Beauty queens announced marriage after dating in secret
Beauty pageant titleholders Mariana Varela (Miss Argentina) and Fabiola Valentín (Miss Puerto Rico) shocked the world when they revealed they married on October 28 after keeping their relationship secret for two years.
The newlyweds announced via Instagram with an adorable montage.
They shared photos of the ceremony and videos of their honeymoon, including sunsets on the beach and a bed full of rose petals spelling out, “I love you.”
The couple also shared a picture of a room full of candles, balloons, and “marry me” written on the window, presumably from the night of their engagement.
The video ends with them holding hands in front of a courthouse in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on their wedding day.
Valentín added the caption: “After deciding to keep our relationship private, we opened the doors to them on a special day.”
A ‘grand’ and beautiful love story
How did the romance between Miss Argentina and Miss Puerto Rico unfold?
The couple met at the Miss Grand International pageant in 2020. It was love at first sight.
Varela, 26, won the Miss Universe Argentina pageant in 2019 and was a top 10 finalist in MGI 2020.
Valentín, 22, was a top three finalist at Miss Universe Puerto Rico 2019 and finished in the top 10 at MGI.
After the pageant, they started dating in secret. Although they regularly posted photos together with very gay captions. For example, in August, they posted selfies with the caption “a summer with you.”
In January, Valentín posted videos of them together on the beach, saying: “How blessed I am to have a person in my life like you. I LOVE YOU.”
‘Lovelovelove’: Online reactions to their big announcement
Following the announcement, some of the couple’s Miss Grand International 2020 colleagues flocked to the comments and left congratulatory messages for the newlyweds.
Ghanaian model Abena Appiah, who won MGI in 2020, wrote: “Omg congratulations MGI brought together a beautiful union.”
MGI 2020 runner-up Samantha Bernardo (Miss Philippines) added: “Omg! Congratulations sisters! Lovelovelove!”
Meanwhile, across social media, people have been unequivocal in their praise for how sweet the newlyweds’ love story is.
“I’ll cry they are so cute,” one person wrote.
Under their post, another person wrote: “Congratulations on your love. You’re an example for all of us and it helps me so much to see this. Representation matters so much and I can’t say how much this means.”
As a reply to the congratulatory messages, Varela commented: “Thanks for all the love! We are very happy and blessed. I wish that the love you are giving us is multiplied! Endless thanks.”
On her Instagram stories, Valentín also shared a message in response to all the positive reactions to her post saying, “How nice it is to read each message. Thank you all for your words and good wishes.”