Give it up for the Emerson College housing department! Maria was assigned to Piano Row 307 and her best friend, Dondré Taylor-Stewart, was assigned to Piano Row 305, aka the suite next door. On Maria’s second day at Emerson - but Dondré’s first due to their separate assigned move-in days - Maria knocked on 305’s door, looking for Dondré. Jeff, one of Dondré’s new suitemates, answered. It was not love at first sight. Maria asked Jeff if Dondré was home, Dondré shuffled out the door, and that was it: Maria and Jeff were officially in each other’s orbits.

As freshman year at Emerson commenced, the two neighboring suites, connected by Maria and Dondré’s pre-existing friendship, evolved into a tentative friend group. In the fall, Maria and Jeff gravitated toward each other, ending up taking walks around the Boston Common and Public Garden getting to know each other better. When the spring semester started, Maria and Jeff continued to hang out, along with Dondré and their other suitemates. But they kept gravitating toward one another. As Boston winter melted into spring, Maria and Jeff increasingly found excuses to be alone together - until one fateful, late April 14 night when, alone again while waiting for the T back from Allston, Maria and Jeff finally gave in to their feelings for each other.

Maria and Jeff have been living together since September 2016, so marriage had been discussed as something they both wanted in the future. Sometime in early 2021, Maria and Jeff finally had the conversation about feeling ready to get married. Maria shared her Pinterest board of engagement ring inspo, and Jeff was off. On November 7, Jeff asked if Maria wanted to go for a sunset walk in Prospect Park. They walked and walked around the perimeter of the lake until Jeff found someplace secluded enough on the water for him to get down on one knee and pop the question! (Not to mention he proposed with Maria's definition of a perfect engagement ring.) Maria immediately said yes, and her sister Sofia was already on the way to take pictures of the newly-engaged couple in the park. Maria and Jeff went out to dinner to celebrate, and almost immediately started planning this wedding!