One of the first things Dr. Lindsey Madison Ward remarked to Dr. Michael Taylor Richardson was his System of a Down band T-shirt.
It was 2003 and both were at a pool party for their freshman year of high school at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles. dr. Ward, a fan of the metal band, went up to her and introduced herself. The two quickly became friends and started dating in eighth grade.
“A pretty classic high school crush,” said Dr. Ward, 30, on their early relationship.
Although they stopped dating early in their freshman year at Harvard-Westlake, they remained close friends. By the time they entered their second year, in 2006, Dr. Ward that her feelings for Dr. Richardson had once again become more than platonic.
In October, she told him she liked him. A week later, he took her to a local carnival on a date, and from then on they remained a couple through high school. The summer after graduating, in August 2009, the two split up because they were going to college in different states: Dr. Ward had enrolled at Columbia and Dr. Richardson at Washington University in St. Louis.
“It was terrible,” said Dr. Ward about that breakup, “but I think for the time we were apart, it was really necessary because it gave us time to exist alone.”
“For most of our adolescent and teenage years, we were always together,” she added.
In December, when both returned from college for winter break, they started hanging out, and Dr. Richardson knew that his feelings for Dr. Ward were never really gone. “I really wanted to get back together,” said Dr. Richardson, 31.
While waiting in the drive-through line at In-N-Out Burger, he asked Dr. Ward if she would consider becoming a couple again. She immediately agreed.
Since they were dating a long-distance school, they visited each other a few times a year. When both graduated in May 2013, they moved back to Los Angeles. dr. Ward then moved to Boston for a few months for an art conservation internship; after it ended, she and Dr. Richardson took a four-month tour of Europe and Asia.
In the months leading up to the trip, they had all signed up for medical training. While traveling, the two found out that they had been accepted into programs. dr. Ward later enrolled at UCSF and Dr. Richardson at Stanford.
Between their third and fourth year of medicine, both decided to take a year off from their studies to do research. dr. Ward was chosen as a Fulbright scientist in 2018 and studied neuroaesthetics at the Université Paris-Descartes in Paris. dr. Richardson, who joined her for a year, did research at the Institut Gustave Roussy.
They started talking about marriage while living in Paris. After the couple returned to the United States, Dr. Richardson in September 2019 Dr. Ward married at a scenic vantage point overlooking San Francisco Bay.
“She’s always so excited and excited,” said Dr. Richardson about Dr. ward. “She has great life values and morals and is someone I just want to keep growing with.”
The following March, they moved back to Los Angeles, each graduating from medical school months later. dr. Ward is currently a resident in internal medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a PhD student at the Université de Paris-Descartes. dr. Richardson is a resident of obstetrics and gynecology at UCLA
They married on April 1 at the Beverly Hills Courthouse in Beverly Hills, California, about two years after they originally planned to get married before putting it off due to the pandemic. Nancy Claiborne, a wedding ceremony volunteer at the Los Angeles County Clerk’s office, officiated.
Though only a photographer attended their civil ceremony, the couple plans to hold a second wedding celebration in May 2022 with about 100 vaccinated guests at the Borgo Scopeto Wine & Country Relais, a hotel in Castelnuovo Berardenga, Italy.
“He’s just very generous with his love,” the bride said of the groom. “I can’t imagine my life without him.”
