Actress Ryan Michelle Bathé and Sterling K. Brown, of Army Wives, met onstage when they were Stanford University undergrads. But two years passed before the thespians began dating...the first time. "Sterling and I had a lot of stops and starts over 12 years," Bathé explains, smiling.

On Christmas Eve 2005, Brown drove Bathé through "a pea soup–thick fog" to the beach in Santa Monica. "I found a spot and said, 'You know you're my best friend, right?' I got down on my knees. 'Would you do me the honor of being my wife?' I don't think I got the whole sentence out before she started screaming!" Brown then slipped a yellow emerald-cut diamond set in white gold onto Bathé's finger.