de bicicleta, subimos a um rooftop, visitamos um museu e a ultima paragem era o Castelo Chapultepec no coração do parque da cidade, um lugar lindo com vistas incríveis. Assim que chegámos pisquei o olho ao fotografo que tinha escondido e antes de me ajoelhar disse: “Laura, you are the most amazing person I have ever met, you are the one that I want to spend my life with and I promise, I really promise, that I will make you the happiest girl alive. WILL YOU MARRY ME?" Hear it from her: Even though we were already married, we still wanted to do things "the right way" (and I especially wanted a ring!). Pedro and I had spent our first day in Mexico City seeing all the sights, and our last stop was the castle. Upon arriving there and seeing how beautiful the views were we did a full blown photo shoot, asking three different strangers to take our picture to make sure we got the shot. Little did I know that around the corner Pedro had hired a professional photographer to capture our moment. Once we turned the corner and just seconds before Pedro was about to propose he said, "Let's take pictures here," and I said, "Pedro, we have enough pictures, we don't need to bother anymore people!" The next thing I knew he was down on one knee shining a diamond in my face, I don't remember what he said or what happened next but I was screaming and jumping and the happiest I've ever been in my entire life, and I said, "HELL YEAH!!!"