Celebrating love in Miami's “305 Days”

Rebecca Vilamiza spent years trying to introduce her two best friends, but they weren't in the same city long enough to meet.

That is, until December 2020, Venezuelan high school best friend Salvador Jesus Salazar traveled to Miami to meet his siblings.

While in the US, Salazar recalls thinking, “What are you planning on doing in Venezuela now?” Given the political unrest in Venezuela; while volunteering as a paramedic for protesters, he suffered serious injuries in 2019. And the pandemic.

Salazar, Maria Daniela Aguad and Villamisar's best friends at university finally met in April 2021 at Villamisar's home in Miami.

Aguad said the conversation with Salazar flowed as if they had known each other for a long time. They later replaced their Instagram handles. “I didn't know how important this night would be,” Aguad said.

The two continued to look at each other at a gathering of mutual friends. “We slowly started flirting,” she said.

It may have been Salazar texted her to ask her to have dinner at Lung Yai Thai Tapas in Miami a few days after she mentioned her favorite Thai restaurant. “Salvador was so nervous that he broke the plate and somehow it made the night even better,” Aguado said.

After dinner they went to drink in their drinks. Things got a little more intense there. “We have beer and he stopped out of nowhere and confessed that he felt this was different from what he had experienced,” Aguad said.

They both left the night feeling like something big was in place that night.

“After the first date, things went like a roller coaster,” she said. “Smooth but refreshing.”

That August, both signed Covid contracts. “We quarantined together and basically started living together informally,” in an apartment in Coral Gables, Florida. “It was like a perfect excuse,” she said.

They officially moved to a new apartment in June 2022. Around that time, Aguad's younger brother, Carmelo, was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 17.

In September 2022, Salazar began talking about marriage. However, Aguad said, “I was still terrified and emotionally recovering from my brother's health, so I gave him patient time.”

By June 2023, Aguad's brother had undergone a clean health deliberation. “It felt like my huge weight had been lifted,” she said.

Early on Christmas, Salazar handed Aguad a small box and proposed a diamond ring. “He told me to close my eyes, and when I opened them, it was – a lifelong promise together,” she said.

(Click here to read this week's featured couples.)

In early 2024, the couple set out to plan their wedding in Venezuela. However, as political unrest escalated following the July presidential election, they were forced to postpone. They chose to get married sooner, fearing that Salazar's temporary protected status could be revoked amid the Trump administration's new efforts to dismantle the program.

Aguad, 27, grew up between Maracaibo, Venezuela and Miami. She holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Florida International University in Miami and pursues her MBA through NYU's hybrid program, where she currently works as a marketing specialist for Lacroix Sparkling Water, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Salazar, 29, grew up in Caracas, Venezuela. He holds two associate degrees in dental hygiene from Santa Maria University at the Health Institute in Caracas and Florida. He works as a part-time dental hygienist in Fort Myers, Florida and owns the business consulting company Blumind.

The two were married on March 5th at Miami-Dade County Assistant Officer Claire Petit Lewis in Miami-Dade County Courthouse. This is also known as “305 days.” The couple's friends, Rosaura Salazar and Victoria Sanchez, were witnesses. After the ceremony, they celebrated lunch with friends at a bistro in Mandolin Aegean in Miami's Design District.

The couple will be holding a wedding celebration for 100 guests this December at Posada Paraiso Queen, a Tucus inn in Venezuela. “The city where Salvador and I were born.”