On June 8, 2016, Ahmed and Nawal had their first of many connections. Nawal was visiting the LinkedIn Toronto office, wandering around looking for a photobooth, when Ahmed offered to take her to the right place. Their interaction was brief but special. They connected on LinkedIn, messaged each other every Ramadan to stay in touch, and that was it until March 2020 when this became not any love story -- but a pandemic love story.

It was a week into the work from home mandate when all of a sudden Nawal got a message from Ahmed! He knew Nawal was living alone in NYC and checked in to make sure she was doing okay. After a few minutes of messaging back and forth, Nawal suggested "We should finally become friends! Let's Zoom!" (See, told you it was a pandemic love story). That Friday they met for the first of many Zoom catch-ups. Their special connection carried all the way through the WiFi — Nawal couldn't get over Ahmed's smile. Ahmed loved that Nawal laughed at every one of his jokes. A match made in heaven. Fridays at 10 a.m. became a standing Zoom date, which morphed into daily FaceTimes, Thanksgiving with the Fakhoury's, a Publix picnic proposal in April, getting married in front of their families in July, and now our 2021 wedding reception -- which we can't wait to experience with all of you. Hope you're ready to toss some confetti!