Melissa & Stuart in Austin, TX

The last thing Melissa was thinking about doing one evening back in January 2002 was heading out for drinks, she was just too tired. But her friend insisted that they meet up with her boyfriend and his friend, so Melissa obliged and went out. When she was introduced to Stuart, Melissa was so exhausted and grumpy that she could barely manage to say hi. “After I cooled off, we ended up talking for hours,” she said. The Bride Melissa Alvarez, 31, a chief resident in surgery The Groom Stuart Downing, 36, a partner at a law firm The Date May 15 Six years later, while in the Dominican Republic for another friend’s wedding, Stuart proposed. “It was such a sweet, tender, and quiet moment between the two of us,” Melissa recalls, “I was shocked but, of course, I said yes.”