The most fascinating thing about couples (at least to me) is how they met.

I enjoy reading wedding announcements as much as obituaries in newspapers. My mom thinks it’s creepy that I read obituaries, but I always say “Mom, I like to see what people did with their lives.” If my mom is around while I’m reading the wedding announcements, she’ll say things like “he’s too good looking for her” or “those two look like a couple.” She believes that as a rule, the woman should generally be more attractive than her husband. If a man is too good-looking, then there’s trouble ahead, like cheating.

One of my latest guilty pleasures is a free wedding registry site where people can fill in a simple web page discussing the date/place of their wedding, along with where they are registered. But I could care less about the logistics of the wedding day or whether they are registered at Bed, Bath and Beyond…I want to know how they met. I want the juicy backstory.

2009 was popular wedding year for my high school (and some of my college) classmates, despite the sour economy. Below are a few “how we met” stories that I found, why I’m sharing them, I don’t know. Personally, it’s some food for thought.

Note how many of these “how we met” blurbs end with “and the rest is history” or “we’ve been together ever since.” Let’s play a game of fill in the blanks….

• We were introduced by (insert mutual friend’s name here) at a bar in (insert name of city here). After talking for a bit (insert groom’s name here) asked if I was hungry, and I said yes. I would have said yes to him anyways even if I wasn’t hungry. We went to dinner at (insert steakhouse restaurant name here) and have been together ever since.

• Back in (insert year here), we were both out with friends on (insert name of hip street in college town). With the help of (insert friend of bride’s name here), we were introduced and (insert the groom’s name)’s pick up line was, “has anyone ever told you that you look like (insert celebrity’s name here)?”. We went on several dates, but really connected a couple of years after initially meeting. And the rest is history.

• We met through a mutual friend at (insert name of trendy restaurant/bar). (Insert groom’s name here)’s friend left before he got there so he didn’t know anyone. (Insert bride’s name here) took the initiative and we have been together ever since!

• (Insert groom’s name here) and (insert bride’s name here) both attended and graduated from the same high school. They were just friends back then. They went to different colleges and re-met at a mutual friend’s wedding a couple of years later. There were still no sparks, but (insert groom’s name here) took (insert bride’s name here) out for ice cream after going to a friend’s party.

• (Insert groom’s name here) and (Insert bride’s name here) graduated from the same large university, but didn’t know each other back then. Both eventually moved to (insert city name here) and joined the local chapter of the alumni association. The association had an event at (insert name of sports bar here) and the rest is history.

So those were just a few of the many that I found of people I know who have recently married…or will marry soon. I have yet to find one that says “we met on (insert dating web site here),” but I know there are many like that…or perhaps they didn’t wish to share the fact on their wedding registry page. I do believe though that the taboo of online dating from a decade ago is gone. I do know of one online relationship that turned into marriage, but the stories above are similar to many “how we met” stories before the internet -where the relationship is a product of socializing plain and simple (an art I have yet to perfect).