I Do!: Francesca Guido and Philip Jewell of Massapequa

Francesca Guido and Philip Jewell have known each other since they were children — but it took a chance meeting in 2019 to spark a love connection.

“Phil and my cousin grew up as neighbors,” Guido, 26, said. “The three of us would play sports in the backyard as kids and would enjoy family celebrations together.”

But as the two Massapequa natives grew older, they drifted apart, Guido said.

Then in the summer of 2019, Guido said she had just returned from a family vacation to Italy and, though jetlagged, decided to go out with friends to Toomey’s Tavern in Amityville.

Jewell, whose close friend lived next to Guido’s best friend, was in the group that went out that night. At first, Guido said she didn’t recognize him as the boy she used to play with, but they soon reconnected and wound up talking all night.

The next day, Jewell asked her on a date.

“We had an instant connection. . . . We ended up reacquainting no longer as those little kids in the backyard, but as two adults quickly falling in love and beginning their life together,” Guido said.

Jewell, 27, agreed. From attending Islanders games to watching movies at home, he said, “We were always on the same page. Being together was always something we wanted to do.”

Jewell proposed on Dec. 4, 2021, at the Milleridge Inn in Jericho. They closed on their home in Massapequa two days later.

This year on Sept. 22, they married at the St. Isidore Roman Catholic Church in Riverhead.

And four years after that first date, and more than 20 years since their first meeting, Guido said she and Jewell are “still enjoying every second spent together.”