How a Valley surgeon found his soulmate -- using Twitter?

How a Valley surgeon found his soulmate -- using Twitter?

ABC15 PHOENIX - People across the globe are connecting in 140 characters or less.

But social networking sites like Twitter,Facebook and MySpace aren't just for friendship; now they are becoming popular places for folks looking for love. 

"It's certainly not a dating service," said Twitter user Terry Simpson. "And you don't do it for that." 

"And you wouldn't go out saying I want to find a boyfriend on Twitter," said social networking user April Wilson. 

But last summer, Wilson and Simpson met while tweeting with a group of friends. Their twitter names are producergirl and terrysimpson.

"I wasn't looking for love," said Simpson. "I knew she existed I wasn't thinking about her other then it would be nice to know her and that's it.

Simpson said he mainly began using Twitter to gather opinions and thoughts for a new book he was writing called Cigar Talk. 

"The first 100 people or so that I followed on Twitter were all about cigars and that was my interest in Twitter."

Simpson, a leading surgeon and author in Phoenix, has written several books about how to succeed using Laparoscopic band (Lap-band) surgery.  

He said he's often a "smart aleck" on Twitter. It's something Wilson, a senior entertainment producer in Florida, found intriguing. That's when they starting "tweeting" to one another.

All their tweets about scrumptious food, wine and cigars led to a dinner invitation by Simpson's new group of friends.  He was in Alaska at the time.

"So I left from Anchorage flew down to Tampa about 4,000 miles overnight and this is the young lady who picks me up," Simpson smiled, looking at Wilson.

She also giggled and said, "And it was over at that moment.  We just went uh oh we're in trouble."

The two spent the rest of the weekend talking and getting to know each.  

Dozens of flights, hundreds of phone calls and thousands of frequent flyer miles later they decided to get married. 

Less than one year after first connecting on Twitter, the couple tied the knot. 

Their wedding ceremony on February 19th at the Phoenix Country Club was just the way they wanted it, low key with a small group of family members and friends. 

"What was really amazing was I think about half our guests were actually from Twitter," said Wilson.

And you can only imagine how the nuptials ended. Right after the officiate announced Simpson could 'kiss the bride,' they both grabbed their cell phones and Wilson shouted, "We'll tweet it out."

Simpson and Wilson say they can't wait to tweet about their next big surprise. It's so big, Simpson even changed the ending of his 4th book. 

"There will be a new little fella coming into our life," read Simpson. "A dog named Balto and a little boy named Jimmy, yep after my brother, when he is born you can bet I will pass out cigars."
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From the http://MidLife Road Trip Show.com

@ocdchick  performed the ceremony
@gungagalunga played guitar and sang
@dudecavanaugh and @rickgriffin shot and provided the wedding video for ABC15