"Nalani" discovered "Marvin" grew up in Kaimuki and attended Kapi'olani Community College. He found out she was a Pearl City High grad who went to the University of Hawai'i-Hilo to study psychology.

She learned his real name was Jon Sakamoto and revealed she was really Tricia Lee. They began to chat regularly.

When she said she was planning to come home for Thanksgiving, he asked to meet in person. That was seven years ago.

On the day after Thanksgiving, they met at Comp USA, where Lee had to return something. When he arrived and called from the parking lot, she sent a friend out to find "the guy in the truck."

Inside the computer store, they felt a spark. The connection grew into a long-distance romance. They were both in college and working, so they couldn't see each other much but made time to talk or chat on the computer every day and visit about once a month.

Early on, Sakamoto predicted what was to come. They were on a date and passed a store display of champagne flutes.

"We should get some for when we get married," Sakamoto told her.

At the time, Lee laughed. But when more than six years of dating passed and there was no proposal, she gave him an ultimatum. She said it was time. So they went to a wedding expo, picked out a ring and got engaged. Lee had moved back to O'ahu by this time.

Shortly thereafter, they had the diamond ring reset, and the diamond cracked. The store replaced the flawed diamond with a bigger one, but Lee wondered whether it was a bad omen.

It turned out to be the first in a series of unlucky events.

Their world crashed in with a car wreck in May that totaled Lee's car, slightly injured her, cracked some of Sakamoto's ribs and smashed his knees into the dashboard. Despite their panic in the moments after the accident, Lee could tell that Sakamoto was more worried about her than himself. He even went back to the car to retrieve their wedding planner book.

It was a defining moment.

"It made me think more about her," Sakamoto said. "Without her, I wouldn't know what I would do."

The streak of bad luck continued. The stress of the wedding became compounded with the headaches and excitement of buying a townhouse in 'Aiea. Then, two weeks before their big day, Sakamoto's wedding ring was stolen.

When their rainy wedding day arrived Nov. 28, the skies spared them showers for their outdoor ceremony, at the Sheraton Moana Surfrider overlooking the beach in Waikiki. Sakamoto's new wedding ring had still not arrived, so he used one that was "on loan" and later bought it as well.

It seemed the surprises might be over. Until they saw their wedding cake. It was green.

They had meticulously chosen a three-tiered cake adorned with flowers and butterflies. Their instructions were for the icing to be white instead of the green in the picture, but wires got crossed and the cake was a lovely shade of mint.

"I walked into the room, and my cake was green, and I almost flipped out," the bride said. "Jon was telling people, 'Oh, green's my favorite color,' and 'Green is for prosperity,' so it all worked out."

She said they learned to laugh off the little things to save their sanity.

They married seven years to the day from their first meeting, and today is another anniversary of sorts. It was seven years ago that she came home on Christmas break and he asked her out on their first real date.

"I think that we are like the ultimate millennium couple," said the bride, now Tricia Sakamoto. "We met on the Internet. We had a typical Japanese courtship. We're like a generic couple."

There is one thing that makes them stand out, the groom said: They already know they can make it.

"We've been through a lot before, so we know we can get through anything," he said. "I'd tell people, no matter what happens, just stick it out. In the end, it will be worth it. You grow closer to each other."