Joe Manganiello fell in love with future wife Sofia Vergara at first sight

Instantly smitten Joe Manganiello followed Sofia Vergara around like a puppy after meeting her for the first time at a party.

The two stars tied the knot in 2015 after dating for a year and a half, and he knew she was the one for him the first time he laid eyes on her at the 2014 White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C.

“As we’re walking around, who comes swooping down in front of us for about 100 yards is Sofia Vergara,” the Magic Mike actor recalled during an interview on satellite radio SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show. “She was wearing this dress that looked great on her, and I just could not take my eyes off of her.”

Joe was the guest of entertainment reporter Jess at the dinner and he immediately shared his interest in Vergara with his friend.

“Jess said, ‘Oh, you like that?’ I said, ‘Yes, yes, I like that a lot!'” Manganiello recalled with a laugh, explaining he told Cagle to take him to every party the actress was headed to in the future. “So we just kind of followed her around.”

Joe managed to meet Sofia at the White House Correspondents Dinner and they exchanged pleasantries, before hooking up for a date around three weeks later, when she split up from then-fiance Nick Loeb in May 2014.

He scored her number through her Modern Family co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson and went the extra mile to take her out by visiting her in Louisiana, where she was filming her buddy cop movie Hot Pursuit, for their first date.

“I said, ‘I’m coming to New Orleans. If you’re not available, I’m just gonna do some sightseeing, but I’m gonna be there and if you’re free I can take you out.’ She said, ‘You’re crazy.’ I said, ‘I’ll see you next week’,” he detailed. “And the rest is history.”