“Wedded Bliss” is part of a continuing series on how Hudson County couples met. If you know of a good story, e-mail afernandez@hudsonreporter.com.
The last guy whom Maylin Hago, 34, expected to meet on a July 4 trip to South Beach, Fla. with girlfriends was someone from New Jersey, especially someone from North Bergen.
Yet there was Jairo Paredes, 39, like her, spending the holiday weekend in Florida with his buddies and stopping along Ocean Drive before heading out for a cruise the next day.
It was 2007 and Hago already was in a serious relationship with a Marine who happened to be from North Bergen. So when she met North Bergen resident Paredes in the South Beach nightclub, she showed the least bit of interest and actually found him to be quiet and aloof.
“I didn’t want the date to end.” – Maylin Hago Paredes
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“I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. I really couldn’t. I thought she was absolutely beautiful,” he said last week.
The whole evening, Paredes sought for a way to stay connected to Hago even though he knew she was in a relationship. He became the photographer for the night and hid behind the camera with the pretense of one day sending her the photos.
That 4th of July spark would set off a chain reaction of emotions for Paredes. Back in North Bergen, his thoughts were of Hago. “I kept telling everybody, this is going to be the girl.”
By the time Paredes met Hago, he had been dating for three years after ending a serious six-year relationship and had pretty much sworn off marriage.
“I told everyone, I’m never going to get married. I told my family. My mom had come to terms with it.”
He added, “My parents are divorced and every relationship I’ve had has ended in extreme heartbreak. I never really thought of myself as the marrying type.”
“I actually thought I wasn’t the marrying type either,” said Hago. After growing up in a strict household she enjoyed the freedom of being on her own. While she had her own set of serious relationships, she had never been ready to take the next step.
Paredes stayed in touch with Hago by dropping notes of hello via text message. After Hago’s relationship ended she finally took notice of Paredes. “He was there at a time that I needed someone to talk to … There was something so sweet about him,” she said.
In March 2008, almost a year after that initial chance encounter in South Beach, Hago and Paredes saw one another again for a first date over brunch at Oliva’s, a Spanish tapas restaurant in Manhattan. They were both nervous and worried about what the other would look like.
“I saw her and she was wearing a jean jacket and jeans – she looked like a Sergio Valente model. She was so cute,” said Paredes.
“He gave me that butterfly feeling,” Hago said. “I didn’t know too much about him but I was really excited about the date. Once I saw him I knew this was going to be a big date.”
Hago discovered that Paredes shared a love for food and trying new places to eat and going to the movies. What had originally been planned as a brunch date turned into a whole day affair with movies followed by dessert. Paredes took Hago to one of his favorite places to get rice pudding, Rice to Riches.
“I didn’t want the date to end,” said Hago.
Paredes presented Hago with a ring on July 28, 2010 at their favorite restaurant, Boqueria in Manhattan. “He had the ring on his pinky and he reached out his hand and held my hand and I saw the ring,” said Hago. The hostess soon arrived with a bottle of champagne.
They were married on May 29, 2011 in New Rochelle, N.Y. at the Greentree Country Club. The wedding was attended by 200 family members and friends from New Jersey, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, and Mexico. The couple was married by Julio Marenco, a childhood friend, Paredes had met him 25 years ago at Robert Waters Elementary School in Union City.
The ceremony took place outside on a cloudless, sunny day overlooking the Long Island Sound. The couple exchanged emotional vows where they recalled moments of first love. They walked down the aisle to a quartet’s version of ColdPlay’s Viva La Vida.
Jairo and Maylin Paredes live in North Bergen and have an adopted dog, Nobu. Maylin, originally from Queens, is a production coordinator for the People’s Court, a Warner Brothers show based in New York. She studied Media Studies, Drama, and Dance Theater Arts at Queens College. Jairo is an operations manager for Mind Spark in White Plains, N.Y. He attended Rutgers College and studied Spanish and Psychology.
Adriana Rambay Fernández may be reached at afernandez@hudsonreporter.com.