thedrifter
07-30-07, 07:22 AM
Match, marriage made in MySpace
VALLEJO: 21-year-old woman weds Iraq-bound Marine in Las Vegas ceremony
By Matthias Gafni
MEDIANEWS STAFF
Contra Costa Times
Article Launched:07/30/2007 03:02:55 AM PDT
VALLEJO -- Forgive Brianna Dalton for being slightly flustered before her July 17 wedding. She had met her husband face-to-face for the first time less than 72 hours before they tied the knot.
Dalton met her future husband, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Eric Sullivan, while the pair frolicked on the social networking Web site MySpace almost three years ago.
During a cell-phone call two months ago, still without having met in person, the pair promised to marry.
Then, after a little more than a week of wedded bliss, Sullivan left Thursday morning for a seven-month deployment in Iraq.
"I know I'm crazy," said Dalton, a 21-year-old Hogan High School graduate, "but I don't care what anyone else thinks."
Despite living on opposite coasts, the couple met online almost three years ago as Sullivan surfed the Internet.
It was a romance made in MySpace.
"I saw her and I stopped," Sullivan said Wednesday from his North Carolina base, hours before his flight to Iraq. "I said a couple words to her, and then she brushed me off."
Sullivan joined the Marines, and while in boot camp he e-mailed Dalton again.
It seemed a passing fancy, Dalton said from her parents' home in Glen Cove. "I didn't think it would work out because we're so far away."
They first spoke on the phone a year and a half ago.
"It was awkward. When I first heard his voice, I couldn't put his voice to the picture," Dalton said.
After a few rough spots, the relationship blossomed.
Marry me, he said in May.
"I just knew I was going to say, 'Yes,'" Dalton said. "I love him. He's an awesome guy."
Dalton's MySpace status changed from "Single" to "In a relationship."
The young woman kept their plans to herself until she told an aunt, who immediately did a background check.
Dalton finally told her mother, Bee. Another background check.
She barraged her daughter with e-mails about Internet relationship horror stories.
But mom could protest only so much.
She and her husband, Ulysses, had met on a bus to Coast Guard boot camp. The couple corresponded by mail and phone for about three years -- with a week of face time in between -- before marrying.
"It's not farfetched for me to see someone meeting like that and getting to know each other by corresponding," said Bee Dalton, who will celebrate her 25th anniversary in March.
Still, Ulysses Dalton was on the flight to Las Vegas for his daughter's first encounter with Sullivan, three days before the wedding. The airport rendezvous was awkward, but also a relief, Brianna Dalton said.
"I was really happy to meet the guy I was going to marry and the love of my life," she said. "For two years I'd not seen him and now here he was in person."
The situation, Dalton's family decided, was "an E-6 sniffing out an E-3" or Dad the Coast Guard petty officer checking out a Marine corporal and son-in-law to be.
The meeting went well, and Brianna Dalton soon was alone with the man she would marry in less than 72 hours. Sullivan had wanted to marry on 7/7/07, but the pair settled for 7 p.m. on 7/17/07.
The ceremony at a wedding chapel lasted 15 minutes in front of 14 guests.
The newlyweds had a few more days together before Dalton flew back to Vallejo and Sullivan to Cherry Point base.
Sullivan on Thursday said the whole experience had not quite sunk in.
"Now I'm like, I shouldn't have volunteered, but it's what I wanted to do. I just wish we had more time together," he said.
Their long-distance romance gave them experience with an e-mail and phone relationship that may serve them well while he is half a world away.
When Sullivan returns, the pair plan a wedding reception with her parent's 25th anniversary. The couple will move to North Carolina to start their new life together.
"This is a risk I'm willing to take because I trust him," Dalton said. "I wouldn't change any of it."
Reach Matthias Gafni at mgafni@thnewsnet.com or 707-553-6825.
ONLINE
View the Sullivan-Dalton wedding in Las Vegas by searching for "Mr. & Mrs. Sullivan" at YouTube.com.
