Newlywed Buzz Aldrin Says Wife Anca Faur Is the 'Wizard of Oz Package': 'Brains, Heart, Courage'

Faur tells PEOPLE that she and the astronaut quickly connected "at a soulmate level" soon after they started dating in 2018

Buzz Aldrin is opening up about newlywed life with Dr. Anca Faur!

The 93-year-old astronaut who walked on the moon with Neil Armstrong during their 1969 Apollo 11 mission, married his long time love Dr. Anca Faur, 63, in a private ceremony held on his birthday, Jan. 20.

Aldrin couldn't stop thinking about Faur after the pair crossed paths at a December 2017 work event on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells.

"When I met Anca I instantly recognized that here was a woman who is the whole Wizard of Oz package: Brains. Heart. Courage," he says. There is something special about her and the way we connect so well."

Related:Buzz Aldrin Gets Married to Anca Faur on His 93rd Birthday: We're 'as Excited as Eloping Teens'

The couple started spending more time together in Los Angeles in early 2018.

"When you connect at a soulmate level, you naturally talk about marriage," explains Faur.
We spoke quite a few times about it, starting the summer of 2018, not long after we started dating in early May 2018."

But Aldrin jokes that he still had to woo Faur before she agreed to say "I do".

"She has a bit of a stubborn streak, so it then took me several years until she agreed to be my bride, my best beloved," he says. "But I'm even stubborner than she is. I won!"

Adds Faur: "We both felt deep in our hearts all these years that marrying each other felt right," Faur said. "That said, we were having such a wonderful courtship we felt no need to rush things."

Related: All the Celebrity Weddings of 2023

Aldrin came up with the idea to have their wedding on his 93rd birthday, which also happened to be the day he was honored at the Living Legends of Aviation 20th Annual Awards gala. "It was what
astronomers call a grand conjunction,' adds Aldrin. "All the stars were now aligned to marry."

With "very little time" to prepare for the ceremony, the couple got to work gathering all their family and friends. Aldrin's daughter Jan, son Andy, grandson Jeffrey and his great grandkids were in attendance along with her son, Vlad Ghenciu and her granddaughters Kaia and McCali.

Aldrin's oldest and dearest friends, Richie Annenberg, Don Camp, Robert Charles and Ralph Benko served as the groomsmen during their civil ceremony. The couple married in a small park close to where they live.

"It was a beautiful day. We had decided on a private ceremony, as suitably intimate, just us and the stars in the sky," says Aldrin.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Afterwards, they attended the awards gala at the Beverly Hilton where Aldrin made his opening speech, which roused a standing ovation, before heading off to dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel with their closest family and friends.

The couple's cake was designed by Faur to celebrate both his milestone birthday and their wedding with two converging spirals "one for my birthday and one for our wedding --- joined in two golden hearts," he says.

For Aldrin, the whole event will "be held dear in our hearts for the rest of our lives," he says adding, "I am just the luckiest man in this, or any other, world."

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.