Chris Tellez and Lauren Taylor

Romance between employees was explicitly forbidden at the Washington Mutual Bank in Santa Clarita, where Lauren Taylor and Chris Tellez worked in 2006. He was crazy about her from the start, but for a year, she kept the heat dialed down to a cozy friendship.

Then one night, “It just clicked with me that he was the greatest guy ever,” said Taylor. They were watching a movie and started to hold hands. Then he kissed her, and that was it.

Choosing between a bank and the love of his life was no contest for Tellez. He quit his job and now works as a teller at the Lockheed Federal Credit Union in Valencia. Things didn’t work out as well for WaMu. It failed in 2008 and was taken over by Chase Bank, where Taylor is now a sales and service associate.

Last December, Taylor came home from work and was surprised to see Tellez standing there holding their cat, Oliver. She took a closer look and saw pink wedding bells around its neck and the words, “Will you marry my dad?”

On Oct. 9, that’s just what she did. Sixty guests joined Taylor, 25, and Tellez, 23, for their wedding aboard the Scarlett Belle, a paddle-wheel riverboat in the Channel Islands Harbor.
“It was the best day of my life,” said Tellez. And you can take that to the bank.

—Maxine Nunes
Custom Publishing Writer