Palina & Stephen

This originally ran in the 2025 Local Love supplement in the June issue of Baltimore magazine.

Wedding Date June 29, 2024

Stephen Gallo and Palina Ivanova met while students at the University of Delaware. Their first encounter was when Stephen reached out to Palina about the “free” statistics tutoring she was offering. When Palina wrote back that she actually charged, Stephen ghosted her. Six months later, he coincidentally found himself in Palina’s apartment (her roommate was dating one of his friends). “We all had a good laugh about it when we were introduced,” says Palina. “Turns out what was ‘tutoring for a fee’ he read as ‘tutoring for free.’” Each time their paths would cross, they realized they enjoyed each other’s company more and more. Shortly after graduation, their relationship endured a long-distance phase when Stephen enlisted in the Marines and was stationed in San Diego. But that didn’t deter them—they spent four years falling deeper in love by exchanging letters, FaceTiming, and taking cross-country flights before reuniting in Washington, D.C.

Six years into their relationship, they got engaged in St. Lucia at the tail-end of a vacation during which Palina, a senior product manager, repeatedly thought, “This is the moment, right?” (He swears he didn’t wait until the end of the vacation to torment her. It was just the perfect moment.) It was finally time to start planning their celebration. “We knew we wanted the day to reflect our fun and lighthearted nature, the deep love we share for each other, as well as our friends and family, and the gratitude we have for the simple joys of life,” says Palina. That focus on family also meant having a small, intimate nuptial in Bulgaria, where Palina was born and where her entire extended family lives, eight months before their big Eastern Shore wedding.

“It was important to Stephen and me to have my grandmas be able to participate and witness our marriage,” she says. They also knew they wanted Stephen’s granny—they call her “G”—to play a special role at their Maryland fete. So she became their Flower G and walked down the aisle sprinkling petals from her wicker basket, with views of the Chester River beside her.

At the end of the night, when the last song ended, Palina and Stephen, a D.C. EMS/firefighter, continued the party with friends at the venue’s swimming pool. “Many of our guests, still wearing their dresses, suits, and ties, jumped right in and we had a blast, serving late-night pizzas and drinks and gathering around the pool to continue the celebration,” recalls Palina.

It was the perfect continuation of a day they didn’t want to end. “The day goes by so quickly and yet so much happens,” says Palina. “It can feel like a whirlwind.” One thing the couple did to make sure they truly experienced the day together was to find moments to check in with each other. “Family and friends are so excited to see the bride and groom that sometimes it can feel like you’re being pulled in many directions, and you can’t catch a breath,” she says. “Stephen and I made sure to create little moments together where we’d lock eyes, hold hands, and just take a breath together to soak it all in.”