On March 21, Keri Ann Meslar and Trevor Thomas Galko stood at the back of the Convento Santa Clara, the sprawling ruins of the Santa Clara Church in Antigua, Guatemala, arm in arm, watching their family and friends singing and dancing throughout a shock firework present to shut out their wedding ceremony celebration. Within the distance the Volcán de Agua, a towering 12,000-foot volcano, loomed. The music “Wake Me Up” by Avicii blasted by means of the 18th-century convent and gardens.
“The fireworks, they only obtained greater and greater and better over the venue, and folks had been going nuts,” Mr. Galko, 45, mentioned. “Tears had been flowing from my eyes with happiness and pleasure.”
He added: “It was the very best three and a half minutes of my life.”
“It was this outpouring of affection from individuals who had been like, ‘It’s your flip,’” Ms. Meslar, 43, mentioned.
The second was made extra highly effective by the couple’s journey, mentioned Brian Luftman, 46, a university good friend of Mr. Galko and a groomsman. “These are two folks of their 40s who took a very unconventional path to getting there, however real love prevailed.”
Mr. Luftman described their journey as “a boomerang.” The couple had dated early in life, separated, then obtained again collectively 10 years later.
Ms. Meslar and Mr. Galko first met in 2006 once they had been 25 and 27. Each lived in Washington, the place Ms. Meslar labored for the Nationwide Soccer League staff the Washington Commanders, then the Redskins, and Mr. Galko labored in tech gross sales.
Mr. Galko put an advert on Craigslist for a roommate, and Ms. Meslar’s greatest good friend responded. “I went together with her to take a look at the place, and I assumed the man was cute, and he requested us if we needed to exit along with his associates,” she mentioned. “I mentioned sure.”
They ended up closing down a sports activities bar. Ms. Meslar remembered Mr. Galko gave her cab cash, “which was considerate.” Mr. Galko was impressed that Ms. Meslar partook within the 10-cent wings.
Two weeks later, they went on their first official date to see the rock band Blue October on the 9:30 Membership. Three months later, they had been formally a pair.
A humorous second occurred that summer time when Mr. Galko met Ms. Meslar’s dad and mom for the primary time after operating into them at a bar after a day of kayaking. “I solely had my outfit from the evening earlier than, so I wore Trevor’s basketball shorts and a T-shirt,” Ms. Meslar mentioned, laughing.
In 2007, Ms. Meslar moved to Charlotte, N.C., to work for the Charlotte Bobcats, the Nationwide Basketball Affiliation staff. The 2 tried to have a long-distance relationship, however with busy jobs and lives, they finally drifted aside. The couple broke up in 2009.
“It was a timing factor,” mentioned Katherine Kennedy Allen, the good friend who answered the Craigslist advert, who was later a bridesmaid. “Keri Ann’s profession was taking off, she was touring rather a lot, she was discovering herself as a person.” Certainly, Ms. Meslar went on to work for firms together with Coca-Cola, Burger King, and Nando’s. Mr. Galko married in 2016, and divorced a couple of years later.
Quick ahead to 2019, when Mr. Galko was watching the March Insanity basketball event on tv, and the Volunteers from the College of Tennessee, Ms. Meslar’s alma mater, had been enjoying. “I used to be like, ‘Oh God, I miss Keri,” he mentioned. “I despatched her a two phrase textual content: ‘Go Vols.’” Ms. Meslar, who occurred to be on the sport, despatched again a photograph.
After six months of texting, they met up for dinner at Maydan, a Center Jap restaurant in Washington. Each made an effort to decorate up. “It was like he was courting me although this was somebody I knew at his core,” Ms. Meslar mentioned.
That they had each modified as folks. “I didn’t actually have a passport when Trevor and I first met, however now I had traveled to twenty international locations,” Ms. Meslar mentioned. They usually appeared to work as a pair much more the second time round. By the next summer time, July 2020, they’d moved in collectively.
Ms. Allen, the good friend, couldn’t imagine it once they informed her throughout a Zoom completely satisfied hour that they had been relationship once more. “After they had been relationship the primary time, Keri Ann and I dreamed of her wedding ceremony,” she mentioned. “After they obtained again collectively it simply felt proper, like they’d be collectively eternally.”
Mr. Galko grew up in New Berlin, Wis., and attended Miami College of Oxford, Ohio, the place he obtained a bachelor’s diploma in finance. Mr. Galko works in software program gross sales for Chainguard, a tech startup.
