There were hundreds of ways Ela Villarreal and Andy McCune could have met in real life. They both work in design and have many mutual friends. “By any measure, the universe was working overtime to introduce us the old-fashioned way,” Ela tells Vogue. “Instead, we met on Raya.” Andy sent Ela a message noting that he was visiting Montreal for the weekend. She was about to ignore it when she noticed his company name, Cosmos. “The day before, I’d posted a story gushing about the app,” Ela says. “He’d seen the story…he just hadn’t put together that the girl on Raya and the girl from Slack were the same person.” Andy replied, saying perhaps it was fate. “Boy, was he right,” shares Ela. “We met that night at midnight on November 11, 2023, at a bar called Baby. Two weeks later, he flew back to make it official. Two years after that, he proposed.”
The proposal took place on October 16, 2025, in New York City, where the two had settled down together. Andy’s parents were in town and he suggested they walk together from their apartment to meet them at a restaurant. En route, Andy stopped in front of St. John’s Church—which features a beautiful garden—and suggested going in. “I said absolutely not—it was late, it was clearly closed, and we were not about to trespass on church property,” says Ela. “He didn’t listen. He pushed the door open and slipped inside before I could stop him, and, terrified a priest was about to come yelling, I followed him anyway.” When she entered, Andy was down on one knee. “It was this quiet, private, completely magical moment in a little garden in the middle of NYC,” Ela says. “He later told me he’d made a donation to the church so we could have the space to ourselves, which is why no priest ever came running.”
The surprises weren’t done yet. “Before I could process anything, he said, ‘There’s a car waiting outside. We’re going to Paris,’” says Ela. They whisked off to their apartment to pack, say goodbye to their dogs and Andy’s parents, and flew out that night. “He’d planned an entire weekend around everything we love most—our favorite omakase, a boat ride on the Seine, a massage at the Bulgari Spa, museum visits, vintage shopping, and a stay at Maison Delano,” recalls Ela.
