In August 2005, he attended a wedding in the small mountain town of Grand Lake, Colo. He arrived alone for a weekend of events populated mostly by married couples. Then, at a lakeside gathering after the rehearsal dinner, Nora Burnett passed by in a flash of green pashmina, tan skin and glistening hair.

She seemed “electric,” remembered Mr. Abrams, a gregarious Denver native and Harvard graduate known to favor ski slopes and rodeos. Now an owner of a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm in nearby Englewood, he remembers being captivated by Ms. Burnett’s hearty laughter. “She was confident and charming and radiant,” said Mr. Abrams, 30.

But he didn’t make a move, because he assumed the man at her side, Stuart Nagae, was her husband.

Unfortunately, Mr. Abrams looked away just as she left with Mr. Nagae — and his wife.

The next night it was Ms. Burnett’s turn to notice Mr. Abrams as he boarded a bus carrying guests to the wedding. She was immediately attracted to his “upbeat, optimistic, fun-loving personality,” said Ms. Burnett, also 30, a born-and-bred New Yorker who is a doctoral student in art history at New York University.

At the reception she tried to catch his eye, “but he wasn’t paying any attention,” she said. So she enlisted Mr. Nagae, a former classmate of hers at Stanford, as her wingman. But as they approached Mr. Abrams, he abruptly turned and left the room.

“In my mind she was married,” said Mr. Abrams, who had started his first company at 25 but had never had a long-term relationship, “I kept noticing her in spite of myself.”

This went on until the morning hours as they made their way to an after-party at the Lariat Saloon. They were both a little worse for wear, with Ms. Burnett sporting a six-inch wine stain on the front of her ivory dress.

“All of a sudden I turned around and she was right next to me,” Mr. Abrams said. “Then I noticed her hand.”

There was no wedding ring. He was confused yet hopeful, and fortified by liquid courage he blurted out, “Where’s your ring?” In quick succession he asked the whereabouts of her husband, fiancé or boyfriend.

Taken aback, she replied: “I’m single. There’s nobody in my life. Thanks for reminding me.” Her good humor and, most important, single status delighted him.

But the bar was closing in less than a half-hour. “I was racing against the clock,” he said. Soon the lights were on, and he had yet to get her phone number.

But he needn’t have worried. “For most people it was the end of the night,” she said. “But for us this exciting thing had just started.” They walked down the moonlit mountain road, hand in hand, and then he gently kissed her.

“I felt butterflies all over,” she said. Like “something out of high school.”

She wrote her e-mail address and phone number in lip liner on a Post-it note. Within hours she was back in New York. And back to the reality that they lived nearly a continent apart.

The first person Mr. Abrams told about her was his sister, Katie. “He said, ‘I met the greatest girl last night and I have to find a way to be with her,’ ” Ms. Abrams said. “He had never been excited about a girl before in his life.”

He sent Ms. Burnett an e-mail message the next day and by October was visiting New York, pretending it was for business. Ms. Burnett suspected otherwise, but didn’t want to jinx things.

“I am someone who’s really pragmatic,” she said. But once he arrived with flowers in hand (“not roses, because I didn’t want to come off too strong,” he said), pragmatism went out the window.

And in February 2007, on a pre-Valentine’s Day trip to Colorado, he surprised her with a return visit to the Lariat Saloon.

He asked her if she remembered his first words to her. She said, “Where’s your ring?” And on bended knee, he provided one.

On Sept. 20, Rabbi Robert N. Levine married them at Guastavino’s, an event space in New York, below the 59th Street Bridge. Under its famous arched granite masonry, they vowed an enduring love. Then, as the couple kissed, their 268 guests gave a mile-high cheer.

“It was love at first sight and love at last call,” said Brooke Borgen, at whose wedding the couple met. “Things can happen at that last moment that can change your life forever.”

More Articles in Fashion & Style ? A version of this article appeared in print on September 28, 2008, on page ST13 of the New York edition.

