Darrick Lo and Adrienne Lei each felt something special about the other when they met in 2015 — and again in 2017.
“I rarely go up to a random individual and try to get to know them better,” Mr. Lo said. But when he first saw Ms. Lei at the Frick Collection in New York in April 2015, he was compelled to approach her.
“I remember Adrienne standing near the really beautiful atrium,” Mr. Lo recalled. “When I saw her and the scenery and her smile, I had to introduce myself. I would have regretted it for the rest of my life.”
She was subbing in for a co-worker during one of the museum’s Sunday Sketch events, which Mr. Lo attended. A design engineer at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan at the time, he came to the event to de-stress after a long day of work.
Ms. Lei also found him attractive, but said she was occupied by the event’s other attendees and could not give Mr. Lo her full attention.
While he made a point to say hello, Ms. Lei said, “He never gave me his phone number. So I was just like, ‘OK, that was nice. Won’t think about that for a while.’”
And she didn’t — until the pair matched on the dating platform OkCupid in June 2017. Neither immediately recognized the other, though, and this time, it was Ms. Lei who felt compelled to say something.
“I’d been on and off the platform for long enough for me to know that when you know, you know,” she said. “I just trusted my gut.”
After a first date later that month, they became an official couple “almost immediately,” Mr. Lo said.
Ms. Lei added, “It’s no question that from the beginning, we just knew.”
As they continued to date, Mr. Lo said he began to recognize Ms. Lei as the person he met at the Frick Collection. That August, he told her that they might have met before connecting on OkCupid.
“Her initial reaction was of thrill, perhaps because she immediately recognized me from that evening all those years ago,” he said.
Originally from Oakland, Calif., Ms. Lei, 38, earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and Asian languages and civilizations from Amherst College, and a master’s degree in arts administration from Columbia University’s Teachers College. She began working in the Frick Collection’s education department in 2008, and is currently the manager of education and public programs.
Born and raised in Scotch Plains, N.J., Mr. Lo, 42, is currently a staff engineer at Nephros, a medical equipment manufacturer in South Orange, N.J., where he oversees the research and development of products. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from Cornell University.
Within their first year of dating, Mr. Lo and Ms. Lei had attended friends’ destination weddings in Vermont, Maine, California and India. Attending the events brought them closer together early on in their relationship, he said.
“There were several moments where we looked at each other and were like, ‘Wow, this is really something special,’” Mr. Lo said of the connection they felt at that time.
He proposed to Ms. Lei on June 21, 2021, while they were on a hike in Poets’ Walk Park in Red Hook, N.Y.
The two, who live in Manhattan, wed almost exactly six months later, on Dec. 22 at San Francisco City Hall. Mr. Lo’s sister, Genevieve Lo, who became a Universal Life minister for the occasion, officiated before the couple’s family, friends and their cat, Nina.
A reception at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco followed for their 29 guests, all of whom were vaccinated. Later, the celebration concluded at Fiorella Clement, a pizzeria and wine bar in San Francisco. On Dec. 28, the newlyweds left for a weeklong honeymoon in Yosemite National Park.
Now that they are married, both Mr. Lo and Ms. Lei are looking forward to relaxing together and enjoying one another’s company as husband and wife.
“We’re going to focus on the smaller things now,” Mr. Lo said. “We’re looking forward to slowing down a little bit and enjoying the moment.”
