U.S. women's national soccer team players Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger got married over the weekend in Miami, nearly a decade after they first met, CNN reported on Monday.
Krieger told People that the couple was immediately impressed by the venue, the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, the first time they saw it.
"It was this kind of Mediterranean castle-like vibe right on the water, this European-type vibe that we were going for," she explained. "Right when we walked in we were like, 'Oh my God. We love this and everyone else was going to love this.'"
Harris said she was excited to be married, explaining, "I think so much of our support from our family and friends have been through soccer and this is just so much more meaningful, in my opinion, to be celebrated for love and acceptance and inclusion, that's so major in the world we live in now."
Harris told People that when the two first met, "We became really close friends, and we just hung out, we clicked, and we had so much in common. We always sat next to each other on the bus and on flights, and we kind of just talked about our dreams and our hopes and what we wanted to do one day when we grew up. Because at the time, we were kids."
However, for many years they did not announce their relationship in order to keep an "element of professionalism" on the field together, and out of concern for how others would react.
Following the announcement of their engagement earlier this year, Krieger told NBC News that she and Harris hope their story can help other same-sex couples "who might not be out or comfortable talking about their relationship."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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