01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, October 5, 2003

Lauren Brick and Todd Bruner Jr.

St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Jamestown

8.2.03

Lauren Brick and Todd Bruner have much in common -- there has been lots of overlap in their young lives. But it took a while for them to discover each other in a romantic sense.

Lauren's mother Marsha and Todd's mother Marcia were classmates at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. Lauren's father Jim and Todd's father Todd both graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis.

Todd, also a graduate of the Naval Academy, class of 2000, is a nuclear submarine officer (Lt jg), still out on patrol somewhere two weeks before the couple's wedding. And Lauren, a graduate of Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, has just completed four years as an officer on two Navy surface ships, recently returned from the Persian Gulf.

The bride, 26, and groom, 25, met in high school when their families were stationed in Annapolis. They knew each other, even dated each other's friends, but never each other. Their first date came when both were in the Navy, when they were reacquainted at Lauren's father's 30th Naval Academy reunion in September 2001.

At the time, Lauren was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. "It was shortly after 9/11, and we were allowed to travel only a certain distance from the base. But Annapolis was within that radius so I decided to drive there to see my parents."

Meanwhile, Todd was enroute to Connecticut for submariner's school (Lauren's father is a retired submariner), so he decided to stop and visit his parents in Annapolis that same weekend.

Upon her arrival, Lauren bumped into an old friend of Todd's in the parking lot of the Naval Academy stadium. (That friend, J.D., is in the wedding party today.) He just happened to be talking with Todd Bruner on his cell phone. When J.D. said Lauren Brick had just walked up, Todd said he was coming right over.

"We greeted each other with a hug," says Lauren. "And that wasn't enough, so we hugged again, and yet a third time. Todd was with friends, but he invited me along for dinner, and, I don't know, the sparks just flew! After dinner, we went on a boat taxi ride, and held hands. We kissed for the first time that very night."

Lauren had arranged to be assigned to Jacksonville, Florida following Norfolk -- her sister lived there. Todd planned to go to a submarine base in Bangor, Washington. "I was so sure of this thing," says Lauren, "I was willing to change all my previous plans for him. Friends said to me: 'Follow your heart! What's the worst that can happen?'

"When I called my sister and told her I wasn't moving to Florida, that I had requested an assignment in Washington instead, she was really disappointed. But when she let the idea sink in, she called back and said, 'You need to follow this thing and see if it's lasting.' "

Today, that sister will be a bridesmaid in Lauren and Todd's wedding.