Maria Hugo and Steve Tortorello's Wedding Website

Written by Maria: The day started like every other Saturday. We slept in and had big plans to do the NY Times crossword puzzle right after Steve returned from picking up a breakfast sandwich at the corner market. About 15 minutes after he left, I received a text from him saying "super cool surprise just happened. Grab your jacket and meet me downstairs in the front...ASAP" Now, for some context, I was fully aware that Steve was planning to propose to me at some point in the fall/winter 2020. So aware, that I thought it was fun to randomly ask if he was about to propose. It was always out of the blue - like picking up groceries and then I would ask "are you going to propose to me?" on the walk home. So on this day, when he told me there was a "cool surprise" my first thought was "this is it!!" That thought was quickly followed up with "no way", because it was Saturday at 11am and I was still in my sweatpants - how could he be proposing now?! I quickly went downstairs and found Steve outside, I asked "are you proposing to me?!" to which he very plainly replied "no. sorry, i'm not proposing, but come on let's go!" At this point I was so confused, what were we running to see? It was Halloween, maybe a cute parade of kids in costume? We ran towards Grant Park, a block away, and Steve told me we were heading south. I turned that direction and he suddenly pulled me the other way. "I thought we were going south?!" I asked. His reply? "I lied. I lied to you about a lot of things." At that moment, I looked ahead and spotted my dad, in a bright yellow vest, and a bunch of people around him (other family and friends!). The next part is blurry, because my mind totally blanked when I realized what was happening! Steve asked my dad for the ring, which had been brought downtown by Steve's parents, and then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I eked out a "yes." We had a socially distanced toast with friends and family, and it was just the best day (yet)!

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