Love: Denise Wilson & David Garrett Jr.

Denise and David met in 1979, when she was a freshman and he a senior at Philadelphia's Abraham Lincoln High School.

There was a spark, and David asked Denise to go out with him. "I was only 14 at the time, so I told him I had to ask my mother," Denise said.

Mom wasn't having it. "No senior boy wants anything good with a freshman girl," she told her.

Denise was crestfallen, but her crush didn't fade. As the year progressed toward prom season, she and a girlfriend hatched a plan to get around Mrs. McKinstry's dating policy. Denise would stay at her friend's house on prom night, and borrow a dress from her. Mom would never know! There was just one hitch: David asked someone else to the prom.

Soon, David was off to study business management at Penn State. The next summer, he was down the Shore with his then girlfriend when they walked past Denise and her friend on the beach. They said hello in passing, and that was the last time Denise and David would see each other for 22 years.

After high school, Denise went on to graduate from Beaver College with a degree in elementary special education. She would eventually marry, and have two children: Teresa, now 27, who is her first husband's daughter from a previous relationship, and Steven, 14.

David married as well, and has a son, Drew, now 11.

Fast forward to 2002. Denise, whose divorce was almost final, had just discovered Classmates.com. She searched for old friends, and eventually found David. She hesitated, but eventually sent him an e-mail. "You probably don't remember me," she said.

David was living in Syracuse, N.Y., working at a hotel, and separated from his soon-to-be ex-wife.

David's memory was hazy at first, but, "as she told me things, I remembered her," he said. "It all started coming back." Both were dating other people, but they became the modern equivalent of pen-pals, exchanging e-mails regularly. They talked about the old days, their kids, work, travel, and their current relationships.

David decided to move back to Philadelphia after his divorce. On a pre-move trip home, he called his e-mail pal and asked her if she'd like to have lunch with someone she hadn't seen in decades. He went to her place and they ordered a pizza.

Denise's birthday is Sept. 11, and ever since 2001, she's had a hard time finding people to celebrate on that day. Still, she was disappointed when her then-boyfriend, with whom things were fizzling, told her he wouldn't be taking her out.

"I'll take you out for your birthday - if your mother will let you go," teased David, who was now back in Philadelphia, and no longer dating anyone.

Within days, Denise told her fading boyfriend that it was over.

She and David loved each other's company, but their pasts had left both hesitant about relationships. Refusing to say they were dating, they called what they did "dinnering" instead.

"It was safe," Denise said. "You couldn't get hurt if you were only 'dinnering.' "

It took a year of dinnering before Denise, who is now 44, and David, now 47, felt secure enough to introduce each other to their families. It wasn't until the summer of 2008 when they decided their mutual commitment to never marry again needed to be reconsidered.

There was no dramatic proposal. There was a discussion. And then a decision.

That Christmas morning, Denise, David, and Steven gathered around their tree in Mayfair to open gifts. Denise thought she had opened everything from David when he handed her a small box. That was all he had planned to do, since the decision to marry had already been made. But Steven had other ideas. "You have to get down on one knee and ask her to marry you!" he told David.

David asked. Denise said yes and burst into happy tears.

Neither Denise, a teacher at Hackett Elementary in Fishtown, nor David, a photographer for the Bucks County Courier Times, had a big wedding the first time. So they made up for it with "a white dress, ushers, the whole bit," Denise said. "It was really important to me."

It was for David, too, and not just for himself. "I always felt like I cheated my mom - she never got to dance with me at my wedding," he said. Janet got her dance this time.

The ceremony was held at Saint David's Lutheran Church in Philadelphia. The reception for 125 was held at the Village of Cottage Green, also in the city.

Theirs was a wedding in black and white, but don't think evening formal. "I'm a panda nut," Denise said. "I wasn't allowed to have somebody dress up in a panda costume - this was as close as I could get." Denise's granddaughters, Paige, 5, and Leah, 3, were flower girls, but instead of petals, their baskets were filled with little stuffed pandas.

The bride got nervous that the groom would be late. Chuck, David's best man, had come in from New York, and David wanted to give him a real Philly experience. "David was eating crabs at Chickie's and Pete's an hour before he was supposed to meet me at the church," Denise said. No crab got in the way of the big day.

"I was walking down the aisle, thinking I had never been that happy in my entire life," Denise said. David was struck by how meaningful the ceremony was.

A bargain: David says Cottage Green not only offered a package that included a limo, cake, table flowers, and a DJ, but it cost less than other venues they considered.

The splurge: The bride's wedding band. Her engagement ring has three small accent diamonds on each side of the solitaire, and it looked best with a diamond band. It cost about five times as much as a metal-only band. "The tax on her ring cost more than my ring," said David. He chose one made of a damage-resistant white gold composite for $100.

Seven days in Cancun.StartText

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Officiant
Rev. Kevin Hilgendorf of Saint David's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Philadelphia

Venues
Saint David's and the Village of Cottage Green, both in Philadelphia

Catering
Village of Cottage Green

Music
DJ Jimmy Mac, house DJ at the Cottage Green

Photography
Rich Kennedy of Bright Pixel Photography in Harleysville. A former coworker of David's, Kennedy took photos as a wedding gift to the couple.

Videography
Creative Photography and Video, Huntington Valley

Dress
David's Bridal, Philadelphia

Invitations
Ordered from the online store Invitations by Dawn

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Matt & Faye's Menu

It's up to you to decide Love of a Lifetime winners Matt and Faye's menu and service style provided by Culinary Concepts at their reception at the Independence Seaport Museum. The options are:

Which would you choose? Go to Matt and Faye's blog to vote: philly.com/mattandfaye{12670052423741}

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