Lucie Lott said she knew she was going to marry Eladio Fabregas even before the two spoke.
Their paths crossed for the first time in September 2021 outside the cafeteria at Samford University in Homewood, Ala. Ms. Lott, now 22, was starting as a freshman and Mr. Fabregas, 25, who Lalo says, was a junior.
“We did a triple take,” Ms. Lott recalls. “I remember telling my roommate right after that I met my future husband.”
Mr. Fabregas, originally from Galicia, Spain, came to the United States on a tennis scholarship. During that brief encounter, Ms. Lott noticed that he was wearing a jersey for the Samford tennis team. She found his photo and name on the team’s roster and messaged him on Instagram that same day.
“I asked if he was the one I had seen earlier,” she said.
“I said, ‘Yeah, I think you’re the pretty girl I noticed,'” he said. “I hate texting and texting and I asked her if I could call her.”
That first phone call led to a first date, during which ice cream and hilltop stargazing were followed by dinner at a local pizzeria.
The night almost didn’t happen. Mr Fabregas said he had toyed with canceling for fear of falling in love. “I was so smitten with Lucy and I knew if we went out, we would get serious,” he said. “I was young, in the country on a scholarship and here to make it. Part of me thought that a relationship can be a distraction.”
Despite his hesitation, Mr Fabregas stuck to the plan, which saw Ms Lott pick him up in her car from the Samford tennis center after practice.
“I hugged him when he came out and told him I was delighted to see him,” Ms Lott said. “Since then, we’ve talked non-stop and shared our goals and our different upbringings.”
Mrs. Lott grew up on a 250 acre horse farm, Augustus Hill, in Paris, Ky. The property hosts events and has been used for fashion shoots for brands such as Peter Millar. She graduated from Samford with a degree in marketing and mass communications and now runs Augustus Hill’s events business remotely.
Mr. Fabregas holds a BA in Business and an MBA from Samford. He is a financial analyst at the private equity firm Regent in Beverly Hills, California, where the couple currently resides.
After that night, the pair were inseparable. “We studied, ate, exercised and enjoyed every free time together,” Mr Fabregas said.
Early in their relationship, he accompanied Ms. Lott to her family’s vacation home in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, introducing him to her mother, Diane Lott.
“My mom made sangria and served Spanish olives to bring a little of Lalo’s background to the evening,” Ms. Lott said.
In the fall of 2022, Mr. Fabregas asked Ms. Lott to accompany him on a trip to Galicia to meet his family.
“I was overwhelmed and nervous,” she said. “They didn’t really speak English, and I don’t speak Spanish, and I wasn’t sure how the whole translation thing was going to work. But his parents welcomed me with hugs and were sincere and warm.”
Mr. Fabregas and Ms. Lott’s courtship continued over the next few years. When Mr. Fabregas finished his MBA and was hired for the financial analyst job in California, Ms. Lott moved in with him and switched to Samford’s online program until she graduated.
Before moving, the couple made their annual trip to visit Mr Fabregas’ parents in Spain.
“Lalo told me he wanted to add a weekend getaway to an island called La Toja for some sun and relaxation,” Ms Lott said. “I knew he was going to propose at some point and when he mentioned the trip I was sure it would happen then.”
However, the rain interfered with Mr. Fabregas’ plans. “I wanted to ask Lucy in front of a church made of shells,” he said. “But when the drops started coming, I put it off.”
The next morning, June 1, 2023, Mr. Fabregas and Ms. Lott returned to the church and he presented her with a center-cut diamond ring set with two shield-cut diamonds.
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On June 15, the couple married at Augustus Hill in front of 160 guests, including Ms. Lott’s grandfather, Trent Lott, the former Senate majority leader, as well as several members of Mr. Fabregas’ family from Spain.
Hunter Bates, a close friend of Ms. Lott’s family and a former chief of staff to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, officiated. Ordained by Christian Global Outreach Ministries.
Mrs. Lott, wearing a lace Monique Lhuillier gown, arrived at the altar with her father, Chet Lott, in an open-air, straw carriage as a harpist played Pachelbel’s Canon.
Mr. Fabregas was dressed in a European morning suit from Stuart Mercer Gentleman’s Shoppe in Lexington, Ky.
At the reception, an alfresco sit-down dinner featured Kentucky beef and Spanish paella. This was followed by an Ibiza nightclub themed party.
“The day was a union of two different cultures,” said Mr Fabregas. “And a reflection of our relationship.”
