In January 2021, Elizabeth Ives Solomon rolled into Naples, Fla., in a converted Toyota Sienna camper van. A thirst for adventure, along with international travel restrictions wrought by Covid-19, had inspired a monthslong road trip to explore the American West, and then, the shores of Florida.

Upon her arrival, Ms. Solomon, a writer and former radio journalist who lived in Washington D.C., decided to stay in Naples for a bit.

One of her first stops was to the Arthur L. Allen Tennis Center, putting advice from her mother into practice. “She always used to tell me it’s important to have a good tennis game because it’s a great way to meet people,” Ms. Solomon, 58, said.

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She quickly befriended a septuagenarian Austrian woman who agreed to be her playing partner. During their first game, Ms. Solomon became distracted.

“I noticed a really handsome guy walk onto the next court,” Ms. Solomon said, recalling the first time she set eyes on Gero Klaus Geilenbruegge. She overheard Mr. Geilenbruegge speaking in German to his tennis partner and asked her friend, who also spoke German, to make an introduction.

The foursome struck up a conversation (in English) and set a date the following week to all play tennis together. A rainstorm canceled those plans. But Ms. Solomon and Mr. Geilenbruegge met up anyway for a misty walk on a public beach. Under a shroud of gray clouds, they discovered they were both free spirits who a shared passion for travel and new experiences.

“We walked for two hours,” Mr. Geilenbruegge, 56, recalled. “It was so nice. And she liked very much that I was so open.”

He informed Ms. Solomon that he had a teenage son from a previous relationship and told her about the choice he made to move to the United States from Berlin in 2000, trading a hectic career as a tax lawyer for a slower-paced life. He currently works as a real estate broker for the Waterfront Realty Group in Naples. He received a law degree from Trier University in Germany.

Ms. Solomon, who has a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale, shared details about her life, but chose not to disclose that she was living out of a van, sleeping in parking lots and bathing at public showers on the beach. Her “cover story,” she said, was that she was crashing at a cousin’s condo 20 minutes north of Naples.

The pair began spending more time together, enjoying dinners at Mr. Geilenbruegge’s cottage in Naples or battling on the tennis court where they met, something Ms. Solomon knows her late mother would relish.

“I knew she was sitting up on a cloud, clapping about it, saying, ‘See, I told you Beth,’” Ms. Solomon said.

After a few weeks, she sheepishly came clean to Mr. Geilenbruegge about her living situation. “He just looked at me and said, ‘That’s so cool,’” Ms. Solomon recalled. “I thought, ‘Wow. This is the only man in Naples who would think this way.’”

Ms. Solomon slowly began moving her things into Mr. Geilenbruegge’s home. “We never felt annoyed by each other and that’s a huge thing especially when you meet in the later part of life,” Mr. Geilenbruegge said.

The two took a number of trips together, including a spontaneous vacation to Helsinki, Finland, and another to Germany, where Mr. Geilenbruegge introduced Ms. Solomon to his large family in Düsseldorf. They also bought a sailboat together.

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In October 2023, the couple went on a humanitarian trip to Malawi with CARE, a nonprofit organization that fights world hunger; Ms. Solomon worked as a fundraiser for the organization. Both were struck by the indomitable spirits of many of the people they met. At the end of one particular day, Ms. Solomon felt especially reflective.

“We were on this bus, bouncing out of this village,” she recalled. “I just said, ‘Honey, I think we should get engaged.’”

Mr. Geilenbruegge unhesitatingly agreed. “I’m easygoing but I have very high expectations,” he said. “And I would say she is absolutely flawless. She’s the kindest person, most generous person.”

They celebrated their decision that night on Lake Malawi, drinking cocktails and watching the sunset.

The couple wed Dec. 26 on the Naples beach where they had their first date. Several onlookers nearby clapped after they were pronounced married.

“It was a very small, private ceremony, but we weren’t separated from the people around us,” Ms. Solomon said. “It was open to whoever wanted to experience the joy that we feel about each other.”

The city’s mayor, Teresa Heitmann, a friend of the couple who was ordained by the Universal Life Church for the event, officiated. Also in attendance were Mr. Geilenbruegge’s son, Noah Rose, who served as the best man, and Ms. Solomon’s niece, Jessica Solomon, who was the maid of honor.

