Love: Melissa Maria Abbruzzi & Charles Walter Price III

March 8 at St. John Neumann Church in Mount Laurel, with the Rev. Joseph Capella officiating. That evening, 240 guests joined the couple for a celebration at Cescaphe Ballroom in Philadelphia.

They met

In December 2004, Melissa was home in Mount Laurel, on Christmas break from Penn State. She and her high school friends had all recently turned 21, so the group went to a bar.

Melissa saw a man approaching, and braced herself for the pickup line. "How tall are you?" he asked. Not very original, thought Melissa, who is 6 feet tall. But she patiently answered his question.

"I have a friend, Charles, who doesn't date anybody under 5-10, and he would love you," said the man, whose name is Rick.

Melissa did not believe this guy was talking to her on behalf of a friend who was not even with him at the bar. And if that and the other information she was given was true - the mystery man was 6-foot-7, good-looking, and a girl magnet - why did he need help to find a date?

But Rick was nice, he was persistent, and he left with Melissa's number - which he really did give to Charles. Alas, like Melissa, Charles thought Rick was joking and threw the number away.

Melissa and Rick ran into each other at the same bar the next weekend. He got her number again. This time, Charles called. They went on a few dates before Melissa had to return to State College. Charles put 10,000 miles on his car in the next four months.

He asked

On a post-dinner walk around Penn's Landing in December 2006, Charles, now 28, took out a ring box. "After he asked to marry me, I was jumping up and down and yelling," Melissa, 24, said. "He said, 'People are going to think I'm mugging you!' "

9 to 5

Melissa works in sales for Church & Dwight, the makers of Arm & Hammer baking soda. Charles, who grew up in Washington Township, is a police officer in the Philadelphia area.

First steps

To Elvis Presley's "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You."

Doing it their way

Charles called Melissa for the first time on Dec. 30, and she and her friends celebrated New Year's Eve at the Cescaphe the next day. "I remember looking around and thinking, 'I'm going to get married here,' " she said.

Making a home

The couple live in Washington Township.

Not a dry eye

The sight of Melissa reminded her father of his father, Rocco "Chuck" Abbruzzi, who had been looking forward to his granddaughter's wedding, but died in November.

Bloopers

There was a torrential downpour. But Melissa's Aunt Karen came over the night before and made a poncho - one that even covered her long train and veil - from a roll of plastic.

"If circumstances allow, have at least a yearlong engagement, because it really allows you to enjoy the process and really prepare yourself for what is pretty much the biggest day of your life."

Honeymoon

A week at Sandals Whitehouse Resort in Jamaica.