Shea and Alvaro’s story began two and a half years ago. A chance encounter led them to meet the person that they feel they’ve known their whole lives. Since meeting in 2021, they have had many fun adventures together including three international weddings, seeing both of Alvaro's brothers become fathers, visiting Shea's sister in Costa Rica, countless moments in San Diego spent together and with close friends, and getting engaged! They are so happy for you to join them at their wedding and are excited for you to learn a bit more about their story.

Like many couples now, Shea and Alvaro met online, on Hinge. On December 20, 2021, Shea was out with friends who asked her if they could help her look through her app, and after a message from Alvaro, he and Shea began to talk. At the time, Shea's family from Spain was visiting for the Christmas holidays and Alvaro's family was visiting from Mexico to celebrate the New Year. Shea and Alvaro both wanted to focus on family time, so meeting each other in person had to wait for both extended families to return home. On a positive note, the delays resulted in many texts and phone calls, which helped Shea and Alvaro get to know each other better before they met in person. While Shea waited in her car for an in-person precautionary COVID test before seeing her family (back when you had to go to Urgent Care and wait for hours for a test), Alvaro and Shea had their first FaceTime call, after which Alvaro immediately deleted his dating apps and decided to give Shea his full attention. To this day, Shea and Alvaro think this foundation of communication was the key to their success.

After three weeks of texts, phone calls, and FaceTimes, it was finally time for their first date. On January 4, 2022, Alvaro met Shea at her front door with flowers and took her to Sushi Nekosan in downtown La Jolla. On the drive there, Alvaro showed Shea his new 2022 Spotify playlist, which would become their driving playlist for the upcoming year and included some of Shea's current favorite songs. They shared several sushi rolls, sake, and long conversations that night at the sushi bar. It was the first of many dates.

Shea and Alvaro are both very close with their families and it was important to each of them that they meet each other's parents early in their relationship. On Saturday, January 22, 2022 (less than a month after their first date) Shea nervously introduced Alvaro to her parents at Vigilucci's Italian restaurant in Carlsbad. Alvaro was very calm and collected, but being the thorough parents that Shea's parents are, Margarita asked point blank, "Why do you like my daughter?" and many other questions that Alvaro answered with ease. It was a wonderful dinner and a beautiful sunset.

After dinner, Shea and Alvaro decided to celebrate their first successful parent meeting by going to the drive-in. Alvaro was so excited that the dinner had gone well that he asked Shea to officially be his girlfriend. Shea said yes and now every year, they celebrate their anniversary, January 22, at the drive-in. (Side note- the drive in closed earlier this year so if anyone has any drive -in recommendations close to San Diego, send them our way! <3)

The following day, Shea met Alvaro's parents for lunch at their home. Shea got to try Choripán for the first time (10/10 btw) and got to know the Bravos. Lunch turned into watching sports on TV (that Shea genuinely can't remember) completing a Friends puzzle, and eventually sharing a pizza for dinner. Shea found out (after almost two years) that Alvaro's mother, Mayita had taken a secret photo of Shea on her phone (not included here) to show her friends what Alvaro's "new girlfriend" looked like. Shea knew that when a quick stop-in lunch turned into a 10-hour relaxed day at their house, she would be very comfortable with the Bravos :)

During the 2020 COVID lockdown, Shea was searching for something positive and meaningful to do with her time, so her friend Jenn introduced her to kitten fostering. Since then, she has fallen in love with the process and even adopted her first foster kitten, Noir. Alvaro has grown close with Shea's cat Noir, and is going to be a great cat dad! Since October of 2021, Shea (and now Alvaro) have helped get over 30 kittens adopted into good homes.

Anyone who knows Alvaro knows he has a kind heart and is always ready to jump in where needed. He has been amazing with the foster kittens and has shown Shea how kind and nurturing he is. Shea absolutely loves how gentle and helpful Alvaro is with the kittens. It is a shining example of Alvaro's kind soul that Shea fell in love with.

