Proof that the second time around can be just as sweet, Reverend Joseph “Rev” Run and Justine Simmons first met as teens as a roller skating rink in New York. They courted by phone, eventually lost touch, but reunited after Rev Run’s divorce in 1994. “My motto is ‘happy wife, happy life,’” says the rap pioneer who penned the bestselling book, Take Back Your Family. Their hit reality show Run’s House, which features all six of their children (Justine is a stepmom to the eldest three), even covered the difficult loss of their daughter Victoria, who died at birth in 2007. The Simmons’ bounced back with the adoption of baby Miley and provide inspiration for couples with their humorous bedtime chats and solid union. “We both understood that the wedding was for only one day,” says Justine, who sells her Brown Sugar Jewelry on HSN. “Our marriage was going to be for a lifetime.”

The Crazy in Love duo is hitting the seven-year milestone in 2009. Yes, they’ve been together since 2002 but have barely discussed their union. Beyonce has attributed their silence as a reason for the relationship’s longevity. Of course, them keeping stum about their pairing (something of an opposites attract scenario, or Beauty and the Beast tale as some envious male B fans would have it) has made us all the more interested. The two apparently met on the French Riviera in 2002 and between then and a couple of collabs (including Bonnie and Clyde), romance blossomed in private. Last year, the two became Mr. and Mrs. Carter during a hush-hush but celeb-packed nuptials in New York. No sign of offspring yet but for now the power couple is making Benjamins in abundance – Forbes mag named them Hollywood’s highest earning power couple in 2008.

The reigning couple of country, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, met on tour back in 1996, when the blonde bombshell was an opening act. He proposed right before a performance, but didn’t have time to hear her response, so Hill wrote it on a mirror. Thirteen years (and three kids) later, the Nashville couple makes it work thanks to rules like never spending more than three consecutive days apart. In 2007, while the couple was performing together in Texas, a female fan famously groped McGraw’s crotch. Hill confronted her publicly, stating, “Someone needs to teach you some class, my friend. You don’t go grabbing someone else’s husband’s private parts!” McGraw told Time the secret of his successful marriage: “I live in a house with four women. Just shut up and say, ‘Yes ma’am.’” Hill adds, “You can’t sit back. My husband and I have made the choice that our marriage is the most important thing to us.”

Married for 28 years (practically a lifetime in Hollywood), the former Tonight Show host gave his wife serious props on his last show. “I’m proud to be leaving this dance with the same girl I came in with,” said the comedian about Mavis, a voracious reader who has championed the plight of women in Afghanistan and works tirelessly with the Feminist Majority Foundation. They met at the Comedy Store in 1976 and the chemistry was instantaneous. “I realized all this time I’d been sailing, he was the destination,” Mavis has said. They have cats and cars instead of kids and are perfectly happy with that. Jay told the L.A. Times, “I spent half of my life trying not to disappoint my mother and the other half trying not to disappoint my wife. You need to be able to look in the mirror.”

Simon Doonan and Jonathan Adler are so individually fabulous. First, let’s start with Adler, who is a New Jersey-born potter-turned-interiors mogul. The purveyor of “happy chic” home stuff through his stores, Adler created the rustic, eclectic and anti-minimalism insides of the Parker Palm Springs hotel, where we’d vacation forever if we could. Then, there’s Doonan. As scribes who’ve penned a fashion article or thousand in our time, we have a soft spot for the pixie-like creative director of Barneys New York. In a business full of characters, Doonan stands out – and it’s not just because of his loud Liberty shirts and other way-out-there get-ups. His parched-dry wit (on Kate Moss: “a working class slag from a crap town, like me”) is tempered by his mellifluous British accent in person. On the page for his New York Observer columns and in his various tomes, Doonan is both erudite and bloody hilarious. The two met on a blind date, married in San Francisco and now live in “palatial gay fantasia” in New York’s Greenwich Village. In this New Yorker ‘Talk of the Town’ piece, which appeared as the TV adaption of Doonan’s memoir Nasty: My Family and Other Glamorous Varmints debuted in the U.S., we got a look inside the doors of casa Adler-Doonan. The paisley ping-pong table (amongst the other fantastical design details like garden gnomes in the foyer) confirmed our suspicions that these are two really are a match made in gay heaven.

