Love: Milagros Lopez & Nathan Fried

On New Year's Eve 2009, Nathan and his friend Andrea headed toward the Apple Store near Central Park to meet another friend and some of his friends, who were all going to a party on the Lower East Side.

Milagros "was wearing a big, goofy hat and eating a hot dog from the hot dog cart," Nathan said. "Something about her caught my eye."

On the ride to the gathering, Milagros could see Nathan watching her in the subway window's reflection. They started talking at that party, and also checked out another one in the apartment next door.

Then Milagros thought it would be fun to go up to the roof. She pushed the door, and set off what sounded like a million alarms.

"We kind of just pretended it didn't happen and walked back downstairs to the party," she said.

Nathan, who grew up in Riverside, N.J., but lived in Northern Liberties, found her to be full of life and fun.

"I've never seen anybody with your face before," he told her at a quieter time.

"At first I thought he was just drunk," Milagros said. "I knew he was trying to hit on me, but I just ignored it."

Nathan finds her beautiful, but that's not what he meant. "She has this look of peace about her," he explained.

Later, Milagros' friend Su Li told her she was impressed by Nathan and she thought Milagros should do something about his obvious interest in her. Since Su Li is hard to impress, Milagros paid attention.

She later contacted Nathan on Facebook. They began chatting there, and would have friendly get-togethers whenever he was in New York.

About a year after they met, Milagros traveled to Philadelphia to visit Nathan, who researches migraine headaches as a doctoral neuroscience candidate at Thomas Jefferson University.

They began dating, but tried to keep it casual due to distance. Two busy lives stationed in separate cities seemed a lot to take on.

By summer 2011, Milagros had grown to love Philadelphia and Northern Liberties. In New York, she lived with her adoptive mother, Starr. But here, she could afford her own rent and start a new life. She found a place a few blocks away from Nathan's, and landed a job at an Old City diner. She now works at Taco Riendo in Old Kensington.

Soon, they were together every day.

Nathan loved how they could have fun even doing next to nothing, the calming influence she had on him, and her brain. "She knows so much about history . . . and knows what's going on in the world," he said. "She always has an interesting viewpoint."

Milagros fell for Nathan's easygoing, sometimes goofy nature. "He showed me that you can still fit in without having to give up who you are," she said. "He can fit in with everybody, and he never tries to be anyone but himself."

In early 2012, Milagros put a security deposit on a new apartment. A couple weeks later, Nathan asked her to move in with him. Six months after that, Nathan bought the house in Old Kensington where they still live.

In December 2013, the couple went to New York, where Nathan, who is now 29, took Milagros, now 24, on a tour of early relationship mile markers. He gave her a little love note outside the Apple store, and another on the street outside the building where their first New Year's Eve parties happened, reminding her of the guy who liked her but did not succeed in winning her heart until much later.

Nathan had asked Yelp to recommend a romantic restaurant in the village, but the atmosphere that night just didn't suit his important purpose.

On the sidewalk outside the restaurant in the rain, Nathan's parents, Tom and Mary, and Milagros' siblings, Juan and Rosey, met for the first time and expected to greet a celebrating couple.

Nathan and Milagros appeared with no status update, but before Milagros could recover from her surprise at seeing their families, Nathan knelt on the damp sidewalk.

Beneath Tom's umbrella, he asked Milagros, "Will you marry me?"

"OK," Milagros said.

Rosey laughed and told her she couldn't just say OK.

"Yes!" Milagros said.

As her attempt to get on the roof the night they met suggests, Milagros has always found rooftops enthralling. Nathan likes the bird's eye perspective, too. The two married on the roof of Starr's East Midtown co-op.

Their pastor spoke of God, and about "the amazing beauty that two human beings, two creatures, can make a decision to be with each other forever," Nathan remembered.

After the vows, about 90 guests joined them at 54 Below - the former Studio 54 - for a reception inspired by vintage glam.

Rather than the usual best-man toast, Nathan's lifelong best friend, Matt, spontaneously put together a variety show. Milagros' bridesmaids said nice things, but the groomsmen's toasts were more like a roast.

Bridesmaid Jesmin, whom Milagros met freshman year at Fordham University, sang while the couple danced and their guests looked on.

Following the reception, everyone gathered again in the Lower East Side for an afterparty at Mehanata Bulgarian Bar.

As they waited to make their reception entrance, Nathan checked his messages and discovered the party bus from Mehanata that was to transport guests to the afterparty broke down. The determined bride and groom took out their phones.

They signed a faxed-over contract during dinner, and although the cost of something so last-minute was a bit painful, Nathan didn't care.

The couple's successful problem-solving reinforced to him how great a team they make, and seemed an auspicious way to start a marriage.

Coming downstairs after the stressful, party-bus situation to discover that their friends had crafted a performance in their honor was amazing, Milagros said. "They hadn't known each other well before at all . . . and there they all were, having fun and getting along so well together," she said. It made her happy to see such bonding, and any remaining stress evaporated.

A bargain: The couple's photographers had only recently expanded their business to weddings. They paid $1,000 for three photographers and a video.

The splurge: Nathan's watchmaker father and his business partner, Bill - a jeweler who has always been like an uncle to Nathan - created the wedding bands at cost. But they also convinced the couple to spend significantly more than the $500 they had budgeted, saying the marriage symbols were too important to skimp on.

Ten days in the Dominican Republic, in part to experience some of the bride's heritage; her birth mother and other relatives are Dominican.

Officiant: Pastor Joseph Gilmore, retired, formerly of South Presbyterian Church, Dobbs Ferry

Venue: A New York City rooftop and 54 Below, New York

Food: 54 Below

Photo and video: Bright Wedding Films, Brooklyn

Flowers: Riehs Florist, Philadelphia

Dress: L&H Bridal, Philadelphia

Ceremony music: Violinist Filip Pogady of New York.

Reception music: 54 Below's house pianist and DJ Billy Mendola of New York.

To see Nathan and Milagros' wedding video, go to www.philly.com/weddingsEndText