Her story After sitting with a close friend and her fiance for an afternoon, I was encouraged to join E Harmony. Reluctantly but hopeful I joined the online dating world. With the E Harmony membership canceled months later, the site looped me back in for a few additional complimentary months. I noticed in my inbox, a dark-haired, handsome man who had written me a short message. Glancing at his photos, reading his profile, I responded to him Saturday night, March 3, 2018. Antonio replied back and we chatted for a bit on the message system provided on the website. Seeing as it was getting late, I headed to bed. I saw before closing my eyes, he had sent me his phone number to chat outside the E Harmony site. I planned to message him separately the next day. Which I did and our chats became longer and better. Each morning after that, since March 5th, I have received a" Good morning," text from Antonio. A text I grew excited to see each day as we began conversing. Today this text still warms my heart, brings comfort to me, and a smile to my face. Looking back this alone was representative of the character of the man Antonio is, consistent, steady, patient & a dash of persistence.

Su historia (Rocio) Después de sentarme con una amiga cercana y su prometido por una tarde, me animaron a unirme a E Harmony. De mala gana, pero con esperanza, me uní al mundo de las citas en línea. Con la membresía de E Harmony cancelada meses después, el sitio me conectó nuevamente por algunos meses adicionales de cortesía. Noté en mi bandeja de entrada, un hombre guapo de cabello oscuro que me había escrito un mensaje corto. Mirando sus fotos, leyendo su perfil, le respondí la noche del sábado 3 de marzo de 2018. Antonio respondió y charlamos un poco sobre el sistema de mensajes proporcionado en el sitio web. Viendo que se hacía tarde, me fui a la cama. Vi antes de cerrar los ojos que me había enviado su número de teléfono para charlar fuera del sitio de E Harmony. Planeaba enviarle un mensaje por separado al día siguiente. Lo cual hice y nuestras charlas se hicieron más largas y mejores. Cada mañana después de eso, desde el 5 de marzo, he recibido un mensaje de texto de "Buenos días" de Antonio. Un mensaje de texto que me emocionó ver cada día cuando comenzamos a conversar. Hoy este texto todavía me calienta el corazón, me brinda consuelo y una sonrisa en mi rostro. Mirando hacia atrás, esto solo era representativo del carácter del hombre que es Antonio, consistente, firme, paciente y una pizca de persistencia.

His Story By this point, I think everyone knows we met via an online dating app (eHarmony). After being connected on March 3, 2018, we immediately had great text and phone conversation for about a week. After feeling comfortable that she wasn’t weird or a serial killer, I asked Rocio if she would like to meet in person. We decided to meet at Lamill in Silver Lake. We ordered something to drink and sat down to talk. It was an enjoyable conversation but Rocio seemed lost. I wasn’t sure if I just didn’t have good conversation or if she lost interest after seeing me. Nonetheless, I continued to talk. The date ended on a good note and we both went our separate ways. I left thinking she wasn’t interested and that would be the last time I spoke or saw Rocio. We continued to have conversation thereafter which left me scratching my head. I would think to myself, this girl must be super nice and doesn’t want to ignore my texts or just doesn’t know how to tell me she's not interested. A few days passed of more great text and phone conversations that went on into the late night. I said to myself, I have to figure out what's going on here, so I very modestly said, “Hey maybe we can hang out sometime again?”. Expecting a reply along the lines of “I’m busy” or “yeah maybe” or ”you know I think you're a great guy but…”, I unexpectedly received a “Maybe? We should definitely hang out again!”. This surprised me and got me excited once again. During the week or so after our first meet, she was in Denver visiting her new niece Emilia so I offered to pick her up from the airport which she declined numerous times. I decided to ask one more time and she finally agreed. I picked her up, we had a drink not far from the airport, and drove her home. We’ve been inseparable ever since. We have so many stories to share and many more that we are both excited to have together and share with all our friends and family!

One of our favorite things to do is travel together and explore new places, culture, food & everything a city or country has to offer. Having planned a trip since late 2020, we both realized warm weather was a must, a location new to both of us, & little restrictions with enjoying all a city has to offer. MIAMI is where we decided to head for a week in mid-March 2021. Both of us took part in planning different parts of week i.e. nights out, places to go, and activities throughout the week. When Wednesday came, Antonio mentioned we had drinks & dinner planned per our usual vacation night.

