Daniel Martinez Clavijo and Johanna Catherine Mele nearly crossed paths more than a dozen times before finally meeting in November 2021 at a Dave Matthews Band concert at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“The minute I saw her, I thought, ‘Oh boy, I’m in trouble,’” Mr. Martinez Clavijo said. “She lit up MSG with her big smile.”
Ms. Mele had a similar reaction. “Daniel looked so handsome and had a smile that made me think that he was a warm and genuine person.”
They were there with their mutual friend, Kelly Morris, who had been trying to introduce them for almost a decade. “There were so many times when Johanna arrived as I had just left or vice versa, and we kept missing each other,” Mr. Martinez Clavijo said.
Mr. Martinez Clavijo had known Ms. Morris for about 10 years after meeting her at a Dave Matthews Band concert in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Ms. Mele and Ms. Morris have been friends since both attended Blue Mountain Middle School in Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.
At the time Ms. Mele and Mr. Martinez Clavijo met, Ms. Mele was living in St. George, Utah, and working remotely for Williams-Sonoma. She had moved there earlier that year from New York City to be closer to Zion National Park, which she first visited in 2015 and called “one of her favorite places in the world.” Mr. Martinez Clavijo was living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, working in sports marketing.
Ms. Mele, in town for work, decided just hours before to attend the concert. Although they did not speak much that night, they sang along together and said they were “delighted to meet.”
After the concert, the two followed each other on Instagram, but didn’t connect again until June 2022, when Ms. Mele saw an Instagram story showing him bar hopping with friends in Brooklyn. “He looked so cute, and I commented that I liked his shirt and hat,” Ms. Mele said.
“I responded jokingly, asking why she wasn’t calling me cute,” Mr. Martinez Clavijo said. After exchanging a few messages, he called her, and they spoke for five hours about their interests, careers, families and life goals, touching on their immigrant backgrounds. Ms. Mele’s parents came to the United States from Argentina, and Mr. Martinez Clavijo immigrated with his family from Colombia.
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They talked the next evening, and the next, and ended up talking daily for several hours, sometimes falling asleep with their phones next to them. “I came to see a kindhearted soul who loved nature, loved her friends and family and had a passion for her job,” Mr. Martinez Clavijo said. “She was exactly what I was looking for in a partner.”
Ms. Mele said she felt “giddy and happy” during their conversations, and they connected on their “many shared values and a love for our families.”
They didn’t see each other again in person until that August, when Ms. Mele came to New York on a work trip and spent nearly every free moment together.
Their weekend kicked off with a walk through Williamsburg, ending on a bench in McCarren Park, where they shared their first kiss. “It felt like a tension cleared the air, and we both locked eyes, laughed and hugged,” Ms. Mele said. “It set the foundation for a great first weekend together.”
Mr. Martinez Clavijo, 38, is from Sevilla, Colombia, and immigrated to Hartford, Conn., at age 5, where he grew up. He is a marketing director for Major League Baseball in New York. He holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Central Connecticut State University.
Ms. Mele, 40, grew up in Cortlandt Manor. She is the head interior design manager for Williams-Sonoma Business to Business in San Francisco, and now works remotely from Beacon, N.Y. She has a bachelor’s degree in interior design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, which has since closed.
After their long weekend in New York, the couple began a long-distance relationship that lasted two years. They alternated flying back and forth between Utah and New York and also traveled to Iceland, France and to seven national parks, including Zion and Yosemite.
When they weren’t together, they spoke on FaceTime. By May 2024, when Ms. Mele’s lease in St. George had ended, she moved into Mr. Martinez Clavijo’s Williamsburg apartment. That October, seeking a lifestyle closer to nature, they moved to an apartment in Beacon, where they live today.
Mr. Martinez Clavijo proposed in May 2025 with a Colombian emerald ring during a hike at Mohonk Mountain House, a resort in New Paltz, N.Y.
They wed on April 4 before 39 guests on the lawn of the Zion Nature Center at Zion National Park in Springdale, Utah. Their close friend, Ms. Morris, who was ordained by the Universal Life Church for the occasion, officiated.
The ceremony began with a two-minute sound bath led by Cheyenne Oldroyd, Ms. Mele’s close friend, who asked guests to set an intention and ground themselves in nature. The newlyweds hosted their reception at AutoCamp Zion, a glamping site near the park.
Dinner was served outdoors and featured a menu of local ingredients. Guests then moved to an event space indoors for a dance party where a D.J. kept them moving to songs from the 1960s to current hits.
“We were surrounded by the people closest to us and felt their love,” said Mr. Martinez Clavijo. “But we were also very much present with each other every second of it all.”
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