Thuy & Peter: “A” for persistence – Gulf Coast Weddings Magazine

Some mutual friends thought Thuy Tran and Peter Nguyen were a perfect match — but Thuy wasn’t quite ready to accept that.

“I found him too timid,” she recalls. They remained “just friends” for nearly 10 years; they’d see each other occasionally because of their shared friends. “It wasn’t until March of 2014 that he had texted me while I was working out at Planet Fitness.” Thuy thought it was her girlfriends and responded quickly.

“But I kept wondering why she would text me about doing squats if she was almost due. It wasn’t until after working out that I realized it was him and he worked next door at Lola Vie Nail salon. We then began to start texting back and forth on a regular basis.”

Peter receives an “A” for persistence because he kept trying to connect with Thuy. “One night while working, I was joking with him about how I was craving some sautéed crab claws from Venues and after his workout, he came to Blazin Cajun Seafood to deliver it to me. After that night, we officially went on a date.”

She was still skeptical about him as a suitor but over time realized that once she got to know Peter, “the flood waters opened.”

The couple dated two years before Peter was ready to take the big step. “We had always talked about getting married and unlike most people with the grand gestures, he definitely did things quite differently. One night while we were home with all the kids (they each have one child) and watching a scary movie, he was practicing how to propose to me. I was playing the part and of course said, ‘yes.’ He immediately screamed to the kids and said, ‘She said ‘yes’. He already had the ring and he said, ‘Ok, you can’t take it back.’ Definitely not what I had expected but as he said, its different from other people.”

The two tied the knot Dec. 16. “Everything seemed to happen so quickly that day. The part I really hold special and dear to my heart was we didn’t do the traditional father/daughter or mother/son dance with our parents. Instead, we did that dance with our child. He has a 12-year-old daughter and I have an 8-year-old son. We danced to the song ‘God Gave Me You.’”

The Biloxians are looking forward to a honeymoon after crawfish season in the fall. Peter is a nail technician at Beau Rivage in Biloxi and she manages Blazin Cajun Seafood restaurant in Gulfport.