“I was happy,” Ms. Solomon said of her life before moving to Florida. “But I didn’t realize how full and rich life can be until I met Gero.”

Laura Marie Acker was visiting her mother in Lewes, Del., in June 2023, when she joined a group of her mom’s friends for a Ouija board night. “During the session, my father came through via letters and numbers with a surprising message,” Ms. Acker said. “I would be engaged in 2024.”

When she tried Ouija again five months later, she said another message from her father, who had died in 2016, advised her to keep going to church. “I thought the whole thing was crazy.”

It was the end of 2023, and Ms. Acker continued to experience an “unsatisfactory dating life” after years of living in Miami and New York before moving to Charleston, S.C., in 2020. “I didn’t hold out much hope because I’ve always dated men with no interest in marriage or family,” she said. “My career was a priority.”

Things changed in April when Ms. Acker, 39, met Evan Alexander Menscher, 41, through a friend from her Bible study group in Charleston. Her friend knew Mr. Menscher, a divorced father, through their daughters’ ballet class and quizzed him about his interest in marrying again. The friend felt he and Ms. Acker were a match and introduced them via group text.

After a short phone chat, Ms. Acker and Mr. Menscher met at Bar167 in Charleston later that month. “When I saw Evan sitting on a bar stool, he took my breath away,” she said.

Mr. Menscher, 41, said Ms. Acker was 20 minutes late and wearing a bright yellow dress with her hair pulled back. “I thought she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen,” he said. “I was taken aback as we locked eyes.”

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They closed down the bar talking about their life journeys, values, careers, different religions (she is Roman Catholic; he is Jewish) and dreams. “Time stood still,” she said. “I felt my father’s spirit had a role in guiding Evan to me.”

After a parting kiss, she quickly texted her best friend from college to say, “I might have met my husband.”

Mr. Menscher called his sister to tell her, “I’m going to marry that girl.”

Their second date was a few days later at a pizza party. Ms. Acker met Mr. Menscher’s 5-year-old daughter and watched as he engaged her in a game of Mr. Napkin Head as everyone roared with laughter. “I thought of the scene in the movie, ‘The Holiday,’” Ms. Acker said, referring to a scene in the 2006 Nancy Meyers film in which Jude Law plays the same game with his two daughters.

She later called Mr. Menscher to say it was as if she ordered the perfect boyfriend and his adorable daughter on Amazon and they arrived at her doorstep. “You better not return us,” he replied.

Mr. Menscher, who was born in New York City and raised in South Brunswick, N.J., has a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and exercise science from High Point University, and a master’s degree in cellular and molecular biology from East Carolina State University. He works as a remote enterprise account executive at Zoom.

Ms. Acker was born in Raleigh, N.C., and raised in Clifton, Va., and holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing and hospitality from Florida State University. She is an executive vice president of Kreps PR & Marketing, based in Coral Gables, Fla., overseeing the firm’s southeast office in Charleston.

While they enjoyed dinners, movies and boating picnics, there was one early source of tension: different dog-parenting styles. Ms. Acker’s 1-year-old dog Sawyer, a spirited rescue Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, had the run of the house, including a seat at the dinner table begging for food. Mr. Menscher, who grew up with dogs and had two during his previous marriage, is more of a disciplinarian.

“Evan uttered a negative comment about Sawyer’s behavior under his breath, and I got angry, rushing to Sawyer’s defense,” she said. They talked about it and their first fight was resolved.

On Sept. 22, while the couple and Sawyer were enjoying a sunset beach walk on nearby Sullivan’s Island, Mr. Menscher got down on one knee and proposed. “I was so surprised I jumped in his arms before saying yes,” Ms. Acker said.

They were married on Jan. 2, in front of a roaring fire at the Farm at Old Edwards Inn in Highlands, N.C. The Rev. Carl Southerland, a priest at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Franklin, N.C., officiated before 10 guests. (Five minutes into the ceremony, his daughter yelled, “Kiss her already!”)

Of their nine-month romance, Mr. Menscher said, “We moved fast because there was never a moment of doubt for either of us.”

Ms. Acker said Mr. Menscher made her feel confident, safe and at peace. “Evan encouraged me to always be honest and transparent,” she added.