I’m so excited to write my first ever “Wedding Wednesday” post so I figured I would kick off my wedding series with our proposal story!

Before I go into the details of that day, let me take you back to two and half years ago to San Jose, California where Bharat and I first met. We were both in San Jose for a Kannada Conference (lol I know). For those of you not familiar with what a Kannada Conference is, it’s basically a weekend long conference packed with South Indian cultural events, like dances, comedy skits and a fashion show. My family and I have been going every year for years so I’ve always enjoyed going, especially because I had made many friends over the years through it and loved meeting up with them from all over the country at the conference.

So one of the nights, my parents guilt-tripped me into going to a speed dating event, saying they paid a lot of money for it (found out later it was only $20 ) and said to go just to “make friends” (yeah right, you don’t go to speed dating to make friends lol). I end up going, and the first person I’m supposed to sit and meet it with this guy named Bharat. Well he doesn’t show up, and it ends up being a good long 15 minutes before they tell us to switch. So here I am sitting alone like a loser, thinking if this is my sign to ditch the event and go meet up my friends who were all at the hotel bar.

But I didn’t, and stuck around out of curiosity to see what these guys were like. Fast-forward to after meeting four guys, and they were not my vibe. I was disappointed in how many questions I got about if I ate meat, or wanted to have a career, etc. The guys I happened to meet were VERY traditional and had the complete opposite views of my feminist values. They didn’t even try to get to know me or find out what I liked to do, instead it was all about if I checked all of their boxes (or perhaps their parents’ boxes). Either way, I ain’t cryin about it because I wasn’t even looking for anyone to date but ended up with a happy ending anyway 😉

After a few rounds, I ditched speed dating and headed to the bar. I saw my cousin there and went up to her to replay the experience I had just had, because at this point it was a funny experience to share. Right after, Bharat walked by (ofc I noticed him bc I thought he was really handsome) and my cousin introduced me to him, whom she had just met at the bar before I arrived.

Neither Bharat nor I remember what we said to each other, but we’re assuming it was pretty surface level since nothing stands out now. I do remember playfully asking him why he ditched me on our “first date” (aka my first round of speed dating) to which he replied that his flight got delayed (excusable). After speaking for ten minutes we went our separate ways and didn’t see each other for the rest of the weekend.

We connected over Facebook (since I lived in Texas at the time and he lived in Philly) and kept in touch, which slowly escalated as time went by and we got to know each other really well. There was definitely a mutual attraction and connection between us that made us take a leap of faith and try doing the whole long distance dating thing. Well it worked, and now I am the happiest person in the world to be able to say I got so lucky to have found my best friend and soulmate to spend the rest of my life with!

So the proposal story I promise isn’t as long of a story! September 30th weekend, one of my best friends, Kaitlyn from Texas decided to come to NYC to visit me! I was so caught up in making sure her visit would be perfect and we’d have a good time, that I did not see the proposal coming at all (which was clearly designed to be that way).

Some of the hints I should’ve picked up on were how my friends had asked to get our nails done that Friday, how my parents would always dodge the question of when they would come to NYC to visit me, how my other best friends were m.i.a. in our group text and were “too” busy to hang out all of a sudden.

Niasha told me it was her friend’s birthday party, and to join them at Sixty LES in the Tiki Tabu rooftop bar around 2pm to day drink. She showed me what she was wearing, which we always do, but looking back, it was also the perfect way to make sure I wasn’t looking like a troll.

When Kaitlyn and I walked into the bar, it was empty. I figured the group had moved on to the next bar, because we were about 40 minutes late…I am never on time to anything which later I found out stressed everyone out because they didn’t know when I’d be walking in. I have a bad habit of saying I’m five minutes away or in a cab, when really I’m still at home lollol.

Kaitlyn kept urging me to check the outdoor patio to see if the group was there, but when I walked out there, that was also empty. I did see a table with beautiful flowers and champagne and petals all over the ground, and my immediate thought was, “oh shit, I need to leave this area, some guy is proposing here and I’m gunna ruin it”.

I didn’t even once think it was for me. But when I turned around to leave, there was Bharat standing right before me (I was in shock because he was supposed to be in Long Island for our friend’s baby shower). It still didn’t hit me though because the first thing I said was “what are you doing here”. And kept repeating it until the poor guy didn’t know how to answer so he got down on one knee.

I don’t even remember what he said while he was down on one knee because I was so happy and excited when I finally realized what was happening! It didn’t even feel real though. The entire proposal was a complete shock to me. Not because I didn’t think it would happen, but because I thought it wouldn’t happen for another 6 months to a year later and because the one thing I had told him I wanted in a proposal was for it to be a surprise and I was in shock that he actually was able to pull it off! I didn’t want him to do anything crazy, like take me up in a hot air balloon or anything like that because I would’ve seen it coming. It was literally the most perfect day ever with the most gorgeous backdrop of New York’s skyline.

Afterwards, Kaitlyn and Bharat’s sister came out to the patio and celebrated with us. I was confused though why there weren’t more people. While we were all toasting, I wondered why he hadn’t invited any of my friends or family, or even at least his parents who lived close by.

But he assured me that the rest of the day was planned, and that we were going to go back to my apartment and that I’d have 30 minutes to change. Knowing I’m super particular about what I wear and how I look, I thought it was so thoughtful of him to have allocated that time into the schedule! I guess he does know me well 🙂

I changed into the most bridal thing I could find in my closet, which was this beautiful Free People white lace dress and touched up my makeup. He told me we were going to take engagement pictures on another rooftop bar, but when we walked in my entire family and all my friends from near and far were there waiting to surprise us and help us celebrate. It truly was the best day of my life and even I couldn’t have planned out a more perfect proposal!

Make sure to to check back next Wednesday to find out how Bharat picked my ring!