Andrea Masenda sat across from Kevin Lo at a Chili’s restaurant in Bristol, Conn., wondering all the while if she was on a first date.
When Mr. Lo picked up the check, she stopped wondering.
“I thought, ‘oh yeah, girl, you’re on a first date,’” said Ms. Masenda, 30, an associate producer at ESPN in New York, about that night in November 2014.
Ms. Masenda, a Zimbabwean by way of Denton, Tex., and Mr. Lo, a Chinese-American by way of Bayard Street in New York’s Chinatown, met three months earlier in the Bristol offices of ESPN, where she was among a large group of candidates vying for various entry-level positions.
Mr. Lo, also 30, had emerged from a similar group at ESPN two years earlier, and was working as a content associate when he was introduced to Ms. Masenda.
In a place where highlights are in never-ending supply, Mr. Lo’s introduction to Ms. Masenda was his ultimate highlight.
“Andrea was this exciting new face in the office,” said Mr. Lo, who is now an associate producer with “Good Morning America” in New York.
“She was so pretty, she really stood out,” he said. “There was just something about her that struck a chord in my brain. I really wanted to get to know her better.”
They were introduced by Jillian Kweller, a mutual friend and at the time a co-worker at ESPN. “The three of us would often hang out together, and Kevin soon began telling me that he had feelings for Andrea,” said Ms. Kweller.
“Why wouldn’t he like her?” Ms. Kweller said. “She’s was beautiful, really funny and really, really cool.”
Ms. Masenda, whose family roots run deep in Harare, Zimbabwe, said that when she left Denton for Bristol, she felt completely alone, until she met Mr. Lo.
“I didn’t have any family or any friends, but I had Kevin, and I found him to be the friendliest, most welcoming person I had ever met,” she said. “He made me feel like I belonged, and he was very helpful in navigating a new space for me.”
Mr. Lo, who said he was at the point in his life where he was thinking about taking “that next step,” was immediately convinced that Ms. Masenda was someone with whom he could embark on a life journey.
“She was fun and easygoing, and we had a lot of things in common,” he said, listing basketball, rap music and travel among the things they enjoy most. “The more I got to know her, the more I wanted her to be a part of my life.”
Despite her fondness for him, Ms. Masenda was initially skeptical about crossing a romantic line.
“I just didn’t see it,” she said. “I guess I just didn’t take Kevin seriously enough when it came to his true feelings for me, I didn’t give him the proper time and space to share those feelings, instead, I kind of gave him a hard time about it.”
Ms. Kweller remembered Ms. Masenda telling her: “I think Kevin is into me, but I’m just not feeling it.”
“But when Kevin started pulling back a little bit and talking to other girls, Andrea began to get a little upset,” Ms. Kweller said. “Finally, I put my foot down and told her she couldn’t have it both ways and that she needed to stop playing with Kevin’s emotions.”
But regardless of how Ms. Masenda was treating Mr. Lo, he would not be dissuaded from trying to take their relationship to another level.
“I had a lot of really great friends at that time,” he said, “but I saw a little more in Andrea, and I hoped she would eventually see a little more in me as well.”
They continued to get to know each other, as Ms. Masenda frequented Mr. Lo’s apartment in West Hartford, Conn., along with others who ran in their social circles.
“Kevin’s apartment was the place to go before and after we all went out partying,” said Ms. Masenda, who graduated from Texas Christian University with a degree in journalism. “Each time I went there,” she said, “I grew increasingly impressed with Kevin’s kindness, his optimism, his loyalty and his dedication.”
Mr. Lo, who graduated from Quinnipiac University with a degree in broadcast journalism, was equally impressed with her.
Along the way, they also learned a great deal about each other’s families.
Ms. Masenda is the youngest of five children to Zimbabwean immigrants, Hope Masenda and the late Dr. Solomon Masenda. Her father was an English professor at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas for almost 30 years.
Her mother, who currently lives in Norton, Zimbabwe, was a registered nurse who devoted her life to the care and advocacy of the elderly, and who for a decade was the owner and operator of an assisted living facility that served the greater North and East Texas communities.
Mr. Lo is the oldest of two sons born to Bonnie Moy Lo, who retired after working for 20 years in the financial services industry, and Brian Lo, an electrician in New York.
His maternal grandparents, Timmy and Tina Moy, are co-owners of the Great NY Noodletown restaurant in Chinatown. (Mr. Lo’s family left Chinatown for Marlboro, N.J., when he was in the fourth grade.)
“As far as wanting to date Andrea, I just kept biding my time,” Mr. Lo said.
Three months after they met, Ms. Masenda did begin envisioning the kind of life with Mr. Lo that he had seen with her from the start.
