Remley Johnson and Robert Flock like to say that they met the old-fashioned way: out on the town, through mutual friends, at a piano bar.
And a few days later they actually bumped into each other in Washington, where he lived and where she was working as a summer intern, as a program assistant at the Fund for American Studies, before her final semester at Texas Christian University.
“That’s when she really made an impression on me,” Mr. Flock said.
But they didn’t entirely avoid modern means. They didn’t have a first date until months later, in January 2013, after she had graduated and returned to Washington. She had looked him up on LinkedIn, and then, after a friend dared her, sent him a Facebook message.
The two had several group get-togethers, as well as a first kiss, before Mr. Flock, now 32, asked her out in February.
“We instantly had a natural, easy rapport, so I enjoyed getting to know her,” he said.
The two also had politics in common. She was then a staff assistant in the office of Donald Rumsfeld, who served as the defense secretary in both the Ford and George W. Bush administrations. She is now the former secretary’s chief of staff. Mr. Flock is a lobbyist in the Washington office of the Credit Union National Association, a trade group. He graduated from Georgetown.
“As a young Republican lobbyist, I thought, ‘Wow, this young woman is a serious person, impressive, someone I should get to know,’” he said.
Ms. Johnson, 29, said she felt something for Mr. Flock from their initial meeting. “He has a serious exterior but behind the scenes, he has the biggest heart and just looks out for everybody, including me,” she said.
Both say that they don’t recall their second date, as they viewed themselves as a couple immediately.
“Ever since that first date, we’ve been attached at the hip unless one of us is traveling for business,” Mr. Flock said. “She’s kind, she is totally giving in terms of her time and efforts for other people, she’s always wanting to help, she’s always putting other people first. She’s just the best person.”
Last winter, in Bretton Woods, N.H., at her family’s annual lunch before Christmas Eve Mass, Mr. Flock proposed.
The couple had planned a small wedding, but after the coronavirus pandemic, their celebration became even smaller. On July 4, with about 15 guests the couple were married at the Equinox Hotel in Manchester, Vt. The Very Rev. Mark E. Dollard, a Roman Catholic priest, performed the ceremony outside the church, having received permission from two dioceses and from the Vermont secretary of state.
Mr. Flock said that once they were engaged, they didn’t want to wait any longer.
“We both wanted to be at a stable point in our careers, and together as a couple, and we’ve reached that point,” he said. “We wanted to get married sooner rather than later. No need to have a long engagement.”
