Friends playing Cupid will always sound like music to our ears. Today, Mariam and Selasi have us doing our happy dance as we enjoy their pre-wedding photos and love story.

Unknown to Mariam and Selasi at the time, their mutual friend set them up. What was meant to be a birthday/farewell dinner became a whirlwind of romance. Today, they are off to forever land and we can’t hold back our excitement for them. Mariam and Selasi’s photos have us blushing so hard.

Enjoy their love story and pre-wedding shoot below.

Their love story as shared by Mariam:

We were introduced through a mutual friend. My birthday is a big deal to me, you can forget anything else but that. And she forgot! So, to make it up to me, she said she would take me to dinner in Leeds. A few days to our dinner date, she asked if she could also invite a friend named Selasi who she hadn’t seen in a while and he was moving back to London. Unknown to either of us she was matchmaking.

I remember she kept on telling me ‘he’s so tall’ and I was like what’s that have to do with dinner. We went to a Mexican restaurant (which we try to visit around same time yearly). He showed up and I was like, “well he’s not that tall”. 😂 Note, I’m 5’4 and he’s a 6’5 hunk of a man. But I had sworn off the male species for the foreseeable future or whatever. Dinner was really nice and the 3 of us had lots of random conversations. What struck me was his level of intelligence and humility.

He wasn’t trying to show off his brains but they shone through. He walked us to the train station and we agreed to have a night out before he left in Leeds. But closer to time I asked my friend if we could go out in Huddersfield instead. She asked him and he was cool about coming. He turned up late that day though and we had other friends we were going out with . We all had to wait for this young man to show up. 😏 But he bought us pizza, so, all good! haha.

It was a lovely night. We found out we liked similar type of music and I walked him back to the train station before going home. And then he said, “I know I leave the North tomorrow but I will really like to stay in touch”, and I said “I’ll like that”. We started chatting the Monday after the night and there hasn’t been a day when we haven’t spoken since then.

Here’s Selasi’s side of the story:

After spending 9 years in Leeds working my way up from undergrad all the way to PhD, I had finally decided to close my chapter in the North and return back to my home in London. I told a friend of mine that I had gotten a job down south and would be moving soon, and she insisted that we must have dinner to celebrate my new beginnings. She had a request, however, that she would like to bring her friend along because her birthday had just passed and she completely forgot, so wanted to kill two celebratory birds with one stone. I said sure, the more the merrier. Leading up to the dinner, I was beginning to grow intrigued with who this mystery guest was.

So I did what any millennial would do: recon on Facebook. My search proved fruitless, so I ended up going in to the dinner not knowing who to expect. On 30th January 2018, I waited at Leeds train station for my two guests to arrive from Huddersfield for an evening of Mexican delicacies and mixed alcoholic beverages. Alongside my friend I saw a pretty and petite caramel complexioned woman, dressed in a complementary red top with black jeans. I found out her name was Mariam. On first impression I thought “this girl’s not bad you know, but it could just be that she’s a wizard with a make-up brush”. Nevertheless we went to our dining destination and hit it off.

The conversation just flowed so naturally and we played off each other so well with our matching wit and sense of humour. We hit it off so well that we decided we should meet up again for a night out before I left the North. When I got home I got a message asking what I thought about Mariam. It was only then that I realised I had been set up on a blind date. I said I thought she was cool, and apparently she felt the same.

A few weeks later, we met in Huddersfield, went out and had a great time. We got back to our mutual friend’s place where I chilled with them until my train arrived. When I saw her without make-up I thought “okay she’s actually peng”. Mariam walked me to the train station, and then I took my chance and said “I know I’m leaving Leeds soon, but could I get your number and maybe we could keep in touch?” And she replied “I’d like that.” We’ve spoken everyday since.

Credits

Photography: @hon_teezee
Planner: @april5thevents
Makeup: @dolledby_dammy