Chris Chapela wanted someone who would be adventurous enough to go hiking on the weekends, but also liked to stay home and watch movies.

Sheree was a single mother, full-time accountant and a Special Olympics volunteer on the weekends and Chris was a pastry chef who worked odd hours, commuted to San Francisco from Willow Glen, working weekends and holidays.

Although both lived in San Jose and had similar circles of friends, neither had the time to date until their two closest friends suggested the Internet.

"I don't hang out at bars," Sheree Chapela says.

"And I don't like nightclubs," Chris Chapela says. "So where are we supposed to meet people?"

Wendy Shipley, a close friend of Sheree Chapela, had used the Internet for dating and had coworkers who had married people they met online.

It took a little coaxing to get Chapela to finally give it a try.

"She kept laughing at me," Shipley says. "But I kept telling her, when you're ready, we'll do your profile. So one night, we drank wine and told the story of Sheree."

Once considered something for the adventurous few, online dating has become big business and has gone mainstream. There are a variety of websites that pitch online dating, such as eharmony.com and match.com, two of the more popular addresses. But type in anything to do with dating, and a slew of websites pops up.

For the Chapelas, however, matchmaker.com was their cupid.

The boy's side

Just as Sheree Chapela had Shipley to gently steer her into the online dating arena, Chris Chapela was spurred on by his close friend and fellow professional pastry chef Eric Keppler.

Keppler thought he knew Chapela better than anyone after working closely together for six years.

"He's a very complicated person for normal dating, so I told him to go on matchmaker.com," Keppler says.

Keppler explains that chefs work odd hours, weekends and holidays.

"And that demands a level of flexibility in the people we date," Keppler says. "Most people think it's OK in the beginning but quickly get put off by it."

When Keppler made the suggestion to his friend, he fully expected to hear from Chapela for help on his profile.

"Chris isn't really good with the computer, so I was surprised on the weekend when he came in and told me he had put his profile up," Keppler says.

He got some strange responses in the beginning.

Women replied who were excited about him being a pastry chef, but they wanted the sweets.

Chapela is a homebody who takes care of his house and antique car, Keppler says.

"He loves museums, theater and art but also likes going out and doing things," he adds. "He can go from hiking to an opera in the same day."

After Chapela's initial experience, Keppler helped him rewrite his profile so it was not specific. That helped filter the responses; not long after he found Sheree.

"I just thought she was down to earth," Chris Chapela says. "In her picture, she was hiking and looked real. She traveled and was well rounded."

After a few emails, Sheree quickly figured out that Chris was the guy, Shipley says.

"I was looking for someone that was mature but still knew how to play," Sheree Chapela says.

The two emailed back and forth for two weeks, corresponding between midnight and 3 a.m. After the second week, they decided to talk on the phone.

"The first time he called me, I missed the call, and he left me a message," Sheree Chapela says. "My daughter heard his voice and said she liked his accent."

Chris Chapela is originally from Brooklyn, N.Y. His sharp New York wit was something that attracted Sheree Chapela from the beginning, she says.

Chris Chapela says he was just as excited to hear her voice.

"You could tell a lot from a person by their voice," Keppler says.

"During one of our conversations, we talked so long that my phone battery almost died," Sheree Chapela says.

Things were going so well on the phone that the two were anxious to meet, the Willow Glen couple says.

But first Chapela went to Keppler for advice. His close friend had a few basic rules.

"I told him that he should set up something casual, maybe coffee, something that wasn't much of a commitment and could last as little as 20 minutes," Keppler says. "Also, it had to be in a public place, just in case the person he was meeting turned out to be a psycho."

Shipley had similar rules.

"We had a conversation about safety and giving me a call after a period of time in case she needed an escape route," Shipley says.

But Sheree Chapela never needed a way out.

Their first date began at a familiar location for the Willow Glen couple, Peet's Coffee and Tea on Lincoln Avenue.

"Coffee turned into a dinner at a Mexican restaurant," Sheree Chapela says.

After that initial date, the two continued talking on the phone and emailing but also made date plans.

"We went to Villa Montalvo, hiking, kayaking," Sheree Chapela says. "We also watched movies and went out to restaurants."

The two dated for a year before Chris Chapela went down on one knee during a bed and breakfast weekend trip.

"When you are 20, you're afraid of everything," Sheree Chapela says. "But at our age, you just know."

Chris Chapela says he knew she was the one when early in the relationship, he came to pick her up in his antique truck.

"I opened the door for her, and as I rounded the front of the truck to my side, she leaned over and pulled the door lock open for me," he says.

The commitment to each other stretched into their business lives as well.

In June 2003, the couple bought Le Patisserie, a bakery in Cupertino that had been in business for 20 years.

"As a chef, having your own place is the ultimate dream," Sheree Chapela says. "We both worked for other people, so we thought if we worked for ourselves, we could have more free time.

"Originally, the plan was that I was going to stay at my job and Chris would run the bakery, but it was obvious from the beginning that he wouldn't be able to do it all himself," she says.

So the couple found themselves in the same dream.

"He is an absolute artisan," Shipley says. "The vision that he has is amazing. And Sheree has the most amazing knack for knowing what people want. They just really set each other off."

Now the two were growing a new relationship and business simultaneously.

"It was the hardest thing I've ever done," Chris Chapela says. "And to throw Sheree into it from the get-go was hard. Everything is on the line; you have to succeed."

"I don't think either one of us would have made it without each other," his wife adds.

But through the entire process, which began almost three years ago, the two have worked side by side.

"He's a transplanted New Yorker, a smart man," Shipley says. "And although there are those crazy days, they are still two little peas in a pod."

With the business barely three months old, the couple took a break and got married in September 2003 on the Queen Mary, a former luxury cruise liner docked at Long Beach harbor. The ship has been converted into a hotel and tourist attraction.

The bride and groom did everything themselves to prepare for the wedding, from the pastries and handmade photo albums to the travel folder invitations.

They stayed in the Eisenhower suite and loved every minute of it.

"I've never meet Prince Charming, but Sheree did," Shipley says.