On Sept. 26, Suzy Alba and Adam Stanley dance to music from a radio at the Squantum Association, where their wedding reception was held the next day.

The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

Just 24 hours remain until Suzy Alba marries Adam Stanley, the man who introduced her to ballroom dancing, which is how they fell in love. Last-minute wedding tasks await as this Friday afternoon advances, but there’s time to share their story, and they do, sitting on a couch in their Smithfield home.

They met six years ago, when Suzy, now 25, and Adam, 28, were students at Rhode Island College. Even then, they shared a commitment to social responsibility, which helps define their lives today. A leadership retreat brought the two strangers together. If you believe in fate, this is surely evidence.

“Oh, gosh,” Suzy says. “Adam had really tight jeans on and a Palm Pilot. Very nerdy! So not my type!”

Boy she’s talkative, Adam thought.

Suzy had dated before, and found that many single guys have a certain superficial obsession. “Adam was more of the quiet, shy, very smart type. I was just drawn to him for some reason.” Tight jeans were likely integral to the appeal.

“I was really impressed by the way she was able to connect with people and engage people and communicate with people,” Adam says. It’s not a quality that comes naturally to him. Opposites really do attract, he and his fiancée (for this one last day) agree.

After the retreat, they ran into each other at college. Adam asked if Suzy wanted to learn ballroom dancing. They began lessons. A teacher paired them, further evidence of fate.

“I fell in love with him right away,” Suzy says.

“She used to get weak in the knees,” Adam says.

“Do you remember? I was very dramatic!”

For their first date, they dined at a Chinese restaurant in Johnston. Suzy paid.

“I’m very independent but I was, like, ‘I know how to get this guy.’ ”

“I talked you into a motorcycle ride that day,” Adam says.

“He had tight jeans and a Palm Pilot –– and he pulls up on this motorcycle. I’m, like, ‘I am absolutely in love! This is so cool!’ ”

Time passed. Things turned serious, in the good sense of the word.

“I remember when we first officially decided we were going to go steady,” Adam says.

“How could I forget?”

They were driving to a dance competition when Adam played a tape of an ’N Sync song. Suzy hates the group, but paid attention to this lyric: Won’t you be my girlfriend?

“I was, like, ‘Are you asking me out?’ ” Suzy says. “And he’s, like, ‘I think so.’ It was really corny but it was clever.”

“It worked.”

Adam engaged the help of Suzy’s friends to propose to her. They agreed to hold up a sign during a WaterFire performance that read: Suzy Alba, Will You Marry Me? Images of Cupid and an arrow through two joined red hearts adorn the corners.

“Its hanging in our garage,” Suzy says. “It’s huge.”

Suzy saw the sign, and then Adam, on bended knee, presented her with a diamond ring.

“I actually forgot to say yes!” Suzy says.

It’s mid-afternoon now. At 2 p.m. on Saturday, Suzy and Adam will meet at Providence’s St. Thomas Church, where the Rev. John P. Soares will marry them. A reception for 120 guests will follow at East Providence’s Squantum Association’s Main Club House, on the Narragansett Bay waterfront.

Suzy and Adam leave their home, and after a stop in Greenville to pick up place cards, they arrive at Squantum. A manager lets them in. The tables have been set, logs stacked in the fireplace. It’s pouring heavily, a raw early-autumn rain, and the forecast calls for more tomorrow.

“You’re going to have the fireplace going?” Suzy asks.

“It’s ready to go,” the manager says.

“This is great. Oh, wow! This is beautiful. Adam, is the dance floor big enough?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Suzy and Adam place votive candles on windowsills and disposable cameras and cards on tables. The cards inform guests that instead of favors, Suzy, a development officer with United Way, and Adam, a Web developer at Rhode Island College, are making donations to three charitable organizations that “make a positive difference in the lives of numerous individuals every day, just as you have made a positive impact in our lives.”

The light is draining from the soggy sky. After more errands, Suzy and Adam will end their last unmarried day by watching the presidential debate and turning in early.

“We’re going to practice our dance while we’re here,” Suzy says. “We have our radio.”

The sounds of Josh Groban’s “You’re Still You” bring life to the room. You will always shine, one lyric goes. And I can feel your heart in mine.

Suzy and Adam take the floor. Lost in the moment, they twirl around and around, arms entwined, their feet soft and sure across the polished wooden floor.

The song ends.

“We got it,” Suzy says. “We got it!”

gwmiller@projo.com