Hector Eduardo Cruz Perez fell in love with Adrianny Maria Almonte’s large-scale mural in March 2017, before he knew who she was. The artwork is a colorful collage of Nintendo icons like Mario and Donkey Kong. It caught his eye the moment he stepped into Night Over, a now-closed video-game-themed bar in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
“The intricate details were so incredible that I asked the staff who had painted it,” Mr. Perez said. “But no one knew.”
The answer came a week later, when he was scrolling through Facebook and landed on a post by Ms. Almonte. She was someone he had never met but had connected with through mutual acquaintances. “It was a video of her painting that same mural,” Mr. Perez said.
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He messaged her, and the two began a six-month online exchange. “We talked about video games and anime,” Ms. Almonte said.
Mr. Perez found himself increasingly attracted to Ms. Almonte. He wasn’t looking for romance at the time and had recently come out of a long-term relationship, he said, so “the fact that I was drawn to her took me by surprise.”
It wasn’t until October 2017 that he finally summoned the courage to ask for her phone number, which she didn’t hesitate to share. Ms. Almonte wasn’t looking for a relationship, either. “I had been on so many bad dates,” she said, “but was open to making new friends.”
Their initial phone call drifted into more personal territory. They talked about where they went to school, the people closest to them and swapped stories about their travels. Both lived with their families in Santo Domingo — Mr. Perez with his mother in the Piantini neighborhood, and Ms. Almonte with her mother and brother in La Fe, about a 20-minute drive away.
The conversation lasted four hours, but before they said goodbye, Mr. Perez asked Ms. Almonte to dinner.
Their first date was a week later, and when Mr. Perez picked Ms. Almonte up at her home, their chemistry was unmistakable.
“He was really cute and seemed so calm,” she said.
“Adrianny had this gorgeous head of black hair and a beautiful smile,” he said.
They went to Bamban Sushi in the heart of Santo Domingo, where they ordered a platter of hand rolls and talked until the restaurant closed. “Adrianny opened up about the struggle of trying to make a living as an artist and her ambition to have a solo gallery show someday,” Mr. Perez said. “I told her about going to college in the U.S. and the struggle of coming back home and making friends again.”
Not ready for the night to end, they headed to Mr. Perez’s favorite late-night hangout, Shots Bar, where they sang classic rock songs.
Their second date took place the next evening at another bar, Local 3. They arrived at 7 p.m. and didn’t leave until after 1 a.m.
From then on, they considered themselves a couple. They texted and spoke by phone daily and met up at least three times a week for dinners, walks and video game sessions (mostly Mario Kart). They also went to rock concerts and had movie nights. Within a few months of dating, they began joining each other’s family dinners.
But they still hadn’t kissed and only occasionally held hands. “I’m conservative and wanted to be respectful because I cared for Adrianny so much,” Mr. Perez said.
She ended up making the first move, two months after they met, in an elevator as they were leaving a friend’s apartment. “It was warm and unhurried,” Ms. Almonte said. “I knew in that moment that he was my soul mate.”
Mr. Perez described the kiss as “electric.”
Ms. Almonte, 31, also from Santo Domingo, has a bachelor’s degree in advertising from Universidad APEC in Santo Domingo and a master’s degree in integrated advertising from Nebrija University in Madrid. She is a fine artist, primarily a painter, and teaches fine arts at Universidad Iberoamericana and Escuela de Bellas Artes, both in Santo Domingo.
Mr. Perez, 33, was born and raised in Santo Domingo. He has a bachelor’s degree in energy business and finance from Penn State and a master’s degree in business from Barna Management School in Santo Domingo. He is an owner and the chief commercial officer of Emevenca, a market research firm based in Santo Domingo.
They dated for six years, two of them long distance, while Ms. Almonte was in Madrid for graduate school. When she returned at the end of 2021, they moved in together. Mr. Perez proposed in September 2024.
They married on Nov. 29 at the Santo Domingo Country Club before 330 guests. Verónica León, a civil officer with the Civil Registry Office of the 11th District of the National District in Santo Domingo, officiated.
The reception had an anime theme and featured a starry night backdrop with a nearly 10-foot moon anchoring the room.
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