Delores & Maurice in Birmingham, AL

Delores and Maurice first met 24 years ago in Oberlin, Ohio -- the town where Maurice grew up, and where Delores was an undergrad at Oberlin College. Maurice was going to nearby Kent State, but the two connected through a mutual friend. “We thought we would spend the rest of our lives together,” Dolores remembers. But they wound up dating for only a little more than a year. The two remained friends, however, and even attended each other’s weddings…to other people. Years later, both single again, Delores and Maurice were emailing and discovered they still had feelings for each other. The Bride Delores Simmons, 45, attorney The Groom Maurice D. Owens, Jr., 47, systems developer The Date July 14 Five months later, Maurice planned a trip to the Breakers in Palm Beach for Delores’ birthday. “During dinner, Maurice asked if I had ever been so overwhelmed with emotion that I had to do something,” Delores remembers. “It actually scared me because I thought perhaps something bad had happened.” Afterward, they walked out into the hotel’s garden courtyard. Finally, Maurice said, “I was not completely honest with you at dinner. There is something that I have been wanting to ask you for a long time”—and he asked Delores to marry him. Delores couldn’t have been more surprised, but her reply was “Absolutely!”