“From that very first date, Kevin has been very honest and straightforward with me,” Ms. Masenda said. “He never played the kind of games other people played in previous relationships. All he ever wanted to do was be with me.”
The next year, Mr. Lo suffered a torn Achilles’ tendon, for a third time, playing pickup basketball, which grounded him for the entire summer.
During his recovery, Ms. Masenda’s loyalty was on full display.
“After Kevin suffered a third ACL tear in a pickup basketball game, the two of us spent the entire summer of 2015 on the couch, watching the NBA regular season turn into the postseason and into summer league while he healed,” Ms. Masenda said. “Kevin said that’s when he knew.”
Ms. Masenda said the time on the couch led to many “heart-to-heart conversations,” and that’s when she knew as well.
“To be honest, there wasn’t any other place I wanted to be,” she said. “And, that’s when I knew I really loved him.”
Recalling those long days and nights made considerably less painful by Ms. Masenda’s company, Mr. Lo began to cry. “She could have spent her summer doing so many other things, but she chose to stay with me and help me get better,” said Mr. Lo.
Mr. Lo’s mother said she was also thankful for Ms. Masenda.
“Andrea is a beautiful person who is thoughtful and sensitive, she just brings out the best in Kevin,” Bonnie Lo said. “She’s a spur-of-the moment-type and he takes a one-step back approach to things, and together, they just get things done.”
Ms. Masenda’s oldest brother, Kenny Masenda, had a bit of a different take on the couple.
“They are both goofy and super corny,” he said, laughing. “That’s why they get along so well.”
Ms. Masenda, the youngest of five children who has siblings in interracial relationships, said she was “never really worried about who I brought home,” but she remembered asking Mr. Lo, “Do you really think you can take me home to your parents?”
She soon found out that Mr. Lo’s family was as open-minded as hers.
“When Kevin’s mother found out I was from Texas, her first questions were about my politics way before even asking what I looked like,” she said, laughing. “When things got serious between us our families prioritized tradition on both sides, and have always supported us.”
In May 2018, after spending six years at ESPN in various production roles, Mr. Lo moved to New York to take a job with “Good Morning America,” creating a long-distance situation with Ms. Masenda.
“It was a real leap of faith,” Mr. Lo said. “But Andrea kept stressing the importance of the two of us accepting difficult challenges in order to reach our full potential.”
Two months later, Ms. Masenda was back in Mr. Lo’s orbit, having worked out a transfer to ESPN’s New York offices. “All of our stars kept aligning,” Ms. Masenda said. “It had become crystal clear that we were always meant to be.”
They were married on New Year’s Eve at the Church of the Village in New York, before the Rev. Dr. Isaac Mwase, a Baptist minister, and 267 of their friends and family members.
When the church grew quiet, a symphony of whistling furnaces could be heard. Moments later, the sound of Beyonce’s “Halo” filled the air, putting in motion the procession of the couple’s 15-person wedding party.
The groom, dapper in a black Ralph Lauren tuxedo, was escorted by his parents to the altar, and was followed a few minutes later by the bride, angelic in an Anne Barge wedding gown. She made her way down the aisle, arm-in-arm with her oldest brother, Kenny Masenda, to the familiar strains of “Here Comes the Bride.”
“Two beautiful families, from two continents and two wonderful heritages are gathered here today,” the Rev. Mwase said. “From these two families will come another family, Andrea and Kevin’s family.”
After a welcome prayer, an exchange of vows and rings and a final blessing — all of which took a mere 24 minutes — the bride and groom were pronounced married, and the rapper Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen,” began to play, setting the recessional in motion.
Most of the guests waited outside in the chilly air to congratulate the newly married couple, who remained inside the church, posing for photographs.
“I love my new son-in-law, and so did my husband,” said the bride’s mother, Hope Masenda, referring to the bride’s late father, who died 14 months ago.
“They are both very outgoing, free spirits,” she said. “They were born to be together.”
Later at the reception, held at Jing Fong, a Chinatown restaurant, the newlyweds danced to Whitney Houston’s “My Love Is Your Love,” as their first song.
“Andrea, I need you not just to know, but to understand that you deserve all the love you give each other,” said the bride’s sister, Kathrine Masenda, in a speech.
“You deserve all the happiness this world has to offer. Take it, bask in it, and share it with each other,” she said. “Everyone in this room is rooting for you.”
On This Date
Where The Church of the Village, New York City
When Dec. 31, 2019
Meaning of Noodles The menu included a 12-course traditional Chinese banquet, with a note attached to each food item telling of its traditional significance for the newly-married couple. Each strand of noodle, for example, meant longevity (a long life), lobster showed togetherness and prawns indicated of a life filled with fun and laughter.
Sweet Finale Dessert included strawberry and vanilla cake from Tai Pan Bakery, and individual ice cream cups from Milk and Cream Cereal Bar.
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