Richard and Mandy met in much the way Victoria and Albert first came to know each other—through the online dating website, OkCupid.

Some fun facts about our OkCupid profiles:

Mandy’s “The Most Private Thing I’m Willing to Admit”: I plan on adopting a zillion cats when I turn eighty. Because being an old cat lady is genius.

Richard’s “The Most Private Thing I’m Willing to Admit”: I AM LOURDE!

Mandy’s online dating picture looked like this:

Richard’s was equally geeky:

Dating

Their first date took place at Societe Brewing in Clairemont, San Diego on February 22, 2015. They placed some version of Fluxx or another and Richard’s favorite game, Paperback  (as of summer 2016, they have met both games’ makers!) while drinking birch beer (and other kinds of beers…).

Richard did not go in for the kiss at the end of this date and it ended pretty promptly as Mandy had an alternative Oscar’s part to host.

Their second date started at Game Empire’s game night went on to sushi and even a whiskey bar. Suffice to say, Richard was utterly useless at work the next day, while Mandy spent the day cancelling upcoming dates with other people.

While the next few weeks were kind of a blur, there is some proof that the two were getting serious based on the increased fanciness of their events.

Getting Serious

Soon after, they were seen at a concert for the Midtown Men, a cover-singing group consisting of the original Jersey Boys’ cast. It was very fancy and downtown. They even dressed up–see:

They kept up their brewery-going tradition as well, by visiting Green Flash:

And went to other fancy events:

…from whence they were often kicked out for riff raff.

Meeting the Cats

Things got SERIOUS BIZ when Richard finally had to tackle his first major hurdle–getting Mandy’s cats to like him (or at least stop peeing on his things). If you do not know, Mandy has two gorgeous kittens (they are technically middle-aged but still…), who literally have rainbows soaring out of their mouths every time they speak.

They are that ~*magical*~.

Their names are Eloise (white and fluffy) and Creighton (cow cat).

Creighton, who is very sweet but has a tiny head and looks like a small cow, proved weak and easily succumbed to Richard’s many charms:

They even began working out together.

While Eloise, on the other hand, mostly just became enamored with getting her hair all over Richard’s things.

Mandy and Richard’s growing love for each other was only matched by their affection for their fluffy kitties. You can see this relationship reflected by the commissioned cat portraits (by the wonderful Katie Cook) used to decorate their wedding invitations:

Making a Life Together

Mandy and the cats moved in with Richard to his Rancho Peñasquitos townhouse in July 2016. Clearly they made a great impression, as Richard took the knee only five months later, proposing marriage on December 9, 2016!

Together they hope to continue living a beautiful life together as Mandy works to finish her PhD and Richard serves the San Diego community through his legal practice. They plan to grow their family in the next few years while saving up for a bigger house to fill with even more love.

Thank you for joining them on their special days!