Shakeel and Krista met at a holiday party in December 2022 that both of them almost didn't attend. They went on their first date the next day (despite Shakeel's attempt to get Krista to go to a City Council meeting instead) and basically spent every day of the next two weeks together while pretending it was just a fling. Thankfully, Shakeel visited Krista in New York a couple of months later and they accepted they were dating. After almost two years of long distance, Krista moved back to Longmont in October 2024, and they got engaged in July 2025.