Love: Weddings: Farwa Naqvi and Shaan Hamid

She first saw him across the room at a family friend's wedding, dancing awkwardly.

"Who is that?" Farwa asked her sister Fatima.

"That's the guy Mom's been trying to set you up with," her sister said.

Fatima recognized Shaan from a photo shared with their mom, Kishwar, by Kishwar's friend Naheeda, who is Shaan's aunt. The women hoped the wonderful yet perpetually single young people in their lives might make a good pair. And that right there was why Farwa had refused to know the man's name or even look at his picture.

"I was, like, completely uninterested," she said. "Any guy my mom picked was going to be lame and super-religious - just not my thing."

Shaan, who grew up in Philadelphia's Parkwood neighborhood, knew nothing of the matchmaking plot, nor did he realize he had caught the eye of a friend of his cousin's at her May 2015 wedding.

Life was busy. Spring turned into summer, and in July, Farwa's mom insisted she attend Ramadan services at their mosque, Masjid-e-Ali in Somerset, N.J. Resignation turned to awkward delight when Shaan walked past.

"You can give him my number," Farwa told Shaan's cousin, the May bride, who is also named Fatima.

Cousin Fatima pulled Shaan aside, pointed out Farwa, and handed him Farwa's business card. A client relationship manager for McKesson Revenue Management Solutions, Farwa holds a political science degree from Montclair State University.

"Once I was told about Farwa, I felt super-nervous and awkward," Shaan said. But he was drawn to her.

All those feelings were mutual; the two avoided eye contact all day.

The next day, Shaan sent a text. After texting and talking for two weeks, Shaan blurted, "Let's have coffee." Farwa lived in Metuchen, N.J. That Friday night, Shaan, a project management consultant who holds an accounting degree from Temple, drove north from his Princeton office for what was to be a 20-minute cup of coffee at the Coffee House in Edison.

"We didn't leave for 41/2 hours," said Shaan, now 31. They talked about travel, food, and Philadelphia versus New York, Farwa, now 30, said. Mostly, they marveled about how great it felt and how easy it was.

After a parking lot hug, they talked another 45 minutes before parting.

The next day, they met again for Italian, and every Friday night from then on, Shaan drove north to the Naqvi house.

Even before their marathon cup of coffee, Shaan sensed Farwa could be the one. About 10 years ago, before his dad, Zafar, died, he told Shaan, "You'll know as soon as you start talking to a girl whether you'll marry her."

"As soon as I spoke to her, I was like, 'Uh-oh,' " Shaan said.

Farwa's feelings also grew quickly, solidifying that fall when her dad, Nisar, was in the hospital and her mom was stuck at home with a dislocated knee. "All of my sisters and I were in the hospital for hours on end, and Shaan would come over to our house and hang out with my mom. I had never seen anybody in my life do something like that. That's when I realized I really wanted to marry him."

In their families' shared Pakistani culture, there is no private popping of the question between the couple, but a meeting of the families, called a rishta, where plans are made and details worked out together.

Though Shaan and Farwa had decided to marry by October, they asked their families to meet for a rishta at the home of Shaan's mom, Qaisar, in January. "The conversation was first about having a large engagement party for 200 people in April, but Shaan and I looked at each other and decided we did not need to do that," Farwa remembered.

Over a big, celebratory dinner, their parents agreed with the couple to plan just one big, multiday wedding.

Both families' elders were thrilled the match they hoped for was happening. And the couple had to laugh that despite their modern ways, each had managed to fall in love with a person their families had chosen.

On April 21, 70 people gathered at the same mosque where Shaan got Farwa's business card, for the traditional Islamic ceremony, the nikkah.

The bride was escorted by her sisters and her brother, Akhter. Shaan and Farwa were covered with a sheer red veil with gold fringe. His mom and her sister held up a mirror, and in its reflection, the couple saw each other for the first time that day. Shaan traced a verse from the Koran on Farwa's forehead.

The veil was a gift from Shaan's sister Saba, who with sister Hena assisted with planning. The traditional ceremonial clothing the couple wore was purchased by the bride's mom on a special trip to Pakistan.

After the ceremony, everyone lunched at Mediterranean restaurant LeVant.

Celebrations continued in a big, big way during the April 22 mehndi gathering at Deewan Banquet Hall. It was a day for lots of food, lots of dancing, and elaborate henna designs. The couple and their 200 guests danced all night - except when they sang.

"We had a sing-off between our families, the groom's side and the bride's side," Farwa said. "Whoever sings the loudest wins, and my side won."

There was yet another celebration to go. On April 24, a reception for 400 featuring speeches, dancing, dinner, and cake-cutting at Royal Albert's Palace.

At the beginning of the nikkah, Farwa tried to keep her eyes down - she wasn't supposed to look at the groom until they were under the veil, and she did not want to see all the eyes staring at her - she was already nervous. "But then I was looking at him for the first time, through the mirror. And we were officially married. Everything just stood still as I looked at my husband."

The April 24 reception was supposed to include a first dance for just the couple. They had prepared with lessons. But Farwa's nerves struck again and she couldn't dance with everyone watching. The DJ had a solution: He called it a couples dance and many others joined them on the floor as Elvis sang "Can't Help Falling in Love," Shaan said. "But while the pictures will probably say otherwise, to me, it felt like everybody else just backed away, and it was just me and her, doing the twirls and all our steps perfectly."

A bargain: The bride's sister Kanwal is an event planner. Her assistance made it possible to plan the big wedding in just a few months, and many of the vendors, who have worked with her for years, gave the couple a special price.

The splurge: Farwa proudly describes herself as a bargain bride, and she was determined not to splurge. That didn't keep her from falling for a pair of red satin Manolo Blahniks. She was going to walk away from them when sister Kanwal splurged for her.

The couple, who live in Parkwood, took a weekend trip to Miami after the wedding, followed by a late spring week in St. Thomas.

Officiant: Maulana Rizwan Rizvi of Masjid-e-Ali, Somerset, N.J.

Post-ceremony lunch: LeVant; Edison, N.J.

Menhdi: Deewan Banquet Hall; Piscataway, N.J.

Reception: Royal Albert's Palace; Edison

Photography: Memories Studio, Iselin, N.J.

Flowers: Nobility Events, Piscataway.

Bride's attire: Traditional lengha purchased in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Music: Raaz Entertainment, Piscataway.

Planner: Kanwal Ali of Nobility Events.

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