San Francisco Destination Wedding: Lina & Mike

Lina and Mike are like the fairy tale couple. High school sweethearts, they’ve been together for the last 10 years. Although school and distance has often kept them apart, it’s clear that this couple’s love for one another is as strong as ever.

Because I knew I wasn’t going to have the opportunity to meet Lina and Mike in advance of the wedding, I made it a point to get to know them a bit before hand via email and telephone. One of the questions I asked them was, “What’s your love story? And, what do you hold dear about each other?”

As always, I got such a wonderful and heartfelt response, and now I get the pleasure to share it with you. (Time to grab the Kleenex!)

Lina on Mike:
Eleven years ago when I was 15 years old, I saw Mike as he was walking one of my classmates to class & thought he was totally cute. A year later, a couple of our mutual friends convinced him to “AIM” me. We started off as “radiohead7272″ and “angelbear717″. A summer of LOL’s, ROTFL’s BRB’s & TTYL’s later, we were hanging out at school during every break and disgusting all of our friends with our teenage flirtiness. On October 27, 20o1 we officially became a couple during the last dance at our homecoming themed “Happily Ever After”. Since then, we’ve gone to college in different cities and have been long distance for the last 8 years. We talk everyday and do our best to see each other as often as possible, but really, what hasn’t killed us has definitely made us stronger! I’m a planner, he’s impulsive. I like country music, he likes alternative rock. I like tea, he likes beer. I like chick flicks, he loves sports. The list of opposites goes on and on, but in the last decade as we grew from 16 & 17 to now 26 & 27, we have learned to compromise, be patient, listen, communicate, be understanding, enjoy each others company, and value both the little & big things. Most importantly, we have discovered a love beyond what words can express and now the promise of a long, happy journey to spend the rest of our lives together!!

Mike on Lina:
Lina & I met in high school when I was a senior and she was a junior. We had an unconventional first meeting. It all started when one of my high school soccer teammates told me that “someone” thinks I’m cute. Of course I asked who and found out that it was a person that I had never heard about or met before. Soon after, while chatting on AIM, I got an instant message saying “hello, you don’t know me but I know you”. I thought it was one of my friends playing a prank on me, so I just went along with it. After chatting for about 3 minutes, I realized it wasn’t a joke, but instead was the girl in the 11^th grade that has a crush on me. We continued to chat every night, sometimes until 2 or 3 am even though we had to wake up early for school the next day. At the end of October, I asked her to the Homecoming dance. During the last dance, I asked her to be my girlfriend. We dated, having our ups and downs as a young couple, but somehow have been able to work everything out. Lina & I are polar opposites, but this is what makes our relationship interesting and fresh. There are many things I love about Lina. She is a caring, thoughtful, loving, friendly and fun person. Even though we agree to disagree a lot, in the end we become stronger as a couple by learning from our differences. Throughout the ten years that we have been together, I am proud of the commitment and trust that we have fostered for each other. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with Lina and know that there are exciting things in store for us in the future.

Special thanks goes to my assistant Ryan, who helped out on this wedding. As always, I appreciate his fun sense of humor and slick ninja moves.

San Francisco City Hall
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