Our story begins just as everyone elses’, with Don Julio Blanco Tequila. Caterina and Griffin were both attending a mutual friend’s birthday party in a New York City bar, and Griffin was drinking a little more than usual to calm his nerves – thanks Don Julio – , as unbeknownst to Caterina, he had been informed in advance that she thought he was cute after bumping into each other at Fordham University in the first weeks of sophomore year.

Caterina was running a bit late to the birthday party (as an Italian, this is the norm). Upon arrival, Caterina wishes her friend a happy birthday and quickly scans the room for Griffin. She finds him laughing with friends sitting around a table with a girl sitting on his knee. She feels silly not knowing he was already interested in someone else, so instead of approaching the table where Griffin is sitting, she sits on a nearby sofa with others from the party.

During a break in the conversation, Griffin notices Caterina out of the corner of his eye chatting with another girl. He musters up the courage to get up from his table and head for the sofa. The girl she was talking to had just left to grab another drink, so he grasps the opportunity and sits next to her to strike up a conversation. “Ciao, come stai?” he asks and Caterina’s eyes widen, “You speak Italian??”, Griffin then explains how he had spent a semester in high school studying abroad in Rome, attending the same school as their mutual friend, fell in love with Italy, and furthered his studies by taking Italian class his freshmen year at Fordham.

Griffin and Caterina continued asking each other questions and sharing stories of their life before Fordham, and what had led them there. They quickly learned that they had more in common than they initially thought through their love for Italy, their international upbringing, and interest in travel and adventure. As the birthday party progressed, everyone started dancing, and Griffin and Caterina joined in with their friends. Shortly after, they shared their first kiss on the dance floor.

As the party dwindled to an end, Griffin and Caterina joined their group of friends exiting the bar and spilled out onto 9th Avenue. Caterina was standing around with others, looking for a friend she was meeting up with to go to another bar. Suddenly her friend appeared and was ready to go, so Caterina hugged everyone goodbye and started heading towards the Meatpacking District.

Griffin’s friend elbowed him, “Get her number!” he muffled underneath a fake cough. Griffin quickly fumbled for his phone and fished it out of his pant pocket. “Wait! Can I have your number?”, he blurted out. Without saying anything in response, Caterina took his phone out of his hands and entered in her phone number. When she passed the phone back to Griffin, he looked down and saw she had added an emoji at the end of her name. It was the smiley face with the heart eyes. To this day, Griffin has never changed the contact name. That was the last time they parted ways.

The subsequent 6 years were filled with wonderful memories of attending college together, exploring New York City, and fun filled travels around the world to Mexico, Europe, UAE, and Japan. Shortly after graduating Fordham together, COVID hit and Griffin and Caterina had to navigate long distance and demanding jobs, in addition to their own transitions to early adulthood. Despite these testing times, their relationship continued to flourish, and they moved in together in May 2021.

A month after their 6th anniversary, Griffin joined Caterina and her family for a ski trip in Courmayeur, Italy. Griffin was waiting for Caterina on a chalet terrace at the top of the mountain when he got down on one knee and popped the question she had been waiting for. Without any hesitancy Caterina exclaimed “Yes!” as her eyes filled with tears.

The newly engaged couple immediately knew there was only one place in the world they wanted to get married. The country that had brought their lives together in the first place, and for which they share their love for — Italy.