A coffee that ran long
Three years, one very hungry morning in Miami, and a question that could not wait for the perfect moment.
How we met
We matched on a dating app in late June 2023 and agreed to meet for coffee. The coffee was good. The conversation was the point: we sat there for hours and neither of us wanted to be the first to leave.
Days later, Zeinab flew to Lebanon to visit family. Chris still likes to say the first date went so badly that she left the country.
What actually happened was a lot of texting across an eight-hour time difference, and by the time she came home there were already more dates on the calendar. Trips followed, and we grew close quickly.
Miami
In late February 2026, Chris carried the ring in his pocket for an entire trip to Miami. He had done his research: Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, a morning visit before lunch, and one particular spot he had picked out online. The night before, Zeinab tried to swap the garden for somewhere else. He talked her out of it.
We wandered the grounds while he worked up his courage. We reached the spot, and he was so nervous that we walked straight past it. It took a full loop of the garden to circle back, sit down, and wait for the crowd to thin out.
As the other visitors drifted away and he was still working up his courage, Zeinab announced that she was hungry and it was time to go. He asked for five or ten more minutes. She was not interested in five or ten more minutes. She was a hungry woman and so we left.
That evening, on the couch of our rental with the TV on, it landed: there was no reason to wait for a new perfect moment. Every ordinary day together already was one. So he asked, right there. She said yes.
Why Malta
Malta was our first trip abroad together: a visit to Zeinab’s family there, then on to Italy. We loved the island, and we love traveling, so it felt right to share both with the people we care about. Come for the wedding; stay for the trip.
What’s next
Now we are bringing the people we love most to a small city on a small island, for a short ceremony and a long dinner. Think of it as a coffee that runs long, this time with everyone we love.
De Redin Bastion, Mdina