Wedding Date on Nov 11, 2018

Little did they know, but Elise and Ahmed had their eyes on each other for a long time. It wasn’t until Ahmed’s 40th birthday, when Elise was stood up by a date, and a friend invited her to Ahmed’s party, when they were formally introduced. When Elise arrived at the party, Ahmed was surprised and delighted. Except a formal introduction, they weren’t able to talk, but Ahmed found her on Instagram and sent her a message inviting her to coffee – a message Elise never received because she never updates her apps. When Ahmed didn’t hear back, he thought she ignored the message and wasn’t interested. They saw each other a few times afterward, Ahmed never mentioned his Instagram message and Elise just thought he was that super nice guy that was out of her league. Four months went by before Ahmed asked her out – in person. On a Sunday in October, Ahmed was talking about his love of snowboarding and motorcycles with a friend when Elise slyly interjected that she used to ride motorcycles back in Portland, where’s she from. Not only that, but she even used to live on a mountain as a snowboard bum for a while, but gave it up after she broke her collarbone three times. Ahmed was smitten, and convinced this was chance to ask her out again. He invited Elise to join him for a motorcycle ride the following Sunday and Elise gladly accepted. When he gave her his phone number, he snatched her phone out of her hands so he could input the number himself – to make sure that nothing was lost…or ignored. On the day of the date it was too windy for a motorcycle ride, so, Ahmed appealed to her west coast love for Mexican food by suggesting they meet up for tacos in Chelsea. From the very start, their conversation flowed. After tacos, they kept prolonging the date and ended up spending the day walking around the West Village, telling stories, and laughing. Ahmed would say that the date ended with a romantic kiss on the corner of Leroy and 7th Avenue. Elise says Ahmed was nervous, gave her an awkward bit of mouth, and then left her on the street. One date followed another. The laughs continued. The love grew. Elise didn’t have a lot of spare time. She was finishing graduate school at Columbia while working nights at a restaurant. Ahmed was relieved that he found someone with a schedule just as demanding as his. Ahmed would meet Elise at the end of her restaurant shift at midnight to walk to her home in order to spend time with her. It was simple and steady romance. Neither knew that this was what they were waiting for. Two years later, Ahmed proposed to Elise in a garden in the West Village just steps away from where their first date ended. He was nervous. She said yes. They went for tacos. While planning the wedding, they learned they were pregnant with a baby boy! Instead of postponing the wedding, they decided to invite the baby and even got him a tuxedo onesie. On the day of the wedding, they were deliriously tired from being new parents of an 8 week old. But, bolstered by all the friends and family who showed up with love and support it was a magical event, even if they were both ready for bed by eight o'clock.