Weddings: Lauren O'Neill and Stephen Gerber

The pretty woman Steve kept noticing in Kutztown University's library wasn't quite a stranger: He knew that her name was Lauren and that his friends were her sorority sisters. It was a start.

In early 2011, one of those friends gave him Lauren's phone number. He wasted no time using it.

"This is Steve Gerber," he said by text. "Would you like to have lunch with me?"

"Thanks, but I always brown-bag it," Lauren wrote back.

Cue sad trombone. "I thought she blew me off," Steve remembers.

Truth was, Lauren had to pack her lunch every day, because she was student teaching. But she also wasn't sure who this Steve guy was. The friend helping her assemble 20 tissue-box-and-rubber-band guitars for her class didn't know, either. Lauren texted sorority sister Katie, who helped Lauren place Steve, said he was a nice guy, and confessed to providing him with Lauren's digits.

Lauren's second text ended Steve's suffering: "We could go to dinner sometime."

And so, in the last semester of their senior year, Steve, a business major from Tabernacle, took Lauren, an elementary education major from Doylestown, to an Italian restaurant in Allentown.

At first, "it was nerve-racking," he said. Lauren ordered a glass of wine. "I didn't want to get a beer - I tried to class it up a bit. So I got a Seven and 7, and it was the worst thing I ever drank," Steve remembered.

Lauren wasn't impressed by his adult beverage, but she really liked Steve. "He held open the door, very old-school. College guys never do that." The way he looked at her made Lauren feel prettier than she ever had.

"We had a lot in common, and a lot to talk about," said Steve. He's not usually that talkative with someone he hardly knows, but Lauren made him comfortable.

More dates followed. "We balance each other out," Lauren said. She gets anxious when life doesn't follow her plan, but laid-back Steve always brings perspective. He is kind and accepts her as she is. "It's a big part of why I fell in love with him."

Steve says he fell in love with everything about her, but he remembers the exact moment he knew it was for keeps. At a picnic with his family, "just seeing how the family embraced her, and how she conversed so well with my family, I knew that she was the one."

After graduation, Lauren got a job teaching 2-year-olds at Children's Village in Doylestown. Steve's summer job turned into a full-time position as a job coach for young people with special needs at Kings Way Learning Center. He also worked weekends for Easter Seals as an aid to an adult with autism.

Lauren's life changed in December 2012 when her dad, Larry, died unexpectedly of a heart attack at 58. She was overwhelmed with grief and also responsibility - Lauren was executor of her dad's estate.

Lauren's parents had divorced when she was a toddler, but they remained good friends. Yet even with the love and support of mom Tami, stepdad Vincent, and Steve, Lauren needed a change.

In summer 2013, she accepted a position as a first-grade teacher at Legacy Traditional School - Casa Grande, near Phoenix.

Wanting to support his girlfriend and ready for a change himself, Steve joined her in Phoenix, and landed a job in customer service with Humana Pharmacy. He also works part-time in the Lowe's building materials department.

A hike to the top of their favorite mountain, a ring tucked into his backpack, a question with a view. Steve had a solid plan - right up to the day that a teacher at Lauren's school made the very same trip with her boyfriend, for the very same reason.

"Isn't this the cutest thing ever?" Lauren asked, showing him the Facebook post. He had to agree it was pretty great - and come up with a new idea.

Two weeks later, on a Sunday morning in August 2014, Steve told her, "I'm going to make you breakfast." He made an egg, pork roll, and cheese sandwich - pork roll mailed from New Jersey by Steve's mom, Donna.

"He sent me a text from the kitchen, with a picture of the dog sitting there staring at the phone, and the words, 'Mom, get out of bed,' " Lauren said.

Steve quickly tied a big purple bow with something shiny on it around Stella, their pitbull/chow-chow mix.

Usually, the minute the bedroom door opens, Stella runs to greet the opener. But, obsessed with the big bow, the dog didn't budge. Steve shuffled the sleepy Lauren over to where the dog lay, then he knelt.

Removing the ring from the bow, Steve asked, "Lauren, will you marry me?"

Lauren said yes. Stella, losing her patience with the ribbon, ran circles around their table and knocked over a chair.

The couple, now both 28, held their wedding and reception for 163 at the Aldie Mansion.

Journeys of the Heart officiant Naila Francis led a ceremony woven with the couple's love story and inside jokes, and included a thank-you to their parents: Steve Sr. and Donna, Tami and Vincent, and the late Larry.

At the reception, Lauren's Pop-Pop Richard blessed the couple with a prayer. During his toast, her stepdad told Lauren, "Your father always told me how beautiful you are, and that you were an angel." Decades ago, Vincent was singer in the Vincent James Band, and he had made arrangements with the Don Eaton Band to join them at the end of his toast. "He sang 'You Are So Beautiful' to me, and I was sobbing," Lauren said.

Aside from those solemn moments, everyone ate and danced the whole night - including the couple.

Before the ceremony, Steve waited for his very-soon-to-be wife to arrive for some photographs. "I was facing away from the mansion, looking at the back fence and the trees," he said. "I could actually hear everyone else talking about what was about to occur, that we were going to see each other. It was while waiting that I had the realization, 'We're really getting married.' I couldn't wait to see her."

Lauren walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. She was stunning, he said. He was too, said she. "There were two photographers there, but I only saw Steve, and it felt like we had an hour just to ourselves," Lauren said. "I thought, 'Wow, he's amazing - he's this amazing man - and he's going to be my husband.' "

A bargain: To afford elaborate food and a great big band, there had to be saving everywhere else. The biggest saving - not to mention a better selection of available vendors - came by marrying in January rather than October. That saved more than $1,000 on the venue alone.

The splurge: The Don Eaton Band, plus butlered hors d'oeuvres and food stations that included Turkish lamb kebabs, braised short ribs, mahi mahi, and heaping bowls of pasta.

The couple spent her spring break in Cabo. After the school year, they will move back to the Philadelphia area - they hope with jobs lined up.

Before too much longer, the couple hopes to have kids. "That's the next step, and our parents aren't going to have grandkids who they look at through a computer on Skype. That's not going to go well," Steve said.

"Mom said we can live in her basement if we have to!" added Lauren.

BEHIND THE SCENES:

Officiant: Naila Francis of Journeys of the Heart, Jenkintown
Venue: Aldie Mansion, Doylestown
Catering: Jeffrey Miller Catering, Philadelphia
Photography: Lynda Berry Photography, Doylestown
Flowers: Buttercup, a division of Jeffrey Miller Catering
Dress: Nordstrom, Scottsdale
Music: Don Eaton Band, Philadelphia
Planner: Andrea Petrucci, LOVEhaus Lifestyling, Bristol