Ms. Meslar grew up in Oak Hill, Va., and attended the College of Tennessee, the place she obtained a bachelor’s diploma in communications. She now works as a advertising and marketing government for Name Your Mom, a deli chain based mostly in Washington.
The couple, who stay in Arlington, Va., turned engaged in March 2024 throughout a visit to Wales. That they had simply landed in London and pushed 4 hours to Wales, so Ms. Meslar didn’t perceive when her boyfriend insisted they drive one other 45 minutes to hike.
“We pulled as much as the spot, and it’s the most magical place I had ever seen,” she mentioned. “There may be the ocean beneath, and there are these excellent little rolling hills, and the explanation the grass is completely manicured is as a result of they’d these wild Shetland ponies.”
Mr. Galko discovered the one different individual strolling round and requested her to take a video as he obtained down on one knee and popped the query. Later, once they had been celebrating, they met 4 Englishmen who had rented a close-by lighthouse and invited them over for celebratory drinks.
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The couple had been legally married March 17, once they stuffed out paperwork on the steps of the Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown, the place Ms. Meslar’s grandparents turned engaged. In Washington, {couples} can self-officiate.
They selected Guatemala for his or her celebration as a result of it’s a spot they’ve visited many instances, and Mr. Galko had invested in an area brewery named Antigua Cerveza. “I needed to carry our associates someplace they could by no means go in any other case,” Ms. Meslar mentioned. About 150 folks made the journey.
The festivities began on Wednesday, March 19, when Mr. Galko spontaneously texted visitors that he had rented the bar El Tigre Negro. “We had been wandering the streets of Guatemala, looking for this speakeasy, which was completely unmarked,” Ms. Allen mentioned. “It was this tremendous cool darkish room, nearly like a smoke stack, and we had been chilling and lounging.”
On Thursday night, there was an official welcome occasion at Casa Troccoli, a rooftop bar and restaurant overlooking the erupting volcano. An area caterer made handmade tortillas, and there was a taco stand. A D.J. and saxophone participant serenaded the gang with common hits. “All the ladies went loopy for ‘Homicide on the Dance Ground,’” Ms. Allen mentioned, as a result of it was a theme music of types for his or her years in Washington.
Friday, the formal wedding ceremony celebration day, started with the couple sending each other presents: a sentimental stuffed animal for Mr. Galko and a diamond necklace for Ms. Meslar. They arrived on the convent individually. “All these locals stopped and waved to me as I used to be getting off this bus, and so they had been all clapping,” the bride mentioned. “I felt like royalty.” A mariachi joined the marriage get together to take photographs round city.
After a 25-minute vow trade led by Ms. Meslar’s brother-in-law, David Watson, the get together started. “You stroll by means of this cave, and then you definately come out into this spectacular room” with excessive columns and domes, mentioned Mr. Luftman, the groomsman. “It was this excellent day on this lovely backyard, and the flowers had been superior.” He mentioned nobody left the dance ground for hours.
“No matter expectations I had had been blown away,” he continued. “I wasn’t at Tom Brady and Giselle’s wedding ceremony, however there was no manner it was higher than this.”
At 9 p.m., after the fireworks, visitors made their manner by bus to the brewery that Mr. Meslar invests in, positioned in a backyard with timber and flowers. Lasers lit up a dance ground, and visitors helped themselves to a s’mores station and wooden hearth pizza.
Ms. Meslar mentioned the whole week was definitely worth the wait. “All these folks simply embraced us and our story and had been so completely satisfied we discovered one another once more,” she mentioned. “It actually was our fortunately ever after.”
On This Day
When March 21, 2025
The place Convento Santa Clara in Antigua, Guatemala
A ‘Groupiemoon’ After the marriage celebration, the couple and 18 visitors traveled by van and boat to Lake Atitlán, a physique of water in a volcano crater in southwestern Guatemala. They spent three days sightseeing, enjoyable, consuming and ingesting.
Native Make-up The bride and her bridal get together obtained their make-up achieved by Monica Boppel, a good friend of a good friend of the groom’s. She lives in Guatemala and the bride hadn’t even met her earlier than her wedding ceremony celebration day. “It was the very best make-up I’ve ever seen in my complete life,” the bride mentioned. “All people appeared so good.”
Discover My Buddies. The groom despatched out an inventory of his favourite eating places, bars and spas in Antigua for all visitors. He mentioned he added everybody to his “Discover My Pal” app and cherished seeing the place everyone was all through the marriage weekend.
