Cupid’s arrow struck at the heart of Manhattan on Valentine’s Day.
A slew of couples celebrated the romantic occasion Sunday by getting engaged or renewing their vows in the Crossroads of the World.
Denise and Robert Marte of Bloomingdale, NJ, said their “I do’s” all over again.
“We were married in court in 2009 and never had the opportunity to celebrate our wedding, although we had always planned to,” the couple said in a statement issued by the Times Square Alliance, which was promoting the couples’ love fest.
“2020 was the most difficult year, and we, like many others, barely made it out as a couple,” the Martes said. “We are reunited and happier than we have been in a long time.”
Meanwhile, David Murcia of The Bronx surprised love Lorena Rosas by asking for her hand in marriage on the Great White Way.
“I’m a Latino immigrant. When I landed in the US, my first stop was Times Square,” Murcia said, according to the Alliance.
“It’s a magical place that my girlfriend and I consider a temple. We truly enjoy getting there and sitting on the red steps while we eat Halal or McDonald’s food,” he said, referring to the landmark local rest area behind the famed statue of Father Duffy.
“Most people [can’t] say they got engaged to their loved one in the center of the universe,” Murcia said, adding that he proposed in Spanish.
Another romantic, Yasin Uzun, said he surprised girlfriend Tuba Cebi with a marriage proposal in Times Square, too.
The Turkish man said he’d been living in the city for six years, and Times Square played an important role in the start of his relationship with Tuba, who he met at a party but then lost contact with.
“A year later, the same friend [who threw the party] invited me to a bar around Times Square, and luckily Tuba was there that night,” Uzan said. “The group decided to switch the bar after a couple of drinks, and we walked to the 42nd Street Times Square subway station.”
That’s when Cebi twisted her ankle, something that had recently happened at the time to Uzun.
“I had all the bandages, medicine and everything at my place. So I offered to the group, ‘Let’s go to my place in Chinatown so we can take care of her ankle and keep partying at the same time.’
“I bandaged her ankle and gave her medicine, and we have been together ever since,” he said. “I really love her, and it just can’t get better than this.”