Ike Shehadeh's place is with his bride For sandwich maker Ike Shehadeh and Marcella Mission, love won't wait

Marcella Mission and Ike Shehadeh met at the Palace of Fine Arts and exchanged more vows in front of Marshall Thurber, Ike's friend. Marcella Mission and Ike Shehadeh met at the Palace of Fine Arts and exchanged more vows in front of Marshall Thurber, Ike's friend. Photo: Ralph Anderson Photography Photo: Ralph Anderson Photography Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Ike Shehadeh's place is with his bride 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

The day Ike Shehadeh, 35, opened his sandwich shop in the heart of the Castro, he didn't sell a single sandwich. It was Halloween of 2007, and because of violence the previous year, the neighborhood's annual festivities had been canceled. He had expected thousands of revelers, but only a few turned out - and none of them were hungry. Depressed, he shuttered the place. Yet a week later, he reopened with renewed vigor, and his sandwiches began to sell. Soon he could hardly keep up with the demand.

The rest is sandwich history: Fourteen of his eponymously named shops are spread throughout the Bay Area, and he is expanding to other states.

If in business, timing is everything, arguably the same can be said of love.

It was just in July that Ike, a month out of a long relationship, was at a Palo Alto bar with friends when a bubbly blonde approached their table. Marcella Mission, then a pre-nursing student working as the mechanical bull operator at the bar, was also recently single. In an attempt to drum up riders, she chatted up the guys, but none took the bait. Instead, Ike offered a card for a free sandwich, as is his custom.

Initially, Marcella didn't understand that the card had come from the business owner himself, but once that was made clear, she was ready with an opinion. A fan of Ike's sandwiches, she'd been at the Stanford University shop just the day before, but because of the long line had been thwarted from lunch.

Ike casually mentioned that if she wanted company on her next outing to Ike's, he could shuttle her to the front of the line.

Marcella laughed - and Ike didn't really expect her to take him up on his offer. Yet two days later, she called and the two had dinner (not a sandwich). Their connection was easy and instant. Marcella initially thought Ike "too old, too short and too famous," but she soon found her negative assumptions didn't hold up against her actual experiences with him.

"Ike listens," she said. "He obviously cares about people - and he loves his life." Both found it easy to share their innermost feelings; being with Marcella was "familiar," he said.

"I am inspired by him," added Marcella.

Ike, who claimed he had previously had little luck with women "because of me, not them," was taken by Marcella's positive energy and eagerness to initiate. "I was used to being the pursuer, but Marcella took the initiative to seek me out."

In October, while in Arizona scouting a location for a shop, the two were outside in the moonlight on a warm evening when things between them went into hyperdrive. Marcella admitted she could see herself having children with Ike. Coming from a large Palestinian family, children had always been part of Ike's dream.

"Right then, I hesitated to propose because I worried that people would talk about how fast we moved," said Ike, "but other people's opinions weren't enough reason to wait."

Without a ring, Ike got on one knee and proposed; Marcella, shocked by the sudden gesture, nevertheless gleefully accepted.

Within weeks, the couple had planned not one but two celebrations. The first, a traditional Muslim ceremony, was held Jan. 4 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. Nearly 600 guests, including all the Ike's Place employees, witnessed the couple exchanging vows in Arabic. McCalls provided the celebratory feast, which included a chocolate fountain. There were a total of five three-tiered wedding cakes.

On Jan. 11, the couple met at the Palace of Fine Arts rotunda and exchanged more vows in front of Marshall Thurber, Ike's friend, business mentor and the creator of the Money and You courses. Marcella, in a strapless mermaid gown (purchased at a Black Friday wedding sale), stayed warm in a vintage mink of her grandmother's. The 180 guests huddled under customized purple blankets embroidered with the line "Quality snuggles since 2014." After the ceremony, guests were bused to a reception at the San Francisco Zoo.

Despite a slight snafu - the power was out for nearly an hour - there was a beautifully lit cocktail hour in front of the lions' den. Before their own dinner, some of the guests were invited to feed "dinner" to the giraffes. The R2-D2-shaped cake (the couple are "Star Wars" aficionados) was by Charmed City Cakes, owned by Duff Goldman of the "Ace of Cakes" Food Network fame. Arrangements for all festivities were by Christa Mekki of Magnetic Magnificent Events.

The couple recently moved into an apartment above the Castro sandwich shop, and are headed toward various new ventures, both together and solo. But one venture is fully shared: Both have changed their last names to Shehadeh Mission.

"From the beginning, Marcella has always met me halfway," said the new Mr. Shehadeh Mission.