![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/05\/CAA5AC2F-28E3-4C40-BAC3-E3DCB5E33835.jpg\")
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Awkward, maybe, but it worked \u2014 and Martucci was instantly struck by the dark- haired Chicago native he was paired with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI remember thinking, \u2018That\u2019s the most beautiful person I\u2019ve ever seen,\u2019\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Johnson, too, \u201cdeveloped a crush immediately,\u201d a feeling that grew over the following weeks, when she got to know Martucci, who grew up in Princeton, N.J., in their FSEM classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe was kind and funny,\u201d she says. \u201cHe\u2019s a very driven person and a leader, and I was drawn to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the duo acclimated to Colgate, they bonded over being city kids in a rural, small town. They still laugh, Martucci says, about the time they planned a romantic Valentine\u2019s Day dinner at the Hamilton Inn on the outskirts of town. When Google told them the restaurant was about 2 miles from campus, they decided to walk \u2014 not exactly appreciating the route\u2019s lack of pedestrian-friendly streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were all dressed up, basically hiking for an hour through the snow on these dark, back roads,\u201d says Martucci. \u201cThe blisters were intense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They also connected over their shared drive to succeed academically. Johnson was on the pre-med track, majoring in biochemistry with a minor in classics, and Martucci double majored in history and geography. The library, they say, became their second home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s really where we got to know each other,\u201d Martucci says. \u201cSpending those late nights studying together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/05\/IMG_1277.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nAfter graduation, Johnson went on to a research position at the National Institutes of Health and, soon after, medical school at Drexel University in Philadelphia; Martucci was hired by a trading firm in Manhattan. They made the distance work through weekend visits and \u201clearned a ton about communication,\u201d says Johnson. \u201cOur relationship required more effort than it did when we were at Colgate, but we grew closer as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though they had talked about marriage casually, Johnson wasn\u2019t expecting more than a \u201cchill weekend\u201d in May 2022, when she flew to New York to celebrate Martucci\u2019s birthday. But Martucci\u2019s idea for the visit was anything but low key. In addition to arranging a surprise dinner at a restaurant with their group of friends, Martucci had rented out Central Park\u2019s Conservatory Garden \u2014 and hired a photographer \u2014 with plans to propose among the spring blooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A delayed flight threatened to foil his plot, but the proposal was a success \u2014 and Johnson was thrilled to celebrate their engagement with friends before returning to the grind of medical school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After taking some time to \u201cenjoy being engaged,\u201d says Johnson, they began to plan the perfect winter wedding they\u2019d envisioned. \u201cWe had been to so many summer weddings, and we knew we wanted something different,\u201d says Martucci, who let Johnson take the lead on planning as long as \u201csweating outside in a tuxedo\u201d was not on the itinerary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both of their families had connections to Newport, R.I., and they loved the idea of celebrating in one of the coastal town\u2019s famously opulent Gilded Age mansions. After a year and a half of planning, Johnson and Martucci tied the knot on New Year\u2019s Eve at the historic Rosecliff Mansion, where guests, including many Colgate friends, joined the couple to ring in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, the newlyweds are settled in New York; Johnson matched into orthopedic residency at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx in 2023, and Martucci works as a research analyst for Manhattan-based hedge fund Millennium. While their opposite schedules can be tricky (Johnson often works nights and 24-hour shifts at the hospital), they\u2019re happy to finally be in the same place again \u2014 and to be navigating married life, hand in hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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