Ellie
VALLEJO: 21-year-old woman weds Iraq-bound Marine in Las Vegas ceremony
By Matthias Gafni
MEDIANEWS STAFF
Contra Costa Times
Article Launched:07/30/2007 03:02:55 AM PDT
VALLEJO -- Forgive Brianna Dalton for being slightly flustered before her July 17 wedding. She had met her husband face-to-face for the first time less than 72 hours before they tied the knot.
Dalton met her future husband, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Eric Sullivan, while the pair frolicked on the social networking Web site MySpace almost three years ago.
During a cell-phone call two months ago, still without having met in person, the pair promised to marry.
Then, after a little more than a week of wedded bliss, Sullivan left Thursday morning for a seven-month deployment in Iraq.
"I know I'm crazy," said Dalton, a 21-year-old Hogan High School graduate, "but I don't care what anyone else thinks."
Despite living on opposite coasts, the couple met online almost three years ago as Sullivan surfed the Internet.
It was a romance made in MySpace.
"I saw her and I stopped," Sullivan said Wednesday from his North Carolina base, hours before his flight to Iraq. "I said a couple words to her, and then she brushed me off."
Sullivan joined the Marines, and while in boot camp he e-mailed Dalton again.
It seemed a passing fancy, Dalton said from her parents' home in Glen Cove. "I didn't think it would work out because we're so far away."
They first spoke on the phone a year and a half ago.
"It was awkward. When I first heard his voice, I couldn't put his voice to the picture," Dalton said.
After a few rough spots, the relationship blossomed.
Marry me, he said in May.
"I just knew I was going to say, 'Yes,'" Dalton said. "I love him. He's an awesome guy."
Dalton's MySpace status changed from "Single" to "In a relationship."
The young woman kept their plans to herself until she told an aunt, who immediately did a background check.
Dalton finally told her mother, Bee. Another background check.
She barraged her daughter with e-mails about Internet relationship horror stories.
But mom could protest only so much.
She and her husband, Ulysses, had met on a bus to Coast Guard boot camp. The couple corresponded by mail and phone for about three years -- with a week of face time in between -- before marrying.
"It's not farfetched for me to see someone meeting like that and getting to know each other by corresponding," said Bee Dalton, who will celebrate her 25th anniversary in March.
Still, Ulysses Dalton was on the flight to Las Vegas for his daughter's first encounter with Sullivan, three days before the wedding. The airport rendezvous was awkward, but also a relief, Brianna Dalton said.
"I was really happy to meet the guy I was going to marry and the love of my life," she said. "For two years I'd not seen him and now here he was in person."
The situation, Dalton's family decided, was "an E-6 sniffing out an E-3" or Dad the Coast Guard petty officer checking out a Marine corporal and son-in-law to be.
The meeting went well, and Brianna Dalton soon was alone with the man she would marry in less than 72 hours. Sullivan had wanted to marry on 7/7/07, but the pair settled for 7 p.m. on 7/17/07.
The ceremony at a wedding chapel lasted 15 minutes in front of 14 guests.
The newlyweds had a few more days together before Dalton flew back to Vallejo and Sullivan to Cherry Point base.
Sullivan on Thursday said the whole experience had not quite sunk in.
"Now I'm like, I shouldn't have volunteered, but it's what I wanted to do. I just wish we had more time together," he said.
Their long-distance romance gave them experience with an e-mail and phone relationship that may serve them well while he is half a world away.
When Sullivan returns, the pair plan a wedding reception with her parent's 25th anniversary. The couple will move to North Carolina to start their new life together.
"This is a risk I'm willing to take because I trust him," Dalton said. "I wouldn't change any of it."
Reach Matthias Gafni at mgafni@thnewsnet.com or 707-553-6825.
ONLINE
View the Sullivan-Dalton wedding in Las Vegas by searching for "Mr. & Mrs. Sullivan" at YouTube.com.
Ellie