Samantha Lesser and Michael Wald quietly wed in New York, plan Boca Raton ceremony

Samantha Allie Lesser and Michael Robert Wald were married on Jan. 21 in New York City by Yanfang Chen of the Manhattan City Clerk’s office, with Mr. Wald’s mother, Heather Grey, as the witness; the couple celebrated afterward at Lure Fishbar in SoHo and will host a religious ceremony and reception with 160 guests on Feb.

15 at a Boca Raton resort. Ms. Lesser, 32, and Mr. Wald, 30, met through family connections after a friend in Boca Raton suggested they would “hit it off.” They went on a blind date in early May 2024 in New York, starting at the cocktail bar Analogue and then to Zinc Bar, and exchanged texts the next morning about the espresso martinis.

Mr. Wald planned two more dates within a week and on the third he told her, “we were getting married,” which Ms. Lesser initially brushed off. The two became a couple in June 2024, and two months into dating he invited her on a two-week trip to Italy where he was the best man at a friend’s wedding.

Their Italian itinerary included an 800-mile road trip from the Amalfi Coast to Rome in a rented 1972 Alfa Romeo Spider; the car broke down near Benevento during a heavy downpour and they were rescued by a passing mechanic and a group of teenagers. Five hours later they reached Rome, where Mr.

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