we are so grateful, feel so blessed, and are so excited to celebrate our special day with you!

In April of 2021, Ryan was sitting in the customer waiting area at Elizabeth’s job. For Elizabeth, passing through that space was part of her daily routine… unexciting and quickly forgotten. But this time was much different. Ryan was there! Dressed in gym clothes paired with work boots? a COVID mask covering his face, dirty from his workday and sweaty from his workout. Somehow, even like that, he was impossible to overlook. Her heart raced, her cheeks flushed, and suddenly she found herself circling past the waiting area again… and again – doing her best to catch his eye. Laughing too loudly at coworkers’ jokes that weren’t really funny, trying to catch his attention, and praying they’d make eye contact. When that didn’t work… she rushed into her colleague’s office (the one who had just sold Ryan his car) and demanded answers: Who is he? What’s his name? Tell me everything! Piece by piece, she gathered details about Ryan, and her curiosity quickly turned into determination. That very day, she texted her family and closest friends: “Plot twist… I met my husband today. He just doesn’t know I exist.” Little did she know, he did. Ryan had noticed her too… got her number, and just a few days later Elizabeth received the following text message –“Hey Elizabeth, it’s Ryan Restivo. Not sure if you remember me, but I was the guy laughing at the older lady in the Mustang who had no mask.” Elizabeth played it cool and within days, their first date was set at Brasitas in Stamford, where they uncovered the kind of unbelievable coincidences that only fate could write… Elizabeth had grown up with Ryan’s cousin Christina in Oxford, along with countless other small-world connections. And from that night forward, what began as a brief encounter, became the start of forever. And although no one believed her when they received her text – Elizabeth truly met her husband! Fast forward a few months… on September 4th, 2021, Ryan and Elizabeth went to a Yankee game, one of their favorite things to do together. That night, Ryan officially asked Elizabeth to be his girlfriend. At the time, she didn’t realize the significance of the date, but soon it became clear that September 4th was far more meaningful than she could have imagined. It was the wedding anniversary of her late grandparents, Ferdinando and Giovanna D’Amico. Full of excitement and disbelief - Elizabeth explained to Ryan, while he didn’t yet know how special this date was, he would quickly understand just how much it truly meant. Now, 82 years later, on September 4th, 2026, Ryan and Elizabeth will honor that legacy by exchanging their vows on the very same date, in the very same church, where her grandparents were married.