Luke Rollins met his future wife at a taping of the show "Meet the Press with Tim Russert " in Washington, D.C. in April 1999. At the time, Rollins, now a lobbyist for the American Heart Association, was a graduate student at American University, where he worked in the Communications department office. She took a department field trip to the show.

"I immediately noticed her and began small chat, but I wasn 't brave enough to introduce myself, " says Rollins about his now-wife, Meghan Rollins, who is a producer with John Roach Projects. "The NBC studio was across the street, so we walked there and back together and she identified my accent as a Wisconsin accent. " Upon getting home he phoned his best friend to say, "I met the woman of my dreams! " His friend responded, "What 's her name? " And Rollins confessed, "I don 't know! "

After a night of stress, he got a second chance when he bumped into her in the office the next day. For the one-year anniversary of their meeting, he called a "Meet the Press " producer and asked that Meghan be brought to another show. Apparently their hook-up ended up on the show 's agenda. And in 2002 when they got married, they got a surprise from Russert -- a hand-written note wishing them well along with a "Meet the Press " coffee mug.

Now Meghan is pregnant with their second child -- a boy this time. "Multiple people have told us we have to name him Tim or Russ or Russert, " says the unconvinced father. "Russert Rollins? Sounds like a race car driver or a cowboy. "

Hearing the Rollins tale so close to Valentine 's Day got me thinking about how other couples in Madison met, and I was able to cajole a few into sharing their stories.Barry Alvarez met his bride Cindy by mistake. He was in summer school at Nebraska, living in a fraternity that held frequent social engagements. Cindy, a Nebraska native, came home from college in Chicago and her friend asked her to go to a party at the football frat. "I had just come out of the shower and the doorbell rang, " says Barry. "There was no party. But I can see why they thought there might be one -- we had them pretty frequently, so it was surprising there wasn 't one. But I invited them in and made them hot dogs. I got her phone number, called her and we started dating. "

Dave and Dianne Cieslewicz met at the office. Make that two adjacent Capitol offices of two former state legislators in 1983. She worked for Vern Holschbach of Manitowoc and he worked for John Plewa from Milwaukee. "The space between our offices was where people always gathered to eat lunch, so we ate a lot of lunches, " says Mayor Dave. He adds that he isn 't sure when they began dating because when they went together to see the Nutcracker, it didn 't count. "Our first date wasn 't a date, " he deadpans. "I think she told me it would have been a nice date, if it had been a date. "

George Austin met his wife-to-be Martha Vukelich, as he puts it: "at the water cooler. " She was working in the City Planning Department when he worked in the Mayor 's Office when he says, "we were introduced by a mutual friend. "

But Vukelich-Austin adds that a shared interest in the Badgers may have been a factor: "I bought some football tickets from him Thanksgiving weekend 1978 and although it wasn 't a test, apparently he thought I might share an interest in Badger sports. Fifteen months later, we were married. And, he still hasn 't missed a home football game since then. "

The couple will celebrate their seventh anniversary this month. If you 're puzzled by the math, here 's Vukelich-Austin 's answer: "We were married February 29, 1980 (leap year day), so while we have been married 28 years, we will be celebrating our seventh anniversary on the 29th! "

It was on the ski slopes that businesswoman and political activist Mary Lang Sollinger met Hans Sollinger, which isn 't surprising given that before becoming a transplant surgeon, he had been an Olympic skier for Germany. What is surprising is that she was on a blind date -- not with Sollinger, but with his technician. "We met at Devil 's Head, " says Lang Sollinger. "The first time he came to Madison, it was in February and he brought two pairs of skis but only one pair of gloves. " She had just ended a relationship, he had a girlfriend in Germany, so they started out as buds, as she puts it. "Our first date was at Porta Bella. Then one thing led to another. That was 33 years ago. "

Madison Mallards GM Vern Stenman met his bride Kallie in Madison, despite the fact that both came here from the much smaller town of St. Cloud, Minn. Their story may help explain his enthusiasm for the team -- they met at a Mallards game. "He was going to camp out that night in center field to watch Rhythm & Booms, " recalls Kallie. "I declined that invitation, but I ended up marrying him anyway. "

Shortly after Madison-born jazz singer Gerri DiMaggio returned home from Colorado in 1976, she heard about a guitar player named Bob Pesselman who was looking for a vocalist for his band, Mills Street Foundation. "Our story, " says Pesselman, who now works in marketing for Covance, "is that she turned up and auditioned for my band and sang, Since I Fell for You. ' " The two conspired professionally for a while before falling for one another and getting married. "The strictly professional ' part lasted for about a year, " says DiMaggio, owner of DiMaggio 's Euro Design. "But out of the corner of my eye was this tall, dark, handsome man . . . and when we fell, we fell hard. "

Get in touch with Melanie at 608-252-6187 or mconklin@madison.com. Catch her Thursdays at 6:30 pm on WKOW-TV (Ch.27) or hear her Tuesdays on WIBA-AM (1310) at 7:45 a.m., Wednesdays on WTDY-AM (1670) at 8:20 and Thursdays on Star Country (96.3) at 9 a.m.