Meet the Marzoa Family

As we sit here and write this tidbit about us, we can't help but feel a sense of gratitude for all of the blessings bestowed upon us. Writing this means, the culmination of all the hard work and sacrifice has led to success and our baby boys are here! But... before we get into that, get to know who we are, how we met, and how we beat the odds of gay-dating, grew as a couple, and made it to marriage and beyond.

This Is Us

We are obsessive compulsive Cuban coffee drinkers! Oh wait, this is about our background. Coincidentally, we both come from similar backgrounds. We are Cuban-American, born in Miami,FL with very similar European ancestry. We did some ancestry DNA and its crazy our similar we actually are! Our parents are both from Cuba, although some migrated and lived in other countries before ending up in the United States. We are very close to our families, particularly our grandmothers. We are very latino at heart and live that way as well. We love our Gloria Estefan music, salsa dancing, dramatic Spanish television and wine drinking while doing all the above. Lastly, a big part of us is our first-born furry daughter, Zoey, a Shiba Inu, which holds a special place in our hearts. We could not include her in our "Meet the Marzoa Family" YouTube video because of the logistics of carrying babies and incorporating her in there and she had not acclimated to them yet but she is our first and only baby girl, and Queen of our castle!

How We Met

TINDER! Believe it or not, some people do make it past the swipes and basic conversations and actually date using this app. I think for gay men, tinder is more of a serious dating app, or at least it was when we used it, 5-1/2 years ago. There are many grimy apps out there that lead to nowhere but we were serious with our intentions and ready to date and meet new people so it worked out for us. In Daniels case, he had just signed up on a Saturday, we chatted the following day via the app, and went on our first date that Monday, and the app was forever banished into eternity- lol. Dennis was on the app a few months and dated a little here and there, with many dates that led to nowhere, as happens more often than not, but luckily the odds were in "our" favor on that Saturday and we both swiped right, which led to a conversation and the rest is history. We had a very casual first date at Yard house, and both were extremely nervous. We calmed our nerves with some liquid courage and the date lasted at least 6 hours. We discovered we had friends in common and Daniel reached out to them to get the inside scoop on Dennis before the date and luckily all reviews were positive- wink!

Dating, Engagement and Marriage

After an incredible first date, the dates continued. Daniel was a producer for a traveling show so he was leaving town quite a bit. At first he would leave for a few days and then as the show progressed he would leave for a week or two at a time. Once we started missing each other while away from one-another we knew we were meant to be together and decided to proceed to the next step in our relationship. We had always discussed marriage and children as something we wanted but Daniel had a trick or two up his sleeve. Daniel, is a man of many talents, one of which is singing. We like to call him the Latin Sinatra! At the time of the surprise proposal, Daniel was lead singer of a cabaret show called, C'est Rouge, at the Faena Hotel, in Miami Beach. Extrovert Daniel took it upon himself to write a song, with the help of fellow artist, Envee, and incorporated this performance on our 2nd anniversary performance of C'est Rouge, which Dennis attended. After being gifted a three-piece suit, and a weekend getaway at the beach, Dennis rushed over to the Faena theatre to catch the show. Dennis had seen the show many of times, and was enjoying the show when the surprise performance began. Apparently Daniel had hired an entire camera crew and had invited our entire family, from near and far, to take part as he asked Dennis to marry him. It was the most incredible proposal and there wasn't a dry eye in the house! Of course, there was a resounding YES at the end of it and the wedding planning began, as well as the very important and necessary bachelor party.

Bachelor Party

So, the GAY-est bachelor party took place and it was the most fun even we've ever had. It was a rainbow, sparkly, balloon-arching glitter fest full of food and decor and most importantly, endless beverages! The main attraction was the massive penis ice sculpture which allowed you to pour your beverage of choice at the base and would be slurped up at the tip. Pre-corona virus this was acceptable behavior! Everyone was assigned colors for their outfits and all colors of the gay rainbow were represented equally. After pre-partying at the rented penthouse in Ft. Lauderdale, we continued the fun at a drag show before ending the night at a Wilton Manors night club. One of us drank a little too much but so much fun was had.

Wedding

We planned our wedding for an entire year. We wanted a destination wedding and both love wine, so a winery was the perfect fit for us. We also wanted our immediate family to be able to attend, including our then 90 year old grandmothers, so overseas was out of the question. After Daniel visited many California wineries, we finally settled on Ponte Winery, in Temecula California. It was breathtaking! We decided to marry on March 2nd, the 3rd year anniversary of our first date, and exactly one year from our engagement. Our entire family and most of our friends attended the ceremony, which had the entire vineyard as a visual backdrop, and was incredible! The reception took place at Ponte Winery's barrel room, encased in hundreds of active and filled aging barrels of wine. It was definitely a site to behold and one which we will cherish forever.

Honeymoon

Immediately after our wedding, we flew straight to London and then Paris for a 12 day honeymoon. It was the honeymoon of our dreams, and one we were very fortunate to be be able to take. We both were able to cross bucket-list items of our list together, as husbands! Traveling through Paris, the city of lights and romance, was magical. Our hotel had a direct view of the Eiffel Tower and we witnessed its glory in lights every night. We hope to visit Paris once again, maybe with our babies in tow this time around.

What's Next?

As husbands, we wanted to start the process of creating our family right away. We weren't getting any younger and we knew the process would take years so we immediately jumped in and began our new journey to parenthood! Follow along as we go through the step by steps and ins and outs of our surrogacy journey via Egg Donation, IVF and everything thereafter!