Katrina Malaiba Rivas ’14 and Bryan Rivas ’15

Couple Sacred Heart Wedding

It all started in the summer of 2013, freshman orientation -- but not ours. No, that would be too easy. Our story is a little more by fate. Bryan was recently hired as an Orientation Coordinator to help hire Orientation Leaders for that summer session. I was studying abroad in Germany, so I was one of the only candidates that he didn't interview due to different time zones, so his bosses took the lead in hiring me. We met for the first time during training, where he immediately caught my attention as "the guy who always had to speak first," while I caught his attention as "the girl who always had to show off." But, this wasn't love at first sight -- rather, it was friendly competition at first sight. (As they say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.) Though we had no reason to be enemies, we both did enjoy the spotlight, so our mutual love for that made us fast friends. We helped each other get through the tough working days and sleepless nights. There were a lot of pizzas, sweatpants, and movie-binging that fostered our best friendship that summer. After orientation was over, it turned into "Summer Lovin'" and we started dating on September 1, 2013, where he got down on one knee and asked me to be his girlfriend with a ring pop. Fast forward to 4 years later on September 1, 2017, and he proposed -- this time, with a real ring. Exactly one year later (you guessed it) on September 1, 2018, we tied the knot where it all began -- LMU, at Sacred Heart Chapel surrounded by all of our family and friends, including fellow LMU alumni, faculty and staff. As our wedding day came to a close and the last songs were playing at our reception, "Summer Lovin'" played. We busted out into an impromptu musical number and it brought us back to that summer of 2013, where our love story began. Now, it's 2021, and I'm happy to report that we're still in friendly competition with each other and we still compete for the spotlight. There are still a lot of pizzas, sweatpants, and movie-binging, which makes our marriage thrive. Some things don't change and we wouldn't have it any other way.