We usually applaud couples who’ve chalked up serious time as a duo in this feature but we couldn’t resist celebrating the blossoming young love of Freida Pinto and Dev Patel. Although the couple has been super coy about their attachment, Pinto (and Patel’s mother apparently) has finally confirmed that they are indeed love birds. No surprise there though since their on-screen chemistry in Slumdog Millionaire was palpable and adorable. Even the hush-hush about their relationship is kinda sweet in our age of publicity relationships. And which other 19-year-old-boy would be able to keep quiet about dating a goddess like Pinto? That brings us to another little fact: Pinto is 24, which makes her a young little cougar. So far, so charming and we’re hoping that this youthful affair will grow and last. As they notch up serious Hollywood credits (she’s working on Julian Schnabel and Woody Allen films; he’s on a M. Night Shyamalan project), they’ll be quite the cute power couple.

Last month, Orange County, California residents Chloe and Matthew were supposed to walk down the aisle. Instead, the wedding was postponed because they are engaged in the battle of a lifetime. Matthew was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in 2007, endured 16 months of chemotherapy, overcoming one complication after another and ultimately reached remission. But six months later, Matthew relapsed and he is now in desperate need of a bone marrow or stem cell transplant to save his life.

But by his side, always, is Chloe. Whether talking about the Jon and Kate drama, who gets traded from the Lakers next season or sharing their love of food, these two overachievers (he’s a UCLA grad and distance cyclist who was attending pharmacy school at the time of diagnosis; she’s a talented lawyer) simply love being together. “I love his tenacious spirit, his unrelentless kindness and ability to make me laugh until I cry, the way he loves his family — and me — unconditionally, the way he plays and connects with every kid as if they were his own, his sharp wit and intelligence and much more,” says Chloe. “He is the best thing that has happened to me and I am forever lucky to have met him, to love him and to be his wife in sickness and in health.” 

From now through June 22, you can join the Be the Match Registry for free, and possibly save a life.  The effort hopes to bring 46,000 people to the registry in just two weeks. One of them could be the person who will save Matthew’s life.

We debated about believing in Ben Harper and Laura Dern for a while. Sure, we think he’s hottest rocker ever and that her credits (Jurassic Park, Ellen and further back, Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose) are cool but we weren’t sure about the musical chairs that preceded this coupling. Before Harper, Dern was dating Billy Bob Thornton, who (in)famously left her for Angelina Jolie, who would go on to crack another union. But according to the tabloid grapevine, Dern herself began dating Billy Bob while he was still married to someone else. Ben Harper was also married (though apparently separated) when he  hooked up with Dern. Leaving this complex trail of Who Stole/Left Who aside, we do think that since they got together in 2000, the couple has truly been together. In addition to work and two cute kids, the two find time for activism on a range of issues (Tibet, healthy children and Obama). We also love that they represent the fusion of two different arts dynasties. Dern is the offspring of actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd while Harper comes from a family of musicians (his grandparents run The Folk Music Center and Museum in California and the young Harper grew up playing the blues of Robert Johnson and others). With this talent gene pool, we look forward to seeing what the Harper-Dern kids do when they grow up.

Introduced by mutual friends in 1993, Elton John and David Furnish fell in love, and quickly became the most conspicuous gay couple in the world. In 1997, Furnish directed his beloved in the warts-and-all documentary Tantrums & Tiaras and he continues to produce films, while John performs around the world and has raised an astonishing $150 million for AIDS research through the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The duo wed in 2005, on the first day that civil partnerships were granted in England, and they continue to speak out about the gay marriage debate. “Meeting David has been the greatest thing to happen to me,” says Sir Elton, who credits his husband with helping him beat his addictions. “We make it work.”

Sting and Trudie met when they were next-door neighbors in West London way back when The Police were still together and Trudie was an actress. The start was a bit inauspicious (Sting was married to someone else at the time) but since then the couple has established themselves as solid all-round media (her producer credits include Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; Sting’s career requires no introduction) players while also building a solid union, which includes six kids (two from Sting’s previous marriage). While they have gone about conquering the world with their various projects, they’ve also attempted to save it (rain forests are their top cause). Despite the full plates, these two yogis seem to keep their marriage fresh. Perhaps it has something to do with all that tantric sex practice they’re always banging on about.