Couples tie the knot at Ventura County Clerk's Office on Valentine's Day

Ventura

After six years together, with the last four in a long-distance relationship, a young couple with big ambitions tied the knot at the Ventura County Clerk’s Office on Friday.

Drake Smith, 28, and Heesung Moon, 26, were one of 42 couples to get married on Valentine’s Day at the Ventura and Thousand Oaks locations of the office.

Eder Espinoza, deputy commissioner of civil marriages, had done seven ceremonies in Ventura before noon and could feel the love around him.

“I fell more in love with my wife, too,” Espinoza said.

The Oxnard native and romantic at heart has been happily married for four years. He likens Valentine’s Day at the office to Christmas. Espinoza listened to love songs to prepare himself for the day.

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Smith and Moon met while attending UCLA. Smith was in graduate school and Moon was studying for her undergraduate degree. Moon, from South Korea, has been attending school in the United States since her middle school years, she said.

Moon said her plan was to break up with Smith after she graduated from UCLA because she was heading back home to go to medical school, Moon said. And maybe they could date again once she returned to California, Moon said. At that point, they had been dating for two years.

But Smith was persistent and convinced Moon they could make long distance work. For four years, they’ve been steadfast in scheduled FaceTime calls and visits whenever possible. While Moon studies medicine, Smith has been using his doctorate degree in cancer immunotherapy working to develop cancer treatments in Santa Monica.

When they first met, Smith thought Moon was cute, smart and a lot of fun. But he loved that her career was just as much a priority for her as his career was for him. That’s when he knew she was the one, Smith said.

“I found someone who has the same passion that I do,” Smith said.

A tenacity for his work and years of time-consuming studies had been a problem in his past relationships, Smith said.

Moon plans to return to California to live with Smith after her last year of medical school, and they were planning to get married once that happened. But after speaking to an immigration attorney about getting Moon’s green card, they decided to move up their wedding day, Smith said.

Ventura County can give couples their marriage licenses within an hour, whereas Los Angeles County can take a few weeks, said Miranda Nobriga, a spokeswoman for the Ventura County Clerk’s Office.

Due to this streamlined process, Valentine’s Day is a big deal in the office.

Sheila Jetton, who has worked there for 30 years, has been giving couples a special souvenir for their Valentine’s wedding day for the past 15 years.

Jetton said it’s a way to make the couples’ day a little more special. This year, the gift was a wooden red rose and baby’s breath wrapped in cellophane.

During her tenure at the office, she also had the idea of selling wedding rings for $9 each. She would see some people come in with paper clips fashioned into rings or candy ring lollipops in place of the real thing.

“They didn’t have anything to get married with,” Jetton said.

‘When I saw him, I liked him right away’

For Calabasas couple Jolie and David Bross, their wedding day was a second chance at love after their respective spouses died. They met a little over a year ago at the Goebel Adult Community Center in Thousand Oaks during a ballroom dance class.

“And then when I saw him, I liked him right away,” Jolie Bross said.

They went to the clerk’s office because the Catholic Church, of which she is a part, would not marry them because of their prenuptial agreement. The Protestant church that he was part of would only marry them after some counseling, which could take at least six months, she said.

He said they had decades of marriage experience between the pair of them and weren’t looking to wait that long.

It had already taken a while for them to get together in the first place. When they first met, she said she didn’t want to get married again, which didn’t work for him.

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Later, she changed her mind about it and they planned a date but couldn’t agree on where to go to eat.

“That was the only thing we had in common: we had nothing in common,” he said.

But they didn’t give up. The next time they saw each other at the community center, they tried again. And it turned out they actually had a lot in common.

They both liked to sing, even though she admits they aren’t very good. That’s where their good sense of humor comes in. When he found out she was a Republican, he was ready to marry her right then and there.

She said he almost judged her too quickly.

“You cannot judge a book by its cover,” she said. “You’ve got to read it.”

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Megan Diskin is a courts and breaking news reporter with The Star. Reach her at megan.diskin@vcstar.com or 805-437-0258.