Una de nuestras actividades favoritas es viajar juntos y explorar nuevos lugares, cultura, comida y todo lo que una ciudad o país tiene para ofrecer. Habiendo planeado un viaje desde finales de 2020, ambos nos dimos cuenta de que el clima cálido era imprescindible, una ubicación nueva para ambos y pequeñas restricciones para disfrutar de todo lo que una ciudad tiene para ofrecer. MIAMI es donde decidimos dirigirnos durante una semana a mediados de marzo de 2021. Ambos participamos en la planificación de diferentes partes de la semana, es decir, salidas nocturnas, lugares para ir y actividades durante la semana. Cuando llegó el miércoles, Antonio mencionó que teníamos bebidas y cena planeadas según nuestra noche habitual de vacaciones.

Antonio Since planning our vacation, I knew I wanted to propose on Wednesday. I researched the location and hired a photographer to meet us incognito. Unsure how I was going to wiggle my way out of a planned day. I told Rocio I would plan out all day Wednesday. We were spending all day at the beach, which is something she loves to do. I said, hey I set up drinks at a great lookout spot and dinner but we need to get ready because it's a bit of a drive. Rocio Leaving the beach on the most beautiful day, we headed to get drinks & dinner. Antonio Before leaving from the beach I asked Rocio, how long she needed, to get ready. She said an hour. So I gave ourselves enough time to get ready and be at the proposal site on time and by 5 pm. If anyone reading this knows Rocio, you all know that when Rocio says one hour she means 3! With that said I started to get nervous and anxious. I text the photographer he told me to hurry or the state park would close. I got ready put on my shoes and tried to politely rush her. The time kept clicking. Finally, she said she was almost ready… I pulled the ring out, put it in my pocket but it was too obvious in there. I realized I didn’t have anywhere to put it. So I thought about my socks, but they were too short. I quickly changed to long socks to hide the ring there. Finally, we left, we call Uber, they're not arriving, so we cancel. Rocio seeing I'm getting impatient calls an Uber from her phone. it finally arrives. Rocio Our Uber driver to "drinks" being very speed conscious didn't go above 45 the entire 40 minutes Uber ride made a complete stop at every stoplight and stopped at all yellow lights. Antonio It was by far the LONGEST Uber ride I've ever taken. Rocio and I tried talking to the Uber driver but he acted like he couldn't understand us. Making it difficult to tell him to hurry. Rocio Antonio convinced me this lookout point was unbelievable as the longer the ride grew I became unsure of this drink's location.

Antonio We finally get there. We're walking towards the location and I see the photographer. I know it's him because he gives me the nod and is taking close-up pictures of flowers, which he told me he would be doing. I casually tell Rocio, we should take a picture. Rocio replies “yeah we should ask that guy (the photographer) he looks like he knows what he's doing." I ask him… of course, he said yes. He positions us, tells us how to stand and where to stand. So Rocio is loving this "free" photoshoot. Lukas, our photographer, asks her to move away from me and towards him to give us some distance. I get on my knee, Lukas asks Rocio to turn her head and look at me, Rocio turns around and starts freaking out of excitement. I ask her to Marry me and she says YES!

Antonio Finalmente llegamos allí. Caminamos hacia el lugar y veo al fotógrafo. Sé que es él porque me asiente con la cabeza y está tomando fotografías de flores en primer plano, lo que me dijo que haría. Casualmente le digo a Rocío, deberíamos tomar una foto. Rocío responde "sí, deberíamos preguntarle a ese tipo (el fotógrafo) que parece que sabe lo que hace". Yo le pregunto ... claro, él dijo que sí. Nos posiciona, nos dice cómo pararnos y dónde pararnos. Así que Rocío Le encanta esta sesión de fotos "gratis". Lukas, nuestro fotógrafo, le pide que se aleje de mí y se acerque a él para darnos cierta distancia. Me pongo de rodillas, Lukas le pide a Rocío que gire la cabeza y me mire, Rocío se da la vuelta y empieza a enloquecer de emoción. Le pido que se case conmigo y ella dice ¡SÍ!

We are excited and honored to have the privilege of sharing a small piece of our relationship with all our loved ones. We look forward to more years of memories with you all. We hope you all can join us for our wedding on September 25, 2021, in Cartagena, Colombia. THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!!

Estamos emocionados y honrados de tener el privilegio de compartir una pequeña parte de nuestra relación con todos nuestros seres queridos. Esperamos tener más años de recuerdos con todos ustedes. Esperamos que todos puedan acompañarnos en nuestra boda el 25 de septiembre de 2021 en Cartagena, Colombia. ¡¡¡LO MEJOR ESTÁ POR VENIR!!!