Their love story began the way the best ones do, they say: with a 13-year-old Greg snatching Laura's pencil at a youth group Christmas party and setting it alight in a candle with a group of friends.
"What can we say: when it's meant to be, it's meant to be," the couple said.
They started dating two years later, at 15 — and promptly got a challenge that would define them. "Our youth pastor told us, in front of that same youth group, that we wouldn't last two weeks," they recalled, "and there's nothing like telling two quietly revolutionary teenagers they can't do something to really make 'em commit."
Today, Laura Vidal Leib and Greg Leib are still together, raising a high school senior in Santa Monica and now competing on a national stage. The pair have advanced to the quarterfinals of "America's Favorite Couple," a competition hosted by Colossal, with a $20,000 prize and a feature in Variety on the line. Voting for this round opens Monday, Aug. 17, at 10 a.m. PDT and closes Thursday, Aug. 27, at 7 p.m. PDT.
For the couple, the contest is the latest chapter in a story that began in a fundamentalist evangelical church, where the two met at youth group services and, against the odds, decided to build a life together.
"We became very different people than we were at 15," Greg said. "We grew up together and had the flexibility to change as we became adults. We love to spend time together and were careful to keep that as we went through life transitions."
That intentionality meant practical choices to stay close, including attending colleges near one another. "Staying available and prioritizing time together was really important in those early years, and continues to be," Greg said.
Laura described their longevity as a decision renewed again and again. "We chose each other," she said. "It's neat to look back. We're different and the same, all at once."
The couple point to the 2011 Pride Parade in New York City as a favorite shared memory. Marriage had just been legalized, and the family rode a float down Fifth Avenue with affirming Christians and queer people of faith, with Laura wearing their infant son in a carrier. "We smiled, cried, and celebrated together with the crowd while 'Chapel of Love' played over the speaker," they said. "As a neurodivergent family, big sensory moments can sometimes be overwhelming, but this was simply effervescent joy and a cherished piece of history we got to share as a young family."
Their son, Gavin, is now a high school senior — and the same age his parents were when they met, a coincidence that has prompted reflection. "I look at our son, Gavin, and see a young man who is going to get to experience life through a totally different lens than his Dad or I," Laura said. Unlike his parents, Gavin does not share their church upbringing. "We're hopeful that Gavin will find his own unique path as he goes out into the world, just as we found ours, and each other," Laura said.
The couple's path to the competition began casually. "I forget where I originally saw the America's Favorite Couple competition advertised, but I decided to enter us on a whim," Laura said. Placed first in their group on the strength of daily votes from family and friends, they advanced to the quarterfinals. "We are usually not 'contest' people and this is out of our comfort zone, but in a way that's turned out to be pretty fun," Laura said.
Should they win, the couple have modest, practical plans for the $20,000: home projects, a dent in the mortgage and a celebratory weekend getaway with their two dogs in tow. "With our son now a high school senior, these family moments are fleeting," they said.
The campaign also raises money for two nonprofits, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and Oceana, chosen by the event's nonprofit partner, the Action Initiative Team. Greg cited Santa Monica's ties to the coast in explaining Oceana's appeal and called food insecurity, which affects 1 in 4 people in Los Angeles County, equally pressing. "We're grateful for the work the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank does to ensure that people in our communities are fed," he said.
A Variety feature would be a surreal capstone, Laura said. "Having this platform allows us to bring a positive and upbeat story to the place we call home while rallying support for charities that have a direct impact on our community."
Voting is open through Aug. 27 at the couple's profile at americasfavcouple.org/2026/laura-and-greg.