A Brazilian and Russian Love Story That Started in Brooklyn

It was Sept. 1, 2020, and Maxwell Dayvson Da Silva and Evgenia Satsuk have been carrying masks throughout their first date at Leuca, an Italian restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He freaked her out only a bit when he requested her to decrease her masks and kissed her.

“All proper, now I’m going to die,” she recalled considering. “He most likely kisses each girl through the pandemic.” He had truly quarantined in his condo for 90 days as a result of he had been scared of going out through the Covid-19 pandemic. However on the time, she didn’t know that.

The kiss didn’t scare her away, although, due to their animated dialog over dinner and drinks. That they had met on the relationship app Tinder every week earlier than, and so they linked about life in New York and life of their homelands. Mr. Da Silva is from Recife, Brazil, and Ms. Satsuk from Khabarovsk, Russia.

Mr. Da Silva, 40, was born and raised in a favela, a working-class neighborhood. At 14, he taught himself methods to code, and when he was 15, he began working as a software program engineer at a media firm. In 2012, he bought a job provide as a software program engineer at The New York Instances and moved to Brooklyn. “It’s truthfully a miracle,” stated Mr. Da Silva, as he mirrored on his childhood days carrying buckets of water to his residence, which didn’t have working water most days.

Ms. Satsuk, 38, grew up in a housing mission in Japanese Russia. She graduated from Khabarovsk State College of Economics and Regulation with a bachelor’s diploma in worldwide enterprise and have become an account supervisor at a retail firm. She moved to Brooklyn in 2011.

“Although we have been separated by oceans and completely different continents,” Mr. Da Silva stated, “we had a really related story rising up with very humble beginnings.”

For his or her second date, they met at Sweetwater, one other restaurant in Williamsburg. And on the dates that adopted, Mr. Da Silva invited her over to his condo in Williamsburg and gained her coronary heart along with his cooking.

On their third date, he ready moqueca, a seafood stew. On the fourth date, he made a mashed potato dish with crab and shrimp. It was so good, she stated, that she took some residence. And on the fifth date, he cooked black fettuccine with a vodka sauce and lobster, a dish that he now makes for the couple yearly on Valentine’s Day.

In January 2021, Ms. Satsuk and Mr. Da Silva booked a one-way ticket to Hawaii. On the time, Mr. Da Silva was working at Lyft as a senior director of engineering, and he was additionally within the midst of finishing a grasp’s diploma in interactive telecommunications at N.Y.U. He’s presently the vice chairman of engineering at Shopify.

Their time in Oahu was a giant stress reliever, Mr. Da Silva stated. At 5 p.m. day by day, he wrapped up at work and went to Waikiki Seashore with Ms. Satsuk. Typically that they had ice cream. They watched the waves and waited for the sundown. They ended up staying in Hawaii for 5 months.

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On Nov. 25, 2022, throughout a friendsgiving dinner of their residence in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Mr. Da Silva proposed. Whereas everybody’s glasses have been stuffed with champagne, he made a toast, Ms. Satsuk recalled: “I’m so grateful for all of you guys, however I’m most grateful for this Russian princess I met.”

In February 2024, the couple hosted a three-day Russian and Brazilian celebration with 75 visitors in Pipa, a seashore city in northeastern Brazil, near Mr. Da Silva’s hometown.

On the primary night time, that they had a pool social gathering. Colourful dune buggies escorted visitors from their lodges to the social gathering, the place they took a samba class.

The subsequent day, a marriage celebration happened on a full moon at Filha da Lua Eco Lodge, a resort lodge. A D.J. performed Brazilian, Russian and American music. On the finish of the celebration, everybody jumped right into a pool, together with Ms. Satsuk in her wedding ceremony gown.

And on the third day, visitor have been handled to a Russian-themed Sunday brunch.

“I felt so beloved,” Ms. Satsuk stated. Her household flew in from Russia, taking 4 planes on a 48-hour journey. She noticed her father for the primary time in 5 years.

“I by no means had a dream of getting a marriage gown, and having a marriage day,” added Ms. Satsuk. “However what occurred was only a dream come true — a dream I didn’t know I had.”

The celebration had an altruistic part. The homeowners of the lodge they stayed at had opened a college for youngsters within the neighborhood, however the library had solely had just a few books. The couple requested every visitor to deliver a handful of books to donate to the varsity’s library.

On March 28, the couple have been legally wed on the Brooklyn Marriage Bureau. Huiling Zheng, a workers member of town clerk’s workplace, officiated.