Our Story

The Match.com Profiles

I grew up in the Midwest and I'm now living in the LA area, so it was a big adjustment but I'm glad I'm out here. My friends usually describe me as dedicated, so I usually keep only a few close friends. They would also say I'm nerdy, but hey I'm in a technology field, so there's no way to avoid that I guess. Plus it's fun to be nerdy :P
- Ben McIntosh

I want someone who will have a blast with me wherever and whenever, whether it's going out for a night on the the town or staying in and playing board games. Especially monopoly, since no one will play with me (I will play until the break of dawn). Also, I want someone who will take care of the big nasty spider I just spotted.
- Stephanie Perez

These quotes are taken directly from our dating profiles on Match.com and were the first impressions we had of each other. Ben thought I was beautiful, very funny, and too good to be true, while I thought Ben was handsome, brilliant, and sweet.

The Dates

We exchanged messages for two weeks and finally went out on a date at RedWhite+Bluezz, a jazz club in Pasadena. It was the best date either of us had ever had. Time flew way too quickly and soon it was 2 am; neither of us wanted to say good night. We ended the date with two hugs (because Ben got greedy) and looked forward to our next date. From that day on, we spoke at least once a day, via phone, text, or chat and it soon became clear we had something special going on. The more time we spent together, the less we wanted to be apart.

The Proposal

I had known Ben was the one for awhile and I told my best friend, Erika, that I would love to be proposed to in Japan (my favorite country and vacation spot) in a really romantic setting. Leave it to the most amazing man I've ever met to get it right. A year and one month after our first date, Ben said he wanted to take me to a restaurant his friend had recommended to him. I had to go to church that night but Ben promised me it wouldn't take long for dinner. Somehow he convinced my mom to come so that he could drive us straight to church after dinner. When he picked us up, I glanced around his car for anything out of the ordinary, as I was slightly suspicious of him and his insistence on going to dinner. Since I didn't see anything that caught my eye, I didn't put anymore thought into it.

When we got to Kitayama, an awesome Japanese restaurant in Newport Beach, I was too distracted by the cool décor to notice Ben rush up to the hostess stand. The hostesses and owner looked really excited and nervous but, again, I was too distracted by how awesome the restaurant was. They led us through the dining area and I admired the rock garden I could see through the windows. Ben explained our long trek by saying he had made reservations for a private Japanese style room with tatami mats with a great view of the garden. While he said this, I looked at the rooms we were headed to and my brain failed to register that I had seen my friend, Chi, sneaking a peek from one of the rooms and then darting back to hide.

When we arrived in front of the room, I was shocked to see that my friends Gerry, Chi, Christine, Patricia, and Erika were all standing there with their cameras and phones pointed at me. I think I said hi and babbled about how I saw Chi peeking, but I do remember Ben hugging me, then grabbing a jewelry box from out of nowhere and getting down on one knee. I was in such a daze, I was still holding my giant purse, as you can see in the photos. I screamed "Yes, of course!" He had that ring custom made and collaborated with the jeweler on the design.

The Umbrella

When I (Stephanie) went on a vacation to Japan, the one purchase I wanted to make was a really cute and unique umbrella. I spent most of the trip looking for one and found a couple that were cute but none that were really unique. On the second to last day I was there, with the help of Gerry, I found a clear plastic umbrella with a pink Disney/bambi design; it was very cute and very unique and was what I thought to be the umbrella jackpot. I hand-carried it onto the plane and made sure it was safe and secure in the overhead bins. I've been known to lose things and I was not going to lose that umbrella.

I made it through customs and baggage claim, umbrella in hand. When our ride got there, I made sure to load the heavy luggage first so that the umbrella wouldn't get broken. Then I got into the car and we headed home... without the umbrella. I couldn't ask our ride to turn around so I decided to call lost and found the next day. No one ever answered and I gave it up as a lost cause. I tried searching sites to order another one, but didn't even know what to look for. Whenever my friends and I got together, I'd lament losing the umbrella. A couple of times, Ben was there, and I had to explain the umbrella drama and ensuing heartbreak. He just laughed and offered sympathy.

Fast forward to Christmas. I had put together a little gift package of things that I thought represented Ben: a bunch of expensive gourmet dark chocolate, a book on the history of trumpets, and a flight simulator lesson, among other things. I thought I had just achieved best girlfriend ever by getting him a bunch of small but meaningful gifts I knew he'd love. Well, he blew my presents out of the water. Not only did he find and purchase for me an original copies of books I loved and remembered from my childhood, but he pulled out this huge cylinder and when I opened it, it was the exact same umbrella that I had lost.

I think I cried for a good 10 minutes. But he had, without my knowledge, gone on my friend's facebook profile and found a picture of me holding the umbrella. He cropped my face out and went onto a forum for people living in Tokyo and posted the photo, saying he was trying to find this umbrella and that he'd pay someone if they could provide him with info. Someone typed the exact phrase he needed to look for and he found it on a japanese site that he had unsuccessfully searched before. He set up a japanese mailing address so that he could order the product, then had it shipped from that address to here. That's why there is an umbrella in some of our engagement photos :P