Sara Oakley and Ardalan Haghighat

Sara Oakley joined the dating web-site eHarmony.com in February 2009 after a bad breakup. Luckily, she signed up just in time to cross paths with Ardalan Haghighat, who was about to quit the website after three months of disappointing matches. Finding he and Oakley had a lot in common, Haghighat decided to give it one last try.

They went to dinner on their first date and had such a good time that the waiter had to ask them to leave at closing time, almost four hours later.

Haghighat proposed the following Christmas, presenting Oakley with an engraved silver jewel box containing the engagement ring. When she opened it, she froze, and he had to ask, “Well?” She answered with a stunned, “Okay.”

Oakley, 32, is senior associate at AVP Advisors, a real estate investment company. Haghighat, 33, is director of operations at Merge Left Inc., a collegiate and military apparel company. He also is studying for a master’s degree in public health at UCLA.

The Pacific Palisades couple married April 2 at the Toscana Country Club in Indian Wells. To honor the groom’s Persian heritage, a love poem by Rumi was read in both Farsi and English and the 200 guests enjoyed a traditional Persian tea service.

– Maxine Nunes, Custom Publishing Writer