Over a year later, in October 2014, the two traveled to a work conference in Marbella. When the backpacking trip Ms. Zalewski planned fell through, Mr. Sin Suarez invited her to go to Rome with him. “We had an amazing time, even though things didn’t go as planned,” he said. “We missed flights because I miscalculated the times, but she was so easygoing and understanding. It was the best trip I’ve ever had.”
The couple officially began dating in 2015 when they moved together to oversee the Nikki Beach Bali location in Indonesia, where Ms. Zalewski was the marketing director and Mr. Sin-Suarez, who attended Johnson & Wales University for culinary studies, was the general manager. (The location has since closed.) “Since then, we’ve traveled around the world together,” Ms. Zalewski said.
In 2016, they moved back to Miami, where they still live today, and adopted a dog they named Lilo. Ms. Zalewski is now the senior marketing director for the Riviera Dining Group, a luxury hospitality company based in Miami, and Mr. Sin-Suarez is the general manager at Nikki Beach Miami.
Mr. Sin-Suarez had been plotting a proposal since 2019, but Covid threw a wrench into his planning. “Then in summer 2021, I suggested going to New York City to celebrate my birthday in September,” he said. The trip started with an unexpected gift from Mr. Sin-Suarez to Ms. Zalewski: a silver pocket flask engraved with the words “All roads lead to you’.”
Mr. Sin-Suarez then insisted on visiting Rockefeller Center, where he got down on one knee and proposed. They then “stopped into Midtown bars to toast with celebratory pickleback shots and danced the night away,” Ms. Zalewski said.
Ms. Zalewski, 39, and Mr. Sin-Suarez, 44, were married April 1 at Sydonie Mansion in Mount Dora, Fla. Ms. Zalewski’s older brother, Joel Zalewski, who was ordained by the American Marriage Ministries for the occasion, officiated the ceremony in front of 83 guests.
The wedding was the actualization of a dream for Mr. Sin-Suarez. “Back when Facebook was a big thing and before we were serious, I tagged Kia in a photo of Ralph Macchio and the actress who played his love interest in ‘Karate Kid,’” he said (that actress was Elisabeth Shue). “I wrote that I wished my life was like an ’80s movie, and, in fact, it’s been like a great ’80s movie with her.”
