Michelle Lee and Brian Gilbert
You’re going to meet someone who was born in 1968, and he’s going to be the love of your life. If you [mess] it up, you’re never going to get a second chance.†That bold prediction was made by a self-professed psychic Michelle Lee encountered two years ago at a cocktail party.
A few minutes later, Lee, who was born in 1981, struck up a conversation with a handsome stranger named Brian Gilbert. She told him what the psychic had said. “No way am I going to date a man that old,†she added. Gilbert didn’t mention that he was born in 1968.
She found him very attractive. But when he called her a few days later, she almost did mess it up. “My defensive ‘L.A. single girl’ attitude reared its head,†Lee said. “I’ve kissed a lot of frogs.†This one turned out to be a prince.
Even their careers are a great match. She’s vice president of television at Kurtzman/Orci, a production company at 20th Century Fox, and he’s a partner with Nine/8 Entertainment, an independent film production company.
For Lee, 29, and Gilbert, 42, their age difference mattered in only one way — and it pleased her enormously: He courted her by phoning, not texting.
They were wed on May 21 at the 1930s-style Colony Palms Hotel in Palm Springs. The ceremony took place in the hotel garden, where the bride made a stunning entrance in an antique white Jenny Yoo sheath with a graceful trumpet silhouette.
Lee’s roots are Taiwanese and the groom’s are Jewish, making for a colorful mix of cultures at the ceremony. “The wedding was two different backgrounds coming together as one in a beautiful way,†Gilbert said.
At the poolside reception for 200, he gave a short welcome speech in Mandarin. Lee’s parents danced a Jewish hora for the first time, and there were chocolate-dipped fortune cookies with the message “Destiny†in English, Mandarin and Yiddish.
Guests had a blast dancing, and around midnight Lee put a fun final touch on the evening. Still wearing her wedding gown, she leapt exuberantly into the swimming pool.
When asked what she was feeling at that moment, she answered, “bliss.â€
—Maxine Nunes, Custom Publishing Writer
