Ryan Bonitz and Jake Gonsalves were wed Sept. 6

Ryan Bonitz booked a one-way flight to Hawaii in search of a role as a physician assistant in the fall of 2020. She never did find a job in the Aloha State, but she stumbled on something entirely unexpected — she met the man she would eventually marry on her very first day there on the beaches of Waikiki.

Jake Gonsalves, 31, a pharmaceutical rep from Boise, Idaho, who was previously employed by the National Security Agency in the Army, had been stationed in Oahu with the U.S. military for about two years when he met Bonitz on the island’s sandy shore. There was an instant connection and he asked Bonitz on a date the very next day, taking her to Makua Beach, known for its sunsets. Gonsalves spent the following weeks showing Bonitz around Oahu. Unfortunately, jobs were limited and Bonitz, 28, of Huntington, moved back to New York and began working for an urgent care in the midst of the pandemic.

“We weren’t sure how we would overcome long distance from New York to Hawaii, but we figured it was worth the effort,” Bonitz said.

For the next year, Bonitz and Gonsalves traveled back and forth, including trips to the surrounding Hawaiian Islands and Florida. Gonsalves finished his military contract in 2022 and relocated to Long Island, where they moved into their first apartment in Syosset.

Gonsalves proposed in August 2023 at a family barbecue in Huntington. The couple took a stroll down a boat ramp at Bay Hills Beach and Gonsalves got down on one knee. To Bonitz’s surprise, 30 of their closest friends and family emerged on the beach behind them.

The wedding was Sept. 6 at the Crescent Beach Club in Bayville with 150 guests.

“We got married on the beach, with cocktail hour outside at sunset with a steel drum player,” Gonsalves said. “The dance floor was electric, a friend was in a blow-up shark costume, Ryan wore a sparkled jumpsuit. Everyone got light cowboy hats and the night ended with a wedding party swim in the Long Island Sound.”

The couple spent their honeymoon in Bora Bora, Mo’orea and Tahiti.

“Ryan’s No. 1 bucket list item was to swim in the ocean with the humpbacks,” Gonsalves said. “We were lucky enough to have that experience. It was magical.”

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