Diana Ibarra & Vu Francois

…at J. Gilligan’s in Arlington, Texas, on a college karaoke night.

Diana was still in college, and Vu had recently come back to Dallas after leaving his engineering job and figuring out what came next. Neither of us knew that a random night out would turn into the beginning of the next decade of our lives.

Our story was more of a slow burn than love at first sight. We became close, and just as things started getting serious, life decided to complicate things. Shortly after, Vu moved to New York for his MBA, turning our new relationship into a long-distance one.

It wasn’t always easy, but somewhere between flights, FaceTimes, visits, and a lot of figuring things out, we kept choosing each other.

In 2020, we were finally back in the same city when Vu returned to Dallas. A year later, we got engaged—and, because apparently settling down has never really been our style, we packed up and moved to Austin shortly after.

Since then, we’ve built a life that has involved three dogs, a house, countless concerts and festivals, and more than a few stamps in our passports.

Eventually, in 2025, our adventures brought us back to Dallas, where we started our next chapter together.

Ten years after that karaoke night, we’ve learned that our story has never really been about staying in one place. It’s been about going wherever life takes us—and choosing to go there together.