Our Story
Question
Our story began before either of us were aware of it....
Answer
When Arta's mom was pregnant with Arta, she reached out to Shar's Aunt Farangis to ask for suggestions on Zoroastrian names. Shar's Aunt provided a couple of suggestions, amongst which was Arta’s name. Only a year after Arta was born is when Arta's brother Arya and Shar became childhood friends at an early age, a friendship they have maintained ever since. Shar and Arya shared a friend group growing up with whom Arta was very familiar, but the eight-year age gap was enough to keep Shar from remembering Arya had a younger sister even though Arta rolls her eyes at the suggestion that Shar could possibly forget about her. Fast forward to March 2014 at the Phoenix JW Marriott, the scene of Arya's wedding to Melody. Arta and Shar were both in the wedding party and walked down the aisle together in the ceremony. The ceremony went smoothly, but getting ready right after in the wedding party room for the grand entrance to the ballroom was another story. You see, the University of Arizona was playing the elite 8 for the first time in several years and the game had just gone into overtime. Shar was nervously watching in the room while Arta was giving him a silent death stare that he still has PTSD from to this day. Shar assured her that their entry dance would be just fine as he was a natural dancer, and Arta did her best to keep her eyes from rolling out the back of her head. And indeed it was, though U of A suffered a tragic loss.
Question
We didn't speak again until Shar moved back to Phoenix from Orange County in 2015...
Answer
However, we saw each other with regular frequency hanging out late nights at Arya’s, going hiking with Shahin and Melody, and at various parties. Whether it was at a party, wedding, or a concert, we always found each other on the dance floor. Looking back on all our photos together, we somehow managed to take photos that a married couple would take with each party’s guest of honor. Despite our obvious chemistry, we were never single at the same time. We did begin seeing each other even more frequently around 2020 as we became a part of yet another friend group through our mutual friend, Amir. In October 2023, Shar had tickets to a Foo Fighters concert and Arta surprised him when she finally accepted his invitation to something. Arta is convinced that Shar tried to hold her hand at the end of the night, though Shar has explained that he was merely innocently looking for his keys which he thought Arta had grabbed. (Something that she’s known to do.) A few months later, Shar called Arta on a random Saturday and the two of us talked for several hours. Shar asked Arta to meet for "a quick drink" a few weeks later on January 18, 2024. Arta had no idea whether she was being asked on a date, but was intrigued enough to meet Shar. One “quick drink” turned into a three-plus hour dinner that had us talking long after the staff had begun putting away chairs and closing down the restaurant. At the end of the night, Shar walked Arta to her car and hugged her goodbye, and as he turned to step away, Arta let Shar know that she was interested in him with the most common of endings to a first date… stepping towards him and delivering a firm stiff arm to his face. Ok, the stiff arm was obviously uncommon, but it oddly let Shar know how Arta felt. Thereafter, closing down restaurants became a regular occurrence. We didn’t wait too long before telling all of our long time mutual friends that we were dating. The common responses were, “it’s about time,” and “I called it.”
Question
On June 18, 2025...
Answer
... which was technically our 17-month anniversary, Shar asked Arta to meet him at the place that we had our first date for an event he was invited to through his firm. Upon showing up, Arta learned that the “firm event” was a ruse to get her there as she was greeted by Shar’s close friend, Jon Luisi who had an envelope directing her to meet Shar where they had their second date (Kasai). Upon arriving at Kasai, Arta shook her head and said aloud “Not you too,” after seeing Shar’s roommate, Rob Parsons sitting alone at the bar. Rob had a second envelope for Arta, directing her to meet Shar at the JW Marriott. Upon arriving at her last stop, Arta was guided by two of Shar’s other friends, Dan Fritcher and Zach Green to the back lawn of the hotel where 11 years earlier we had walked together in her brother’s wedding party. After years of friendship, and over a year of dating, Shar proposed and Arta said yes at this spot.