booze-filled Manhattan event<\/a> in 2021, and now they\u2019re getting married.<\/p>\nThe pair, both 26, first laid eyes on each at Beer Authority in Times Square \u2014 their last stop on the festive \u2014 and often reviled \u2014 December bar crawl, where revelers wear Christmas-themed outfits.<\/p>\n
Mike Krall and Rosalie Gandarillas met at Beer Authority while wearing these outfits at SantaCon in 2021. Leonardo Munoz<\/p>\n
Gandarillas, who sported a \u201chideous one-piece from Target\u201d used Krall\u2019s \u201cjacked Santa Claus\u201d sweater \u2014 as her pickup line.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said to him, \u2018I like your ugly sweater,’\u201d she recalled. \u201cThe next thing I know we were talking for a pretty long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pair quickly realized they had a lot more in common than just their tacky ensembles \u2014 and managed to find some wholesome Christmas magic among the unruliness around them.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe mentioned that he is one of five kids, and I am also . . . And he was like, \u2018I\u2019m the second oldest.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Me too!\u2019 And he was like, \u2018My birthday\u2019s in August.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Me too,’\u201d Gandarillas said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember saying to him, \u2018Who told you all this stuff about me?\u2019 And he was, \u2018No one did. I\u2019m telling you about me!’\u201d<\/p>\n
Gandarillas\u2019 sisters caught their first kiss on camera. Courtesy of Rosalie Gandarillas<\/p>\n
Gandarillas\u2019 sisters \u2014 who caught their initial conversation and even their very first kiss on camera \u2014 then dragged her away so they could go to Applebee\u2019s \u2014 but Krall asked for her number.<\/p>\n
After they left, Gandarillas remembered gushing to her siblings, \u201cOh my God, he\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd they were like, \u2018You\u2019re never gonna see him again.’\u201d<\/p>\n
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It was a logical expectation given that they lived 120 miles apart, Gandarillas in Farmingville, Long Island and Krall in Manasquan, NJ.<\/p>\n
But on the train back home, Gandarillas received a text message from Krall \u2014 and from that day forward, \u201cwe literally did not go a single day without texting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew everything about each other,\u201d Krall added. \u2018We just didn\u2019t see each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
After they started dating, the pair attended SantaCon together in 2022. Courtesy of Rosalie Gandarillas<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was about a one-and-a-half-hour train from New Jersey to Penn [Station], then another one-and-a-half-hour train from Penn to Ronkonkoma. Plus driving to and from the train station,\u201d Gandarillas explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mindset was, \u2018She\u2019s great, but it\u2019s four hours away,’\u201d Krall said.<\/p>\n
They would FaceTime and watch movies together virtually. \u201cWe would go, \u2018Ok, one, two, three, go,\u2019 and hit the same button,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd someone would go to get a snack, so we\u2019d pause.\u201d<\/p>\n
Krall popped the question in August at Gandarillas\u2019 parents\u2019 house. Courtesy of Rosalie Gandarillas<\/p>\n
After 10 months they finally arranged to see each other in person again. They were to meet at Penn and then take the train to a Mets game at Citi Field.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis train got delayed. I was like, \u2018Oh my God, he\u2019s not showing up.\u2019 And when he did, my heart rate was going through the roof. I was so nervous that my Apple Watch was like, \u2018Are you working out?’\u201d she remembered. <\/p>\n
The soon-to-be spouses hosted their engagement party at Beer Authority, where they first met, and even displayed the SantaCon ensembles they were wearing on that fateful December day. Courtesy of Rosalie Gandarillas<\/p>\n
The couple is planning to get married at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral next year. Leonardo Munoz<\/p>\n
After they started dating, Gandarillas, who was a medical scribe, and Krall, who was working at a pizzeria, both decided to apply to the NYC Teaching Fellows teacher certification program.<\/p>\n
Now, the couple \u2014 who live together in Fresh Meadows \u2014 are both high school teachers in Queens.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of cringe to say, but we literally changed our lives to be together,\u201d Gandarillas said.<\/p>\n
Krall and Gandarillas are both high school teachers in Queens. Leonardo Munoz<\/p>\n
The soon-to-be-bride and groom, who had their engagement party at Beer Authority and are hoping to tie the knot at St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral next year, were invited to the opening ceremony of this year\u2019s SantaCon on Dec. 13.<\/p>\n
\u201cSanta will be giving a special jolly shoutout to honor their SantaCon love story,\u201d its organizer told The Post.<\/p>\n
SantaCon attracts a crowd<\/a> of around 30,000 people dispersed among 25 different bars \u2014 so the soon-to-be spouses, who estimate they went to three different bars that day, feel like fate brought them together.<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s so crazy because there are so many people to meet and places to go at Santacon,\u201d Gandarillas said. \u201cSo us meeting feels meant to be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SantaCon-gratulations are in order! Two strangers got the biggest gift of all at SantaCon \u2014 each other. Mike…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":428911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,199479,44679,120592,6335,5249,5248,405,403,7619,5226,5225,5228,5227,180884,24592,9307,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-428910","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-bar-crawls","10":"tag-christmas","11":"tag-engagements","12":"tag-exclusive","13":"tag-manhattan","14":"tag-metro","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-new-york-city-life","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkcity","20":"tag-ny","21":"tag-nyc","22":"tag-santacon","23":"tag-sex-relationships","24":"tag-times-square","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-of-america","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-us-news","31":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}