Maria Galligani caught the Norwegian tennis player Casper Ruud’s eye when they were growing up near each other in the suburbs of Oslo. “Maria, on the other hand, probably had no idea who I was, since I was two years younger and she was more interested in the older boys at the time,” he tells Vogue.
It wasn’t until March 2018 that the two were officially introduced by Casper’s best friend, fellow tennis player Joachim Bjerke, at an Oslo nightclub. “We stayed in touch, and our first date took place a few months later on a tennis court when I was home between Wimbledon and my next tournament,” says Casper. “Maria arrived at our local tennis club – where she had also played as a child – wearing a white Stella McCartney tennis dress, and the rest is history.” By September, they would make it official on a trip together to Mallorca.
The couple would take the next big step in their relationship while visiting the Maldives in November 2024. Casper proposed after the pair spent the day enjoying the beach. “When we returned to the little beach bungalow where we were staying, we played a game of backgammon, which Casper won – as usual,” says Maria, who works as a psychologist and helps with her family’s tabletop business. “I was tired of losing and went down to the water to watch the sunset. After a while, Casper joined me, gave me a hug, and said he had something that he thought would cheer me up.” That’s when he got down on one knee. “It could not have been a more perfect setting: a sunset on the beach, salt water in our hair, and sun-kissed skin,” she remembers. Since the proposal was at the beginning of their trip, the newly engaged pair was able to spend the next few weeks in celebratory bliss.
The couple decided to tie the knot in Mallorca, where they went on their first trip together. “We have returned many times since, both for work and for holidays,” notes Maria. The celebrations would take place over the long weekend of 11 to 14 June at the Grand Hotel Son Net, complete with a welcome party and a sports day with a golf tournament, yoga and a garden party. “We wanted a wedding full of life and love, where our guests could gain insight into – and share – the love we have for each other,” the bride says.
There was one very special guest in attendance as well: the couple’s daughter. “Even before getting engaged, we had already started dreaming about starting a family, so we tried to time things in a way that would allow us to have the child we dreamed of included in the ceremony,” they share. “She was born on 30 January 2026, making her both the youngest and the most important guest at our wedding.”
