In Nicholas Vincent Martorano’s eyes, he and Elizabeth Wheatley Novella were destined to meet each other.
In 2015, Mr. Martorano and Ms. Novella, who are opera singers, were both vocal fellows at the prestigious Aspen Opera Center, part of the Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado. Each learned later that the other had been accepted into a similar program in Canada, where they might have crossed paths instead of Aspen.
“It was definitely fate that we were supposed to meet,” Mr. Martorano, 32, said, adding, “The moment I met Liz, it was like I’d known her my whole life.”
At first it seemed that they were meant to only be great friends. They lived on opposite sides of the country: Ms. Novella resided in New York City, while Mr. Martorano was based in Los Angeles, pursuing a master’s degree in music, voice and opera at the University of Southern California. (He received a bachelor’s degree in voice and opera from Carnegie Mellon University.)
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“I knew when we first met that Nick was going to be an important person in my life,” Ms. Novella, 35, said. “I didn’t know the capacity, but you just have that feeling when you meet somebody to pay attention to this person.”
After the program was over, they stayed in touch for the next two and a half years through social media and occasional texts. In late 2017, Mr. Martorano moved to New York to pursue singing opportunities. He began spending a lot of time with Ms. Novella, with whom he shared a voice coach. It was that coach who observed their obvious rapport and pushed Mr. Martorano to make a move.
“He was like, ‘Nick, when are you going to ask her out?’” Mr. Martorano recalled.
Their first date, as Mr. Martorano put it, was to an emotional performance of Verdi’s Requiem at the Metropolitan Opera. Ms. Novella tried to reimburse him for her expensive ticket, but he refused, which she considered to be “above and beyond chivalrous.” It was then that she realized the connection they shared had become romantic.
Soon after, Mr. Martorano and Ms. Novella started a relationship.
Over the next few years, the couple became inseparable, and they went to auditions together when possible. They traveled to several states for gigs and even lived in a few of them, including Virginia, Arkansas and Florida. After the coronavirus pandemic hit, Mr. Martorano decided to step back from his singing career. He now works as an associate director for major gifts at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, where the couple have lived since June.
Ms. Novella, who has a master’s degree in voice from the Manhattan School of Music and a bachelor’s degree in music from Bard College, still performs around the world as an opera singer.
Last year, Mr. Martorano decided he wanted to propose to Ms. Novella — in Aspen, where they had first met. The challenge, he recalled, was having to invite her on a trip to such a meaningful place without making his intentions obvious. So he told her that a family member was marrying in Denver, hoping to sway her to make a quick stop in Aspen. But Ms. Novella made the suggestion for the side trip before he did.
“I ended up making the ruse easy for him,” she said.
In June 2023, they flew from Sarasota, Fla., where they were living at the time, to Denver and drove to Aspen. Once they arrived, Ms. Novella, who was still oblivious to Mr. Martorano’s intentions, suggested that they embark on a favorite hike before sunset, which was exactly his plan. It was as if she had read Mr. Martorano’s mind.
“Again, Liz beat me to it,” he said.
They trekked up the Ute Trail to the top of Aspen Mountain. At the summit, Mr. Martorano asked her to turn around so he could take a photo of her soaking in the view. He fumbled in his backpack for the box containing an engagement ring with an oval diamond. Ms. Novella, still oblivious, assumed it was just a small gift to commemorate their trip — until she saw him knelt down.
“I burst into happy tears,” Ms. Novella said.
The couple were married in front of about 110 guests on Oct. 19 at Shell’s Loft Fort Greene, an event space in Brooklyn. Marion Smith, a friend of Ms. Novella’s family who was ordained by American Marriage Ministries for the occasion, officiated. Although they no longer live in New York, the city remains a special place for them.
For the wedding, the couple hired the New York-based Terra String Quartet to perform Haydn’s Op. 71 No. 2 as attendees entered the reception.
“Our guests got a concert,” Mr. Martorano said.
The post To Keep His Own Proposal a Secret, He Lied About a Wedding appeared first on New York Times.