Shea and Alvaro have had many fun dates over the last two years. They love hiking in Torrey Pines, mini-golfing in Liberty Station, bowling with friends in San Marcos, and spending the day at the San Diego Zoo (Red Pandas are Alvaro's favorite!)

Almost every Tuesday, Shea and Alvaro join their friends at Tower 13 in Cardiff for Trivia and drinks. You can also occasionally find them at the Shanty on a Friday night or joining a game-night in Oceanside with friends.

Every year for Valentine's Day, Alvaro takes Shea to the Skydeck in Del Mar where they order Shea's favorites: the poké nachos, toro sushi, and a lychee martini.

When they first met, Alvaro introduced Shea to the reality TV show Love Island, and now they watch every season together and have a Love Island group chat with Alvaro's siblings to discuss the weekly drama.

Family time is important to Shea and Alvaro, and they make it a point to see each other's families as much as they can. Shea loves spending a Saturday (or Sunday, or Monday, or Thursday, etc) finishing a puzzle with Alvaro's mom while he watches football (or soccer, or golf, or Formula 1) with his dad. Shea and Alvaro also enjoy spending long weekends in Orange County with Shea's parents, and sister when she is in town. They have been fortunate to make many amazing family memories!

Overall, Shea and Alvaro love spending quality time together, and make even the littlest errands a fun adventure. They are so excited for many more adventures to come.

Shea and Alvaro are fortunate to have experienced an immense amount of international travel together. Shea's family is from Spain and Alvaro's family is from Mexico, which means that their first "wedding season" was an international one.

In May of 2022, Shea's cousin, Cayetano and his fiance Vlada, were getting married in Valencia, Spain, where Shea's family is from. Although Shea and Alvaro had only been dating for 5 months, the Solazzos invited Alvaro to join them in Spain for a week, which ended up getting extended to two weeks because it was so much fun. Shea and Alvaro had so much fun celebrating Cayetano and Vlada's wedding, exploring the city of Valencia, and relaxing on the beaches of Moraira, where the Solazzos rented a beach house after the wedding. This time together gave the Solazzos a great opportunity to get to know Alvaro better. Despite a minor mishap with a shoulder dislocation on a hike down to the water, Alvaro had a blast and felt welcomed into the Capella+Solazzo family.

In October of 2022, it was Shea's turn to meet Alvaro's extended family at his cousin Dani's wedding in Mexico. Shea had never been to Mexico City and Alvaro had the flexibility to work remotely, so they decided to make an extended vacation of the trip and see as much as they could. Shea and Alvaro has so much fun before the wedding in Yautepec with Alvaro's cousins and Shea loved how open and kind everyone was. Shea and Alvaro got to celebrate Dani and Diego's beautiful wedding in San Miguel de Allende with the Bravo+Beneitez+Escobedo family and everyone had a blast! After the wedding, Alvaro was able to show Shea around Mexico City where they were able to experience what they think is one of the most unique things they've ever done together- a hot air balloon ride over the Pyramids of Teotihuacan and then walk around the pyramids together.

In May of 2023, Shea's best friend Jenn was getting married to her then-fiance Brandon in Scotland, and Shea and Alvaro were so excited to celebrate their wedding. It was the first time Shea and Alvaro had been on a trip together to a place that neither of them had been to before. They got to spend a few days before the wedding exploring Edinburgh and Inverness, making sure to stop at several whiskey tastings (which Alvaro appreciated). Shea and Alvaro then got to celebrate a beautiful wedding weekend in a gorgeous Scottish castle with many friends, whom Alvaro also became closer to on that trip. Shea and Alvaro both had so much fun celebrating their friends!!

Immediately following the wedding in Scotland, Shea and Alvaro flew to Madrid and met Alvaro's parents for a week-long trip through the south of Spain. They had so much fun exploring beautiful cities with the Bravos, and were able to experience what it would be like traveling as a family in the future. Alvaro says this trip solidified that he was going to propose to Shea because it reinforced how well she blended into his family.

