From Quinceañera Dance Partners to Life Partners

Edgar Giovanny Angel and Dianna Guadalupe Mateos can’t quite remember if they danced to a merengue or a cumbia song when, as 15-year-olds, they were paired as dance partners for a quinceañera in 2012. They do, however, remember hitting it off during rehearsals.

“Edgar’s cousin was my best friend during high school,” said Ms. Mateos, now 27. “She was matchmaking us, and when it came to her quince, she was like, ‘Who should I pair up Dianna with?’ And she was like, ‘It has to be Edgar.’”

Mr. Angel, 27, had barely met his cousin some months before being asked to take part in her quinceañera. Nonetheless, he agreed.

“At first, I didn’t want to be there because I wanted to play soccer with my friends,” Mr. Angel said. But after meeting Ms. Mateos, “I was telling my mom that I wanted to go to all the dance practices.”

The two continued to see each other after the celebration; both were freshmen at Bell High School in Southeast Los Angeles. Six months after the quinceañera, Mr. Angel asked Ms. Mateos to be his girlfriend. Early dates revolved around dinner trips to Taco Bell, a stroll through the mall and car drives throughout the city.

After high school, they continued their relationship as they both attended California State University, Los Angeles (which they had planned). In 2020, Ms. Mateos graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social work and child development; Mr. Angel with a bachelor’s degree in business marketing.

Those college years propelled their relationship into something deeper than shared Taco Supremes and high school dances.

“College was a different type of growing up,” Mr. Angel said. “It was more like growing together because we were both going for our degrees.”

As the first people in both their families to attend college, they worked to balance their studies with investing in their young relationship.

“Since we were together in college, we weren’t just going on dates, we would also help each other,” Ms. Mateos said. “So I would help him with his homework and stuff; he would help me with mine.”

The two live together in Bell, Calif., and work as substitute teachers for the Los Angeles Unified School District. They also work as social media content creators. Ms. Mateos currently has over 270,000 followers on TikTok; Mr. Angel over 185,000. Their separate accounts highlight Mr. Angel’s love for soccer clubs and Ms. Mateos’s passion for fashion and styling.

[Click here to binge read this week’s featured couples.]

A moment both shared on their social media accounts was Mr. Angel’s proposal. On Nov. 1, 2022, the two went out to lunch to mark their 10th anniversary, after which they went to a home that Mr. Angel had rented for the occasion. They walked to the backyard, which overlooked the San Fernando Valley. Ms. Mateos, who had been covering her eyes with her hands, heard a live violin instrumental to Justin Bieber’s song “Anyone.” (Mr. Bieber had been her other teenage crush.)

“Once I heard the violinist play the first few strings, I knew,” Ms. Mateos said. She said yes in front of their families, who were there as part of the surprise.

Family is a common theme in their relationship, they said — one that would become bittersweet as they prepared to exchange their vows.

Ms. Mateos’s grandfather, Rafael Mateos Sanchez, who lived with her and her family in Bell, died in February, and Mr. Angel’s grandmother, Herlinda Angel Ponce, who lived with him and his family in Bell, died two months later.

It was a difficult turn for the two as they had planned to have both of them take part in their church ceremony. The couple was conflicted over whether or not to postpone their wedding date; they ultimately found a way to honor both grandparents.

The couple was married June 1 before 200 guests at St. Andrew Catholic Church in Pasadena, Calif., in a ceremony officiated by Marcos Gonzales, the associate pastor of the church. After the ceremony, the couple’s family and friends gathered at Glenoaks Ballroom in Glendale to celebrate.

A few moments before the ceremony, Ms. Mateos said she thought about her grandfather. “I knew my grandpa was with me during that moment,” she said. She included a charm with his picture in her bouquet.

Mr. Angel incorporated his grandmother with a small picture of her pinned to the inside of his suit jacket.

“We had our two angels that day,” he said. “And we brought both our families together.”