Our Story
Ishani
Bride
Noah first caught my eye our freshmen year of SMU. He was the goalie for our dorm's intramural soccer team. While he was defending the goal in his hot pink sweat- bands, I was skipping around the field picking dandelions. A couple weeks later was the dorm’s Queso Night. Our eyes met from across the cheese table, and I invited him to the late night showing of Lala Land. Kayla and I dressed up in our best onesies, ten people piled into a car, and we were on our way. I was in the front seat and Noah in the trunk, but we chatted the entire ride. Noah soon infiltrated the friend group- finding his way to daily dinner at Umph, study sessions in Fondren, and star gazing on Dallas Hall Lawn. And on earth day, April 22, 2017, we went on our first date. I remember not being able to stop smiling as we held hands for the first time in the streets of downtown Dallas. Basking in each other’s laughter, we brought out our silliest sides. We ironically followed a day at the aquarium with a sushi dinner. Over dessert we talked about music and books, family and friends, childhood dreams and adult realities. We sought out similarities like plucking berries from a bush. It was like 2 rivers that meet in the sea, carving out our lives in such vastly differing terrains yet coming together all the same. Question upon questions and answers that bridged our differences, we were wholly ourselves - unedited, unabridged, untethered. And the rest was history.
Noah
Groom
I’ve always found it hard to put Ishani and I’s love story into words- it’s sweet, yet hard to tell exactly when we crossed the line from friends into something more. The best way I can describe it is like when you were a kid, rolling down a hill on a crisp fall day: exhilarating, unexpected, a little bit messy, but you can’t wait to do it all over again. If you read Ishani’s version first, you know “how” we met, so as I try to do in every aspect of life I want to complement her side with the “why”. There was something magical about the way we could talk for hours about our very different lives, interests, and habits yet always find our way back to our shared loves. Music (particularly the Beatles) became a core element of our early hangouts, late night drives, playing piano in the dorm basement while Ishani spellbound me with her writings & poems. With each passing day we uncovered new stories, and as we laughed our souls grew closer. On that first date, I felt like I won the lottery, especially when she laughed at my stupid attempt to break the tension by drinking water from a vase of rosemary springs on the table. The sparkle in her eyes, mischievous but kind, invited me to see the world from her perspective. In a period of 2 months, we went from near complete strangers to best friends. There was both a familiarity that we had known each other for a lifetime and a freshness that this budding relationship could never get stale. I still feel that way today.
Soundtrack to our love story
Ishani + Noah
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4pFHIqMiLOYYxpUckoqRiz?si=52aaeb86f0a04e5e