Even before Dr. Orion Paul Mercaitis saw Olivia Louise Stringer, he heard her trying to get a fractious horse to settle down in October 2023 in the back of a trailer at New Haven Farm in Aiken, S.C.

“I don’t have a string of polo ponies, so I had to lease one,” said Dr. Mercaitis, 35, who lives in Guilderland, N.Y., outside Albany, and is a senior manager in the United States market access division for oncology drugs at Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company.

When he landed that job, Mr. Mercaitis couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than playing in a three-day polo tournament a couple of weeks later in Aiken, alongside Adam Snow, a polo champion and an owner of New Haven Farm.

“Get on the horse,” said Ms. Stringer, when she brought out a thoroughbred named Flash, one of three ponies for him to try that day. “I’m pretty direct,” she added. “He definitely laughed.”

Ms. Stringer, 40, a professional women’s polo player, owns Liv Polo, which provides rentals, sales, training and coaching in Aiken and the Northeast. She started playing polo at 13, representing United States in matches in international women’s polo in India in 2018 and Australia in 2022.

“We were pretty surprised to see each other,” said Ms. Stringer, who graduated with bachelor’s degrees in equine science and English from Colorado State University, and whose clients are usually adult amateurs, 50-plus. “He assumed I was older as well. He was a young, attractive person.”

Dr. Mercaitis, who graduated with high distinction with a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of California, Berkeley, fell in love with polo in his 20s while studying at Oxford, where he received a master’s degree in musculoskeletal sciences in 2020. He also has a medical degree from the University of Miami, and a Master of Public Health in epidemiology from Harvard.

“This is the kind of guy I should consider dating when the time comes,” Ms. Stringer recalled thinking. Her previous marriage ended in divorce earlier that year, and she was not yet dating.

After Dr. Mercaitis left Aiken, they sent each other texts about polo, shared photos of their dogs, and she sent him a few images of his favorite ponies.

“We were both being professional,” said Dr. Mercaitis, who thought “she was so perfect and unfathomable.” He figured he didn’t “have a chance.”

As New Year’s Eve approached and Ms. Stringer asked him if he had any plans, it seemed like an opening to him. He asked if she would like to celebrate at Wildflower Farms, a new Catskills resort in Gardiner, N.Y.

On Dec. 30 — after she visited family in Florida, then flew up to Albany — he drove them down to the Catskills.

“I had my Jack Russell, Comet, very much my sidekick,” Ms. Stringer said, and he brought his golden retriever Sirius (he named his polo team after him).

Both dogs got along, and so did they.

“We started talking and never stopped,” she said. “It was a three-day first date,” with farm-to-table meals, soaks in hot tubs and hikes with their dogs.

After dinner on New Year’s Eve, they had a first kiss, and as the band later played “Auld Lang Syne,” they began the year with another kiss and Champagne.

Before Ms. Stringer returned home, he gave her a tour of his hometown, the Albany area. He took her for flying lessons in Saratoga, N.Y., where she then flew a helicopter around the New York State Capitol. They landed in an Albany airfield, and then she took a Cirrus SR20 plane for a spin around the capitol. He is finishing up a pilot’s license in both.

Later in January 2024, she joined him for Robert Burns Night, an annual celebration of the Scottish bard, on the Royal Yacht Britannia in Edinburgh. He donned a kilt with his Oxford College tartan and she a matching sash as they enjoyed haggis and poetry readings.

In March, he drove to Aiken to celebrate her birthday, but the night before Easter he received shocking news. His father had died. Ms. Stringer stood by him during the next difficult weeks, and traveled to Albany to be with him.

“I didn’t know they made women like this,” he said, and then he stayed in Aiken until the end of May.

Over the summer, they spent time with her family in Baltimore, and her parents then joined them on a trip to Provincetown, Mass., in Cape Cod in late August.

During that trip, as the two walked along a quiet stretch of beach at Race Point, he pretended to see a dolphin to distract her. After she looked for it, and turned back around, he was on one knee.

On March 1, the Rev. Canon Calhoun Walpole, the rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Johns Island, S.C., officiated before 72 guests, at least 30 were polo players, at Grace Chapel on Wadmalaw Island, S.C., where the bride walked down the aisle to a trumpet player and pianist playing Pachelbel’s “Canon in D.”

Later, at the Charleston Yacht Club, where two polo mallets with their initials appeared on cocktail napkins and other items, they enjoyed a Southern menu including shrimp and grits, barbecued pulled pork and brisket.

