How We Met:
Noel and Lea met at a very young age when they were children but only became friends around 17 years old. Lea claims that Noel added her randomly on social media years before they were formally introduced but looking back, she has no regrets about accepting the request from that “one random boy” that was very persistent about being Facebook friends. Although their families knew of one another and ran into eachother at events throughout the years, Noel and Lea were “formally introduced” by a good mutual friend. During that time, Noel and Lea became good friends and started talking every single day.
Eventually, Lea moved to Austin, TX for college, and Noel decided to stay local for school. Despite the 260 or so miles between them, both would consistently update the other on how their day was, what they had for lunch, and all the other conversation topics in between. Over that first year, Lea didn’t really think of Noel as anything “more than a friend” and had zero knowledge of the fact that Noel actually liked her. The summer after her first year, Lea and Noel met up for a dinner one night to casually hang out. Lea showed up in her running shorts and tank while Noel was dressed in his (favorite) Express Men’s shirt and jeans. Looking back now, it’s crazy how clueless Lea was this entire time but this dinner helped her realize that Noel was a great guy and that both should take the chance on this thing! After dinner, both could not stop thinking about the other. Days turned into weeks, and Lea was headed back to Austin for her sophomore year. After months of “will he, won’t he,” Noel finally had the courage to ask Lea out on a date and they begin dating in 2015.
Throughout the next 8 years, despite having a long-distance relationship due to work or school, both Noel and Lea made it work and the rest is history. In those years, Noel and Lea continued to pursue each other despite the amount of physical distance between them, and after 8 long years, they decided to tie the knot. Looking back, it’s wild to think about how long they had to wait for things to “come together” but you know what they say: 8 is fate.
The Proposal:
Lea started graduate school in Fall of 2022 and moved to Miami so the only times she could see Noel was from the short breaks she got throughout the school year and the surprise visits from him. Since she was in school (and 5 states away), it was difficult for them to find dates where they could both meet with wedding vendors and tour wedding venues. During Lea’s Spring Break, she made her way to Dallas for the week and had scheduled multiple meetings with their wedding planner, Christina. On her last Saturday of the break, Lea and Noel were scheduled to visit one final wedding venue for which Noel had made plans to pick her up. Little did she know, Christina and Noel had planned this smokescreen to prevent her from finding out about her own proposal! Noel had planned for Lea’s 2 best friends and sister to help her get ready and drove her to the proposal site. Noel had been nervous all day and couldn’t sleep at all the night before. Although the proposal was set up to be outside, it was a crazy windy day in Dallas and the whole thing was moved to the inside last minute.
Eventually, everything worked out and Noel proposed to Lea with all of their closest family and friends in the other room who surprised her at the end. The proposal was so sweet, and had the most perfect skyline in the background – of the city where they became friends, fell in love, and in 11 short months, would say their vows to one another.
