OnLove: Ruth Anne Salau & Bob Kurkjian

Bob Kurkjian & Ruth Anne Salau

Bob Kurkjian, 38, heads a property investment firm. Ruth Anne Salau, also 38, runs a furniture e-commerce company. They divide their time between Dupont Circle and New Brunswick, N.J.

Wedding date: May 29

Location: Admiral Kidd Club, San Diego

Guests: 200

How they met: Salau and Kurkjian met in May 2008 at a bar in midtown Manhattan. Kurkjian, a Navy reservist, had just returned from Baghdad, and Salau, who lived in New Jersey, was there with a friend. The two saw each other intermittently as friends until June 2009, when Kurkjian invited Salau to go to Tanzania with him. Salau, who often traveled solo, saw it as an “opportunity for ad­ven­ture with someone whose company I enjoyed.” It was during that trip that friendship turned to romance.

The proposal: Kurkjian fast-tracked his proposal plans when they learned Salau was pregnant. He carved apple slices into letters and spelled out “Marry Me?” on a bamboo carving board, on which he also placed a cupcake topped with a Hershey’s Kiss. Atop the candy was a ring that was set with his grandmother’s diamond.

The wedding: They were first wed in a small civil ceremony in July 2010, but the main event took place in May, three years after the day they met and and almost 40 years after Kurkjian’s parents married at the same church and reception location. They had a Tanzanian art cooperative create colorfully painted license-plate-size place cards adorned with African animals.

The honeymoon: They’re still deciding on a destination but plan to go to a part of the world they’ve never been (which may be a feat, given that they have traveled to more than 75 countries).