better late than never

“Never say never” - Famous words from Justin Bieber & also Sameer's philosophy when he clawed his way out of the friend zone back in the cold Los Angeles winter of 2012. This is a tale of a love that triumphed over the soul-crushing phrase "let's just be friends". Lauren and Sameer met in the spring of 2008 at UCLA - America's most beautiful campus. Lauren, blonde & tan, a quintessential southern California belle; Sameer a gangly rod, who could not decide if he was Mowgli from the jungle book or a San Diego surf grom (he doesn’t even surf). Lauren remembered thinking Sameer was funny - he didn't have much else going for him.. and a friendship was born. It was the summer between sophomore and junior year when their friendship truly started to blossom. Lauren, deciding to be oddly irrational, sublet a room in Sameer's fraternity while she took summer classes. She always loved animals, so the cockroaches, mice and fraternity boys were a welcome sight. Being an aspiring doctor in pre-med, Lauren had a full slate of pretty serious classes that summer, while Sameer dropped his one political science class to focus his efforts elsewhere (thanks for the book money Mom + Dad.) Despite their differing schedules, they found time to hang out and their previous good friendship started to blossom into a best friendship... for Lauren at least. Sameer, on the other hand, was head over heels. He wanted more! It wasn’t until their senior year in 2012 that Sameer mustered up the courage to declare his love. Lauren swiftly and firmly declined him. For any normal person, that would have been that. Pack it up and move on, there’s other fish in the sea! Luckily Sameer, who was anything but normal, embodied the adage “persistence pays off”. After a few weeks of Sameer’s strategic cold shoulder sprinkled in with cryptic black berry messages (BBM’s) , Lauren eventually realized that she did indeed have feelings beyond the friendly type for the mop headed fellow. It’s been a long 10.5 years since Lauren and Sameer officially decided to tango. Years filled with long distance facetime/calls, family trips to Belize or Lake Powell, endless hours of studying /work in Lauren’s case, and cold calls & hang-ups in Sameer’s. Despite the change, they’ve managed not only to sustain their initial flame but keep it burning brighter than ever.. through the purchase of their gold-chained french bulldog Bolognese. You are all a part of this story in some way and we are so excited to celebrate!