2005年8月，他出席了一個婚禮，婚禮在科羅拉多州的山中小城大湖城舉行，他獨(dú)自去一個大多是已婚夫婦參加的周末活動。晚餐會后，人們來到湖邊聚會，而她有著獨(dú)特的曬成小麥色的的皮膚和泛著光澤的頭發(fā)，她身著綠色羊絨衫，快速穿過人群。

她似乎全身“帶電”，艾布拉姆斯先生回憶道。艾是一個愛交際的丹佛人，畢業(yè)于哈佛大學(xué)，尤其喜歡滑雪和馬術(shù)。現(xiàn)在附近的恩格爾伍德?lián)碛幸粋€兼并和收購咨詢公司。他記得自己被伯內(nèi)特小姐的開懷大笑所俘獲。“她那一刻光芒四射，自信十足，迷人極了”，三十歲的艾布拉姆斯說。

但是他并沒有采取行動，因?yàn)樗詾樗磉吥莻€名叫斯圖爾特·拿卡的男士是她的丈夫。

不巧的是，當(dāng)她離開拿卡先生----和他妻子的時候，艾布拉姆斯先生也轉(zhuǎn)移了自己的視線。

第二天晚上伯內(nèi)特小姐開始注意艾布拉姆斯先生了，他登上一輛送親的車。她馬上被他“樂觀、開朗、幽默的個性所吸引，”同樣年為30的伯內(nèi)特小姐說。伯內(nèi)特女士是土生土長的紐約人，現(xiàn)在是紐約大學(xué)歷史系的博士生。

在服務(wù)臺，她試圖和他對上眼，“但是他一點(diǎn)兒也沒有注意到我，”她說。所以她邀請拿卡先生作為他的同伴，拿卡先生是她在斯坦福大學(xué)的同學(xué)。但是當(dāng)他倆接近艾布拉姆斯先生的時候，拿卡突然轉(zhuǎn)身離開了房間。“我以為她結(jié)婚了，”艾布拉姆斯說，他25歲才開始他的第一次戀愛，但是從沒有過一段長時間的交往，“我不自禁地老看她”。

這樣一直到第二天早上，他倆去Lariat的大廳去參加婚后派對。他倆都穿的挺糟糕，伯內(nèi)特小姐穿著一條象牙白的裙子，前面有六英寸的酒漬。

“我轉(zhuǎn)過頭來，突然間就看到她就在我身邊，”艾布拉姆斯說：“然后我就注意到了她的手。”

沒有婚戒。他覺得奇怪，但又充滿了信心，借著酒勁他脫口而出：“你的結(jié)婚戒指呢?”他馬上又追問她的丈夫或者未婚夫或者男朋友哪里去了。

她大吃一驚，回答說：“我是單身，還沒有人陪我生活。不過謝謝你提醒我啊!”她的幽默，尤其是她單身的消息讓他欣喜不已。

但是，酒吧不到半小時就要關(guān)門了。“我當(dāng)時就在和時間賽跑，”他說。但不久酒吧打烊燈亮了，他卻還沒有要到她的電話號碼。

但是他沒有必要擔(dān)心。“對于許多人來說，那一晚就結(jié)束了，”伯內(nèi)特說，“但是對于我倆來說，好戲才剛剛開始。”他倆走在灑滿月光的山路上，手牽著手，然后他輕輕地吻了她。

“我感到身在滿是蝴蝶的花叢中，”她說，就像“回到了高中時代一樣”。

她在一張小紙條上用唇線筆寫下了她的電子郵箱地址和電話。幾小時后她回到了紐約。并意識到一個尷尬的現(xiàn)實(shí)---他倆的住處幾乎隔著一個大陸。

艾布拉姆斯首先告訴了他的妹妹凱蒂。“他說，‘我昨晚上見到了我的夢中情人，我要想辦法和她在一起，’”艾布拉姆斯小姐說，“他長這么大還從來沒有為一個女孩如此激動過。”

他第二天給伯內(nèi)特小姐發(fā)了封電郵，借口說他十月份將要到紐約出公差，伯內(nèi)特小姐雖然懷疑，但也不想掃他的興。

“我是一個十分務(wù)實(shí)的人，”她說。但是當(dāng)他手捧著一大束鮮花(不是玫瑰，因?yàn)槲也幌氡憩F(xiàn)得太過激，他說)站在我面前時，我的 那些實(shí)用主義思想都拋到窗外去了。

2007年2月，在情人節(jié)的前一天，他去了科羅拉多，但是他突然回到了Lariat俱樂部，這足實(shí)讓她吃了一驚。

他問她是否記得他對她說的第一句話。她說，“你的結(jié)婚戒指呢?”他馬上跪下來，拿出了一個。

9 月20號，在紐約59街大橋下的活動大廳，拉比·羅伯特·N·雷文主持了他們在瓜斯塔維諾舉行的婚禮。在其著名的花崗石拱下，他倆說出永恒的誓言。他倆接吻的時候，268位來賓熱烈地歡呼。“這真是一見鐘情又終成眷屬啊，”布魯克·伯根說，他倆就是在伯根的婚禮上認(rèn)識的。“最后一刻發(fā)生的事情也許就會永遠(yuǎn)改變你的人生。”