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Over Spilled Champagne, a Spark

Kelly Frye was attending a holiday party in London on Dec. 5, 2019, when she saw the host accidentally spill a glass of champagne on Nick Campbell.

“I jokingly went to brush off the champagne when he turned around and asked if I wanted to get another drink,” said Ms. Frye, who was living in Los Angeles and in town to visit a friend.

“He looked like Hugh Grant,” added Ms. Frye, who knew almost no one at the party, which was hosted by a friend of the friend she was staying with. “I was having a ‘Holiday’ meets ‘Notting Hill’ moment.”

Mr. Campbell, 35, an art adviser who grew up in England, had noticed Ms. Frye, 37, an actress who grew up in Texas, from the moment he arrived. “Kelly stood out because of her red hair,” he said. “I thought, ‘Oh, that’s someone I don’t know.’ My goal was to speak to her.”

One drink with Mr. Campbell turned into several. Banter turned into silliness. They exchanged numbers, though Ms. Frye, who was getting a divorce after three years of marriage, was doubtful she would ever find love again. “At the time, I didn’t trust myself with my heart,” she said.

The next day was Ms. Frye’s 35th birthday, and she invited Mr. Campbell to a party being thrown in her honor. When he had to decline the invitation because he already had plans, Ms. Frye recalled thinking, “I’m never going to see him again. It’s back to dating apps and the matchmaker I was working with.”

Upon Ms. Frye’s return to Los Angeles, Mr. Campbell followed her on Instagram and Facebook. That prompted Ms. Frye, who appears in the Disney Channel series “Secrets of Sulphur Springs,” to take a closer look at his social media accounts.

She found that he is the founder of two art advisories — Narcissus Arts in London and Campbell Art Advisory in Los Angeles and Austin, Texas — and noticed that he seemed to love travel, one of her ideal qualities in a partner. She followed him back.

Credit…Dark Roux Photography

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Three weeks later, Mr. Campbell sent her a message via What’s App. It sparked a conversation between the two, which led to the discovery that both are fans of the Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi. Ms. Frye, whose divorce became finalized in January 2020, made plans with Mr. Campbell to attend a concert by Mr. Einaudi in Iceland on March 19, 2020. But when Covid hit, the event was canceled.

In the months that followed, Ms. Frye became serious with someone she met through the matchmaker. But she couldn’t get Mr. Campbell out of her head. “I would get a message from him and light up,” she said.

When she broke up with the man she was dating in September 2020, Mr. Campbell received the news first. “I had an inclination it wasn’t going to last,” he said. “It was a gut feeling. I felt very connected to her.”

That December, Ms. Frye returned to London for six weeks. She again stayed at her friend’s place, but spent time cooking dinners, celebrating the holidays and falling in love with Mr. Campbell. This time, when she returned to Los Angeles, they began a long-distance relationship.

On Oct. 15, 2021, the couple traveled back to England, to Mr. Campbell’s parent’s home in Sevenoaks. That evening they walked to his favorite viewpoint on the property, where he proposed to her with a yellow diamond ring.

On Jan. 26, 2022, Mr. Campbell and Ms. Frye, who now live in Austin and Los Angeles, were married at the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas, in front of 15 vaccinated guests. Jack Merrill, an actor and longtime friend of the bride, officiated after being ordained by the Universal Life Church. A dinner followed at La Colombe d’Or hotel in Houston, a favorite restaurant of Ms. Frye’s mother, who lives in the city, and late father.

“My life is so much better and bigger with her,” Mr. Campbell said of Ms. Frye. She agreed, saying that his many passions have brought her a new sense of possibility after her first marriage.

“Nick doesn’t take away from any part of my life,” she said. “We enhance each other’s.”

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