A week before the proposal, Shea and Alvaro flew to Costa Rica with Shea's parents to visit Shea's sister, Julia, who had been living there for several months. At the airport, they were surprised by Shea's aunt, Rosa, who joined them on their trip. Even though they were caught in the middle of rainy season and had to cross giant rivers in our non-so-off-road vehicle, Shea and Alvaro had a great time exploring Costa Rica. Although looking back, she doesn't know how Alvaro wasn't freaking out the whole time knowing he was going to propose two days after they returned to San Diego.

Shea and Alvaro have enjoyed many long weekends traveling to see friends in San Francisco, Riverside, and Big Bear or family in New York and Seattle. Shea and Alvaro love traveling together and are excited for many trips in the future!

Alvaro proposed to Shea on September 3, 2023, at the Torrey Pines Glider Port in La Jolla, but the idea of the proposal process started long before that day.

According to Alvaro, he knew he was going to propose at the beginning of 2023, when (after several glasses of champagne) he told his brothers and parents that he was going to pop the question at some point this year. The real planning started around March of 2023 when he enlisted the help of his sister-in-law, Sharon, and Shea's best friend, Jenn, to help get ideas of what Shea would like.

From there, he started asking for her family's blessings. The first question was the easiest; asking their cat Noir if Alvaro could marry her mom. Without much of a dispute, he moved forward by FaceTiming Shea's sister, Julia, who was living in Costa Rica at the time, to ask what she thought about the upcoming proposal. Teary-eyed Julia, of course, said yes and was excited to help in any way she could. The final question was to Shea's parents. He asked them to meet at Vigilucci's, the Italian restaurant in Carlsbad where he had first met them almost two years ago. Alvaro had already gone to the jeweler to start planning the ring, but little did Alvaro know, Shea's parents had a surprise for him that night. Shea's parents suspected Alvaro was going to ask for their blessing since it was unusual for Alvaro to plan a dinner without including Shea.

When Alvaro asked for their blessing, they not only said yes, but they gave him a family ring with a special stone that they hoped he would incorporate into Shea's engagement ring. The ring belonged to Shea's Aunt Catherine, Tom's sister. Before she passed away, Aunt Catherine, or Aunt Datie as Shea called her, had asked her husband John to save her ring for Shea, her niece and goddaughter. Both Alvaro and Shea were unaware that that ring had been waiting in the Solazzo's safe for almost 20 years. Alvaro was honored to be given the ring and happily decided to use the main diamond as the centerpiece for Shea's engagement ring. Alvaro's parents had also given him a family heirloom which he used to encompass the diamond from Shea's aunt. The result was a beautiful ring that meant so much to Shea, Alvaro, and their families.

The next step was planning the logistics of the proposal. The Glider Port in La Jolla was an obvious choice for Alvaro, as that was where he and Shea spent their first Valentine's Day and many subsequent dates, and it is where Alvaro first realized he was in love with Shea.

Alvaro knew it was important to include their families in some way but wanted to keep it a surprise for Shea. After discussing it with his parents, they decided to schedule the proposal the day after his brother's and cousin's baby showers, which ensured that Alvaro's family would be in town from Mexico City and might throw Shea off. He also discussed it with Shea's parents to ensure that her parents and sister would be in town for the proposal.

On the morning of the proposal, Alvaro told Shea that they were going to a "cousin's brunch" at La Estancia and started driving into La Jolla. Alvaro was visibly nervous and Shea had a feeling that something weird was happening but brushed it off. After they arrived at the Glider Port, Alvaro took Shea's hands, got down on one knee, and asked her to marry him. Of course, she said yes!

As soon as he got back on his feet, they both heard shouting in the distance and looked up to see that both their parents and their siblings had been watching from a nearby balcony. Alvaro had done the perfect job of including both of their families without making Shea too nervous during the proposal.

After a celebratory champagne toast with family, they headed back to Alvaro's parent's house where Alvaro had planned a surprise engagement party with their family and friends. Alvaro had planned the perfect proposal!

Alvaro and Shea are so excited for the future they will build together and are honored that you will be a part of the chapter of their love story dedicated to the day where they get married.