WEDDING GUIDE
Chih Lin (l) and Mike Dorsey
TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK Chih Lin and Mike Dorsey launched their business shortly after getting married. By JENNY BLOCK In 2019, mechanical engineer Chih Lin and chemical engineer Mike Dorsey did what most people only dream of—they quit their day jobs after just 15 years and followed their true passion. The duo founded a dumpling business that they aptly named Dumpling Dudez. The 40-year-old husbands are both Geminis born in the Year of the Monkey, and their common interests and entrepreneurial spirit make them a match made in heaven. Lin is from Taipei, Taiwan, and Dorsey is a Houston native, and the pair now lives in Houston in EaDo after having met online 13 years ago. “To put it in perspective, we were chatting on Gay.com and AIM, which was the Tesla of 90
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our time,” Mike recalls. They messaged for four or five months before they finally met at a coffee house in Austin called Mozart’s Coffee Roasters. “It was a short meeting, just to make sure that we were who we had said we were.” They were off to the races after that meeting, and Chih proposed to Mike on January 5, 2017. Chih had been scheming to propose to Mike at that same Austin coffee shop, but things got off to a rocky start. “I didn’t want to get coffee that day,” Mike says. “We were in Austin visiting friends.” Mike just wanted to get on with his friends, but he finally agreed to grab a cup. “I got my coffee and walked down by the water and waited for everyone to get there. I turn around to walk back up, and there he is down on one knee. I was so stunned that
he proposed that I don’t remember what all he said. I said, ‘Of course, yes! Oh my God. Yes!’” Although they didn’t realize it until a Facebook Memory reminded them, their January 5 wedding date was actually the same as their proposal date. Their 2019 wedding was purposely limited to nine guests so they would have the funding to start Dumpling Dudez later that year. All of their friends chipped in to rent a house in Austin, and they also brought a few covered dishes for the reception. “The wedding was small, but it was full of love and memorable stories,” Mike recalls. Their best friend officiated the wedding, and their goddaughter was the flower girl. “Our dog, Connor, even wore a bow tie for the occasion,” Chih says.
