Wedding Date on May 11, 2019

Amir and I first met in December 2010 while we were both in dental school at UCLA. I was the social chair for my class and I was planning a school-wide event, for which everyone needed to purchase a ticket. Amir had missed the scheduled ticket sales due to being out of town for residency interviews, so he emailed me to set up a time to meet up to purchase a ticket.We decided to meet up in the library, as it was finals week. I was doing some last-minute cramming for my pediatric dentistry final when Amir appeared. Amir was 2 years ahead of me in dental school, so our paths had never crossed until this moment. I figured we would quickly make the exchange and go our separate ways, however, I was instantly captivated by Amir’s infectious personality. We were chatting and joking with each other like we had known each other for years. Right away, I knew there was something very special about him! While I should have been worried about my test, I found myself not wanting to say goodbye to him. We had each other’s phone numbers because we had to meet up for the ticket exchange, so we continued to text throughout the entire finals week. Even though I was stressed and running on fumes from lack of sleep (I had 14 final exams that week!), I couldn’t stop thinking about Amir.At the end of the week, we had our annual school holiday party to celebrate the end of the term before everyone left for winter break. Amir and I hung out during the entire party and I didn't want the evening to end!The next morning I left for my hometown of Pittsburgh, PA and Amir departed for his hometown of San Francisco, CA. During the 3 week break, we were on the phone with each other non-stop. When I got back to Los Angeles, Amir picked me up from the airport and the relationship took off!Despite the exciting beginning, our path to today has definitely not been easy! 6 months after our relationship began, Amir graduated from dental school and began his 6 year residency program for oral and maxillofacial surgery in San Francisco (which included 2.5 years of medical school in Sacramento). The next 2 years, we would fly back and forth between LA and SF to see each other. In 2013, I graduated from UCLA and moved home to Pittsburgh to start my 2 year residency program for pediatric dentistry. In case you lost track, that’s 4 total years of being long-distance!! Needless to say, it was very challenging living apart for so long and we definitely racked up a lot of frequent flyer miles!Finally, in 2015, I moved to San Francisco and we’ve been together in the Bay Area since!In May 2018, Amir and I went on a trip to Portugal and Spain with our parents. Since I’m from Pittsburgh and Amir is from the Bay Area, our parents have only met a few times, so it was a great opportunity for us to all spend some time together. At the time, we had been dating for 7.5 years, so I was hoping that Amir wouldn’t blow this prime opportunity to propose!On May 5, 2018, we were in Seville, Spain. We spent the morning exploring the breathtaking Alcazar palace with our parents. The whole time I couldn’t help but notice how romantic of a city Seville was! That afternoon, Amir told me that he wanted to have a little date with just the 2 of us. We went to the famous Plaza de España where we rode a boat on the canal. Afterwards, we walked around the plaza and ended up on one of the bridges over the canal. After sharing a lot of sweet sentiments and reminiscing on our crazy path to get to this point, Amir got down on one knee and proposed! Of course, I said yes! He also surprised me by having some local photographers capture the moment, which was priceless! Our parents, who knew this would be happening, arrived soon afterwards to celebrate at the beautiful Hotel Alfonso! Needless to say, Seville, Spain will always have a very special place in our hearts! We are both so excited to start this next chapter in our lives!We decided to hold our wedding in Katy's hometown of Pittsburgh, PA. Katy and Amir both appreciate beautiful architecture, so that definitely played a role in our venue selection. We chose historic Heinz Memorial Chapel as our ceremony location and Carnegie Music Hall Grand Foyer as the reception venue. Katy was raised Catholic and Amir is Persian and was raised Muslim. We wanted to try to incorporate both of our religious and ethnic backgrounds in our wedding. We had a separate Muslim wedding ceremony in California prior to the Pittsburgh wedding. Our Pittsburgh wedding ceremony was a Catholic mass. At the Pittsburgh wedding, we incorporated the tradition of the Persian knife dance, which is done prior to cutting the cake and played several Persian dance songs throughout the reception. We also had a cookie table, which is a Pittsburgh tradition.Our favorite moment of the wedding day and the wedding planning process was our first dance. We did a choreographed dance to Beauty and the Beast by Ariana Grande and John Legend. We took dance lessons in the months leading up to the wedding, which really forced us to take a break from our busy work schedules and spend some quality time together. Katy is proud to say that she planned the entire wedding on her own without the help of a planner. It definitely took a lot of hard work and organization, but it was a fun challenge!We are so excited to share the beautiful highlight video filmed and produced by the wonderful Dorosh Documentaries! It was a fairy-tale day and we are so glad we will have this video to relive the special moments for years and years to come!