Laura and Jason’s wedding
Our Story
We met at my Nataly and Sergio Acevado’s wedding in Medellín.
The wedding was on a Friday afternoon, February 9 of 2018. We arrived at the wedding and attended the ceremony. The reception started shortly after.
As we started to hang out and dance, I noticed a beautiful girl wearing a long, blue dress. We were catching each other’s eye, but I was dancing with friends, and she was sitting with family. At a certain point, I got the courage (with friends’ encouragement) to ask Laura if she wanted to dance. She quickly said yes. I may be a gringo, but I can luckily hold my own dancing.
We danced, had drinks, and got closer and closer through the night. I found out that she was one of Naty’s cousins and that she was there with her family. Her birthday was the next day. She would visit Guatape on Saturday and then head home as she lives in Bogota, Colombia. We stayed together the whole night, dancing and making out on the dance floor. We stayed up until 4 or 5 in the morning with the bride and groom and shut down the party with them. At the end of the night, I am very compliant when I’m drunk and, I was told to enter a van that was taking the bride’s family back to the hotel. I, unfortunately, didn’t get Laura’s contact info. The next morning, I asked Naty for Laura’s info but didn’t press as she was still enjoying her wedding.
I returned to the US that Sunday and still didn’t have her info. Before I could search on Facebook, Laura had sent me a friend request. We immediately got on very well and talked a lot. Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy to figure out the next step. We were in different countries and living very separate lives.
As a month or so passed, the conversation didn’t flow as much, and we were becoming distant from each other. I wasn’t happy with this and decided to plan a trip to Bogotá to see if there was a chance of us being a couple.
It was very much a leap of faith as I had been to Colombia before, but I had never traveled alone there or without a Spanish speaker with me. I was also unsure how she would receive me, as Laura seemed excited via text, but we had only really spent that one night together, so I was nervous. On top of that, I would be spending time with her family (including her Grandmother) as I was going to be in town on Mother’s Day.
Best Weekend Ever
We met up and had the best weekend ever. We visited the Salt Cathedral and saw many sites together. We also went to Andrés Carne de Rés and danced until late. The brunch with her family was amazing, and we all got along very well. We then met up with some of my friends that live in Bogota for their daughter’s birthday. My friends enjoyed her company very much. Taking the trip down was the best decision I ever made in my life.
The Proposal
Shortly after, I planned another trip to visit her the next month. During that trip, we decided to be boyfriend and girlfriend. I then told her I loved her, and she said she loved me back. We decided to see each other once a month after that, and we’ve stuck to it. We planned a romantic weekend in Key West for her first visit here to the US. She met my parents that same weekend. She visited again next month, and we saw the Coral Castle together. I would go down to Bogotá as well. She came to visit for Thanksgiving and met my sister. She stayed for a week, and that’s when we decided to start thinking about the next step. She made me unbelievably happy, and it made no sense to be apart.
We planned a trip to Bogotá on New Year’s Day, where our families would meet. Both sides, including siblings, would meet and share time. I decided to ask her parents for permission to marry her during this trip. We had a fantastic trip together, and both families got along very well. It was one of the happiest moments of my life. When I asked her parents, they gave me permission, and I was very happy. I decided I would propose the time we saw each other, which would be her trip South Florida in early February. I bought a beautiful vintage style ring and proposed to her on February 9, 2019. She said yes and made me the luckiest man in the world.
She makes every day I’m with her better and brighter. I can’t describe how happy she makes me, and I want that for the rest of my life.