A bond forged over Ethan Allen furniture, e-mailed flirtations and travel turns into a lifelong journey.
By AMY SCHERZER
Published July 7, 2006
HARBOUR ISLAND — Steve Vazquez broke two promises he made to himself when he married Dina Rodrigues. He swore he’d be a bachelor till he was 40. He missed that by two years.
And he swore he’d never fly to South Africa again. A year after meeting Rodrigues, he took the 24-hour trip to Johannesburg to meet her family. “That’s the price you pay for love,” Rodrigues said, smiling at her husband.
The couple racked up thousands of miles flying to London, New York, Madeira island and Maui before he proposed in Rome and they honeymooned in Anguilla and Antigua. That doesn’t include the miles they travel for work, Vazquez as a corporate lawyer and partner at Foley & Lardner, and Rodrigues as a pharmaceutical sales manager.
Vazquez noticed a delightful lilt to Rodrigues’ accent the night they met at Sangria’s, a Howard Avenue hot spot, in August 2003. When she identified it as South African, he relayed his memories of a business trip to Johannesburg.
“I thought that was a bit too easy and I really didn’t believe him,” she said.
He quickly convinced her that he had been there, recalling the Sun City resort where he stayed, visiting the Pilansberg wild game park and winning in the Lost City casino. He stayed a week after representing a client buying a software company “because I couldn’t bear to get back on the plane,” he said. “The flight is so long I told my client I was never going back.’’
Vazquez, 38, ate those words when he fell for Rodrigues, 31, who was born in Johannesburg.
They chatted again a few weeks later when she went to Vazquez’s house with some friends to watch the Tampa Bay Bucs on Monday Night Football.
She noticed his Ethan Allen furniture as soon as she entered his Palma Ceia bungalow. It was identical to hers. “Nice taste,” she told him.
For the next month, they communicated via e-mail. Noting his middle initial, W, she asked what it stood for. “Winner,” he replied.
The electronic flirting began via BlackBerry.
“William?” she guessed. “Warren? Wallace?”
Nope. It’s Walter.
“I never thought my middle name would be the path to meeting a woman,” he said.
During their first date, dinner at Ristorante Francesco in North Tampa, they discovered much more than similar tastes in furniture. Vazquez’s parents, Raul and Martha, emigrated from Cuba to Ironbound, a neighborhood in Newark, N.J., with a large Portuguese population. Rodrigues’ parents immigrated to South Africa from Portugal, which is why she is fluent in Portuguese as well as English, Spanish, Afrikaans and Zulu.
Vazquez moved to Tampa at age 11, and graduated from Leto High, Florida State University and, in 1993, University of Florida College of Law. Rodrigues left South Africa on a tennis scholarship to the University of Tulsa. With a degree in organizational communications, she moved to Tampa in 1997 to work as an account executive with the advertising agency Paradigm/Lord & Lasker. In 1999, at the suggestion of a sorority sister, she applied for a sales job with Biovail Pharmaceutical. Several promotions later, she oversees eight sales reps in Florida and south Georgia as specialty district manager.
Their first holidays together — Thanksgiving dinner with the Vazquez family and Christmas when Mr. and Mrs. Rodrigues came to Tampa — were not exactly the height of romance.
“At least not in Christmas gifts,” Vazquez joked. He bought her a radar detector and a DVD player. She got him a tool kit and a blanket. But a year later, in October 2004, Vazquez made his commitment clear when they flew to South Africa for a three-week holiday. “You’re on that plane so long you feel like you’re in your house and the passengers are your family,” he said.
Vazquez’s vow to be a bachelor till 40 flew out the window, too. By their next trip — to Venice, Florence and Rome in August 2005 — he had been to Tiffany & Co. to buy an engagement ring.
The diamond ring went everywhere he went during the 10-day vacation. On the second to last day, at the famous Bernini fountain in the Piazza Navona, he caused quite a commotion.
Jumping to his feet, Vazquez shouted, “I LOVE THIS WOMAN.” Rodrigues thought he was imitating the DeBeers diamond commercial they’d seen so many times on TV.
As the crowd looked on, she played along, supplying the next line: “I love this man.’’
“Then I heard Steve say, 'Will you marry me?’ and saw he had a ring in his hand,’’ Rodrigues said. The pair strolled around the square and sent text messages to friends with the news.
The couple, who live on Harbour Island, married March 25 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in downtown Tampa, followed by a reception at the Tampa Yacht and Country Club. The guests went through 10 cases of Red Bull to make their special drink, Vodka Red Bull. Mr. and Mrs. Vazquez plan to fly to South Africa again for Christmas. That’s a promise he’ll keep for his true love.
Have an interesting wedding story to share? Let Amy Scherzer know at ascherzer@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3332.
