In a modern day whirlwind romance, Limerick man Nigel McGill was immediately smitten when he first met Rio Rox from North Carolina on a dating website. Despite being separated by the Atlantic Ocean, the pair were not disheartened by distance.

Instantly knowing she was the one, just two weeks after the first Internet meeting, Nigel, the 38-year-old jeweler, hopped on a plane to the U.S. with an emerald ring in his pocket.

Dressed in a top hat and tails, Rox, who is a poet, waited eagerly at the airport to finally set eyes on her new Irish love interest on May 1. Just one day after arriving, the Limerick man popped the question.

"She wasn't expecting it. But I didn't ask her to marry me. I told her, 'you're marrying me'. I just knew," he told the Irish Independent.

Not content with a long engagement the pair decided to marry the same day as McGill proposed.

"Love is the ultimate truth. Love isn't a decision, it's a feeling."

Rox who is from Gastonia, in Charlotte, said that despite been thousands of miles apart, she couldn’t resist the genuine Limerick man, who works in a jewelry shop.
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"I had plenty of marriage proposals off people who had money. But I said 'no'. That wasn't what I wanted. When I was online, I blocked every man who tried to chat me up. But Nigel stood out straight away. He was just genuine. He made himself very vulnerable to me."

The happy couple has since relocated to Abbeyfeale in County Limerick where they plan to settle down.

Rox’s original sense of style has even attracted some attention from the locals.

"Rio has a fantastic sense of style," Nigel said. "She looks like a star. Last week we were in Newcastle West, and Rio had this black fedora hat and big mirror sunglasses on.

"These kids stopped her, because they thought she was Michael Jackson."