Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Closing arguments are set for Wednesday in the trial of Mexican soap opera actress Fernanda Romero on federal charges that her marriage was an illegal sham intended only to earn her a U.S. work permit. 

On Tuesday, Romero tearfully testified that she really loved Kent Ross, the pizza deliveryman she married five years ago. 

Their marriage was real, but it soon fell apart because of his drinking and her focus on a modeling and acting career, Romero told jurors. 

Romero is accused of paying Ross $5,000 to marry her on June 12, 2005, but the prosecutor alleged they never lived together as a couple. 

U.S. District Judge Manuel Real blocked defense lawyers from using evidence they said would show Romero was set up and turned in by a vengeful photographer angry that she rebuffed his romantic advances. 

The job of convincing jurors the marriage was real fell on Romero, a 28-year-old actress-singer-model who starred in Telemundo's "Wounded Soul" soap opera. The prosecutor suggested Romero was using her professional acting skills to sell her own fiction. 

Romero testified she married for love, not a green card. 

"To be in a loving relationship, forever and ever, like my parents," she testified. 

The couple didn't have a family wedding because he is Mormon and she is Catholic, she said. 

They kept separate Hollywood apartments because he couldn't break a lease and she traveled a lot, she said. 

The first months were "very loving, fun," she said. "We socialized together, passionate. It was the honeymoon stage." 
Who is Fernanda Romero?
Why is she being accused?
Whom did she marry with?
How long ago did Fernanda Romero get married?
Why did the marriage fell apart?
How much did Romero pay Ross to marry her?
When did they get married?
Did they live together?
Did Romero love her?
Why the couple did not have a family wedding?
Why the couple did not live together in Hollywood?
How was the first months of the relationship?
a soap opera actress
soap opera actress
that her marriage was an illegal sham
that her marriage was an illegal sham intended only to earn her a U.S. work permit. 

Kent Ross
Kent Ross
five years ago
five years ago
his drinking and her focus on a modeling and acting career
his drinking and her focus on a modeling and acting career
$5,000
$5,000
June 12
June 12
no
they never lived together as a couple
yes
Romero tearfully testified that she really loved Kent Ross
because he is Mormon and she is Catholic
because he is Mormon and she is Catholic
he couldn't break a lease and she traveled a lot
he couldn't break a lease and she traveled a lot
very loving, fun
The first months were "very loving, fun,"