From the groom... "Our fathers were high school buddies so Athena and I had met briefly when we were children. However, due to geographic differences (I grew up between the US and Hong Kong while she stayed in Taiwan,) we never really got to know each other until we met again 15 years later. In 2012, a few years after graduating from college, I visited Taiwan for Chinese New Years and met her again through our families for the first time as an adult. We found that we shared common interests in music and similar philosophies on life and family. We maintained in touch after I left Taiwan. We grew close as I would visit Taiwan every few months and see her. In 2013, it became apparent that the relationship we had was more than friendship. We spent the New Years Eve of that year together. We decided to start dating and became a couple. Over the next four years, we would frequently visit each other and go on trips together. In 2015 she spent 10 months studying English in the U.S. and we would travel around quite a bit. In 2016 I took her to visit my alma mater the University of Michigan during homecoming weekend. In 2017 we attended the beautiful Burning Man festival in Block Rock City, Nevada together. In April 2018, we took a trip to Positano, Italy for Athena's 29th birthday. Right before the birthday dinner, I set up the cameras and surprised her by proposing under the pretense of taking birthday pictures with the view. Luckily, even though Athena thought I was acting strangely nervous, she did not think too much of it, and both the surprise and the proposal were a success!"

From the groom... "We aren't exactly sure when we met! We both went to USC and had a lot of mutual friends. A few years after school, we ran into each other at The Bungalow in Santa Monica. That's where the relationship really began. Shortly after running into each other, I moved to Chicago and we kept in contact. A text here or there turned into conversations and the conversations turned into trips back to California to visit Olivia. Our first kiss was after Olivia dropped me off at Terminal 1 at LAX to go back to Chicago. We spent as much time as possible together while living long distance and the relationship grew. In October of 2016, we were in St. Louis, MO to celebrate Olivia's Grandma's 90th birthday. During some hours to ourselves, we visited the top of the St. Louis Arch and it was there that I said the first "I love you". In May 2017, I moved back to California and we finally were able to live and date in the same city. After a year of planning with Olivia's best friend and family, I popped the question at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, the place I had first met Olivia's family. We are looking forward to celebrating our love with friends and family on our Wedding Day!"

From the bride... "Met online and our first date was at a restaurant Francois picked (Gemma) which turned out to be one of Lauren's favorites. Francois was a few minutes late (per usual) and we decided to stay at the bar and make this a full wine-pairing with our courses. Great evening together and we had two more dates the same week! Amazing time and never looked back."

From the bride... "Hassan and I met at In-n-Out in Newport Beach, hungry for a bite after dancing all night at a fundraising gala. I was living on the East Coast, and he lived in San Diego, but despite the distance, we stayed in touch. We had so much to talk about and shared so much in common. We are both of Syrian descent, share a passion for medicine and helping those in need, and love traveling the world. Shortly after we met, I moved to Houston. We visited each other several times and bonded over long conversations at Fellini, my favorite coffee shop in Houston, on several hikes in Southern California, and late-night phone chats. When I moved to San Diego, after completion of my medical training, our connection grew stronger and we knew what we shared was something special and that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together."

From the bride... "Damion and I first saw each other in 2013 where we made eye contact for about 15 seconds at a basketball game. Fast forward a couple of years and Instagram connected us through our athletic networks. We remained friends for a couple of years after that eventually going on our first date. After our first date, I knew he was different and someone that I wanted to be with. We went on 4 dates in 5 days. He left town but we continued to date long-distance and now we are here. Getting married. "

From the bride... "Eric and I met on a blind date set up by our elders. The first time I saw him at the restaurant, we instantly clicked. We shared many stories together that day and felt comfortable like we have known each other forever. The more we saw each other and the more I got to know him, the more I felt like he was my soul mate. There was a special connection that I felt that I can never achieve but it was happening fast. One thing led to another and started to plan our future together. The best part is that both of our parents approved of us being together which made the wedding planning process much easier. We would not be here without our family's blessings. Everything just felt right."

From the groom... "The first time we met was during week one Freshman year (2012) during a class at UCSD in the computer lab where I helped her with a homework problem. The second time we met was a year later right before our Sophomore year started. We had mutual friends, so we got to know each other a bit during that year. The following Summer was when we really hit things off and we started hanging out a lot at the end of the summer before Junior year. Our first "hang out" was planned by Caitlin and we went to In-N-Out and to see a double feature drive-in movie of Guardians of the Galaxy and The Maze Runner. From there, we were pretty inseparable, trying to have a date night once per week while at school. On October 6, 2014, she finally said yes to being my Girlfriend. The following two years at school were great and we were basically attached at the hip. The year after, Caitlin graduated and started working near home and I stayed at UCSD to get my Master's degree, so we tried the long-ish distance thing, though I did drive back home most weekends to see her. A little over a year after finishing my Master's degree at school, we are finally ready to move forward after 4 years and 2 weeks (bummer that October 6, 2018, was already booked when we began looking at this venue, that would've been a cool four year anniversary)."

From the bride... "Dan & I first met in the NYU Accounting Society, when he transferred into NYU in junior year. I ended up becoming president and he the vice president the following year, where I tried to get him to complete tasks and he would procrastinate on them :). We also shared some mutual classes together & worked on several group projects, but stayed only good friends. After college, we continued to stay in touch, even though he went back to LA to work for 2 years. I had always seen him as a good, sweet friend, but something that made me start to see him in a different way was seeing how supportive he was when I lost my grandmother. Although he was working in California at the time, he jumped on the first redeye flight out to NY and surprised me at my front door to make sure I was okay. He continued to do many small, thoughtful gestures, like sending boxes of chocolates if I helped out one of his friends, birthday gifts, etc. He would often come back to NY for business and we would hang out during those times (i.e., dinner, visits to the aquarium, etc). Eventually, he decided to come back to NY to help expand his family business (but we all know the real reason why he came to NY!) and we started dating. He also eventually also applied to MBA so he could stay in NYC longer. And the rest is history!"