During the following week, on March 5, her birthday, their offer was accepted on a dream farm in Aiken — a 30-acre, 27-stall barn with a polo field, and plan to call it Outfoxed Farms.

“Olivia is bright and witty, and always a step ahead of me,” he said, with a laugh.

Normani and DeKaylin Metcalf have kept their relationship mostly low-key, but that changed on Thursday when Mr. Metcalf, an N.F.L. wide receiver, announced their engagement — at a news conference announcing his recent trade, of all places.

Mr. Metcalf, who had been traded from the Seattle Seahawks to the Pittsburgh Steelers, was speaking about his excitement to play for his new team when a reporter asked whether he had sought any advice from Russell Wilson, the quarterback who joined the Steelers last season on a one-year deal. Mr. Wilson had also played for the Seahawks, where the two were teammates.

During Mr. Metcalf’s response, he nonchalantly referred to Normani, the 28-year-old singer, as his fiancée: “I talked to Russ yesterday. I proposed to my fiancée. He’s the one that connected us, so he was giving us congratulations on that.”

Though some celebrities are strategic about how and when they share their engagement news, Mr. Metcalf, 27, seemed unconcerned about press politics. Instead, he ecstatically pointed at Normani, who was watching him from the side. “She’s right there,” he said with a smirk. “Hold that rock up, baby.”

It was a soft launch engagement of sorts. Despite making their romance Instagram official on a story post in July 2023, the couple had largely avoided the public eye. To many fans, the fact that they were even a couple was news. But it was happy news for R&B fans who have been rooting for Normani; she has been in the spotlight since she was 16, auditioning on “The X Factor” and then joining the girl group Fifth Harmony, and has opened up about heartbreak in her music.

At the news conference, Mr. Metcalf shared further details of the proposal, which he said took place the day before: “My family and her family was in Houston. It was my sister’s spring break, and just thought about getting the whole family together just for a big kumbaya and joining our families with a ring.”

“They got me good,” Normani could be heard saying in response.

The pair were introduced in 2022 by Mr. Wilson and his wife, the singer Ciara. “We hit it off from Day 1, and here we are,” Mr. Metcalf said.

In an interview with Rolling Stone ahead of the release of her sensual album “Dopamine” last June, Normani opened up about her relationship with Mr. Metcalf: “I’m happy. I am very happy. Definitely an answered prayer. I’ve experienced a lot with relationships. I’m a real lover girl. I wear my heart on my sleeve, and finding space where that’s reciprocated feels good. I like to see myself happy. I really do.” She added that Mr. Metcalf had inspired a few songs on the album.

Ciara shared her reaction to the couple’s engagement on TikTok, posting a screenshot from a video call where Normani showed off her ring. “@Russell Wilson and I knew when we introed yall 3yrs ago ..love was truly in the air! Now yall gon be booed up for forever!! This was the best news! @DK Metcalf @Normani we love yall so much!”

Some of the comments jokingly requested that Ciara expand her matchmaking services. For years, Ciara’s fans had also asked her to share the prayer she said led her to meet Mr. Wilson; they have been married for nine years.

Hollywood has had its fair share of successful matchups sparked by friends playing matchmaker. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle met on a blind date set up through a mutual friend. Nicole Richie set up her brother-in-law, Benji Madden, with Cameron Diaz. Ed Sheeran is responsible for Courteney Cox’s relationship with Johnny McDaid. Meghan Trainor and Daryl Sabara were introduced by Chloë Grace Moretz.

According to a 2025 study conducted by the Knot that surveyed nearly 8,000 engaged couples, 16 percent met their significant other through a mutual friend. This was the second most common way couples met; 27 percent of engaged couples met online.

“You just get that vetting and that vouching from someone else,” April Davis, the founder of Luma Luxury Matchmaking in New York, said of why meeting through a mutual friend can be fruitful. “If you’re introduced to somebody that has references, that’s going to tear down a layer of opposition.” A special concern of celebrities in dating is not knowing whether a partner’s intentions or feelings are genuine.

Though the prevalence of online dating has made it less common, meeting a significant other through a mutual friend has long been a tried-and-true method to find romantic prospects with aligned values. A friend can do the initial vetting for you, while making sure a potential suitor passes the vibe check.

So should more people set their friends up? Yes, Ms. Davis said — as long as the matchmaker isn’t blamed if things don’t work out.