Our Story

Natalie Huynh and Tad Huang met at the University of California, Irvine, in 2001 at freshman orientation. Natalie was sorting her packets and getting her things together with her mom at the Student Center when this boy, wearing a red plaid shirt (probably Ecko red), cooly approached them to ask about the dorms since he had missed the tour. He introduced himself as “Tad…as in tadpole,” and both Natalie and her mom would never forget that name after such a unique introduction. Natalie told him that she had visited both the dorms in Mesa Court and Middle Earth. While Middle Earth was more new, she was going to stay in Mesa Court with her friends because it felt more “homie.” After a friendly meeting, they went their separate ways, and Tad decided to just go with her suggestion to dorm at Mesa Court. He wondered if Natalie would become one of his first friends at UCI.

Little did they know, but they would run into each other again to take the chemistry placement exam that summer. Nat was standing in line anxious, and did not realize that the couple standing behind her was Tad and his high school girlfriend. Years later, Tad revealed to her that he was standing right behind her the whole time. He described the dress she wore and how funny she walked in it because she didn’t know how to walk in platform sandals. Can’t blame a tomboy for trying to impress the guy she was dating at the time and would see afterwards!

It wasn’t until the end of the school year that Tad and Nat finally talked again. While getting dinner at the Gateway Commons, Tad approached Nat as she was filling her plate with food asking “Hey… you’re Natalie, right?” She answered “Yes,” but with an uncertain look on her face. Forgetting who Tad was, she was a little nervous that he might have been another one of those creepy guys who followed her around after seeing her sing at a VSA (Vietnamese Student Association) show. She immediately put her guard down as soon as he reintroduced himself again as “Tad as in tadpole” and reminded her of their first meeting. Happy to see him again, the moment soon became a little awkward when his friend, Gizelle, teased him by calling him out: “Stop hitting on her.” Nat didn’t take the moment though seriously since she knew Gizelle from class, and already understood her strong and funny personality. She smiled and walked away just thinking “what a small world!”

That world became even smaller when, one fine day, Tad showed up at her dorm to visit his friends who coincidentally happened to be some of her close friends. Hearing from other people that Nat was a singer, he asked her to sing for him. Feeling shy and intimidated to sing privately for just one person, Nat wouldn’t sing unless he sang first to help her get comfortable. “Comfortable” was not how she ended up feeling, however. She ended up being so blown away and inspired by his voice. For the entire first year at UCI, she had not met a guy who could sing the way he did. His voice was so pure and resonated with every vibrato. The song he chose also couldn’t have been sweeter. Keeping her promise, Nat finally sang for him but quickly ran into her roommate’s closet out of embarrassment to hide when she had finished the song. Tad opened the sliding doors and slowly pulled her out, telling her how beautiful she sounded. Their eyes locked for the very first time, and this was the beginning of a friendship that was destined to change their lives forever.

When time finally allowed them to be together, they held on to each other for good and developed a relationship stronger than they had ever imagined over the years to come. With everyday they spent together, they never grew tired of each other but instead grew more interested in the other person for all their quirks and their greatest dreams. The chemistry they shared was so strong that no other connection they had made with others ever compared, and they felt the universe would always remind them of that when they were apart. Even at a distance, their lives ran parallel to each other unknowingly. They finished reading the same book around the same time when they were not in contact. They struggled the same struggle in dating and fought the same battles with friends and family in which they could have related to and confided in each other. They were both dreamers, and it was hard to find others who understood it. They were both searching for hope and happiness in their time of darkness, but life wouldn’t allow them to find it until the time was right. And none of it was truly right until they both found the courage to open up their hearts to each other. Ironically, they finally found strength in their vulnerability to love.

It took two years for them to be together, and as their love grew for each other, so did their love for each other’s families. Raising their first pet together also made their partnership even more real. This new addition to their lives, a small Pomeranian named Kip with a big personality, just made the relationship feel more whole. Spending a lot of time at each other’s houses with their siblings and parents, Nat and Tad developed a special connection and close relationship with their brothers and sisters. Watching them grow from adolescence to adulthood, they supported each other through all their endeavors and growing pains. Sharing their love of music with each other through countless jam sessions, spending time together in the cabin on their snowboarding trips, living it up in Las Vegas, and celebrating every Thanksgiving and Christmas together was the beginning of a new family bond to come. In all the years they had been together, they shared in the happiness and struggles of each other’s families. Their passion and their love had extended to those closest to them, and this was as real as it was going to get.

On August 30, 2013, Tad got down on one knee in Hawaii, their favorite place to be in the world. Everything they had ever been to each other would soon develop into something more for each other. Who they had become as individuals, how they had built their lives and careers, how they shaped each other’s worlds, what they had lost along the way and what they had found, all would collide for starting a brand new life together. After ten years together, Tad and Nat will be exchanging their vows at the place of the proposal to begin their new journey as husband and wife. Many have said that that ten years was a long time to wait, but to them, it was only the beginning to a timeless love.

Did you know…?

• The Vietnamese surname Huynh comes from the Chinese surname Huang
• Their Pomeranian Kipani is as old as they have been together.
• Natalie’s name was supposed to be spelled Nathalie as her father intended it to be a French name, but whoever filled out the birth certificate accidentally left out the “H.” That’s why if they ever had a baby girl, they would name her Halie so that she could have the last part of that name (natHalie).
• Tad’s nickname is San Si because Tad was born on 3/3/83, and in mandarin, san means three.
• Both Nat and Tad are the eldest of three.
• Both are born in the year of the pig.
• Both play the piano.
• The numbers 11-22-33 are special to Nat and Tad because it’s their birthdays combined (11/22 and 3/3).
• All three siblings’ first names start with the letter “T”—Tad, Tim, Tom and Thoa, Trang, Thao (in Vietnamese for the girls).
• As musical as they were, they never had a song until nine years into the relationship when they both heard “All of Me” by John Legend from Tad’s downloads for the first time in the car.
• The song Tad sang for Nat in her dorm room was As Beautiful As You by All 4 One. Natalie sang Open Arms by Journey.
• The book they both read at the same time unknowingly was The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.
• The movie A Walk to Remember brought them together for the first time.
• Serendipity brought them together a second time.
• Natalie only met Tad because she decided spontaneously the day of orientation to change her major from psychology to biology. That’s why they were in the same area at the same time. However, neither one ended up graduating with biology degrees.
• Sharing the same interest in cars, Tad and Nat at one time both owned a Nissan 240sx. Tad drove the S15 model and Nat drove the S13 hatchback.