Dani & Mike: An Outdoor Wedding in Rancho Santa Fe, CA

Dani and Michael's long-distance love stood the test of time, resulting in an autumn wedding at a historic inn. The Bride Danielle (Dani) Levinson, 26, law school graduate The Groom Michael Stroud, 28, financial analyst The Date September 10 When Michael first saw Dani eight years ago, he thought, “I really want to meet that girl.” When Dani saw Mike across the room, she said to her mother, “Wow, look at that cute guy! He must have a girlfriend.” The two were on a cruise with their families when they spotted each other. Once they finally met, they were inseparable, but there was one problem: They lived in opposite ends of California. They each had their own lives to go back to. Three years and lots of letter writing went by, and they had still barely seen each other. Finally, they were able to have an official date when Mike took Dani to her sorority formal. Five years later, the couple was giving Dani’s parents a tour of the University of Notre Dame campus, where Mike attended business school. Suddenly, Mike stopped and handed a camera to Dani’s stepdad. As he began snapping photos, Mike got on one knee and proposed, and a little over a year later, their “own lives” at last became “each other’s lives.”