Kinjal’s Wedding Story – dating + proposal

We first met Kinjal over 5 years ago, at an amazing wedding in which she was a bridesmaid. When she contacted us about her own wedding, we were over-the-moon excited! Although Kinjal’s wedding day has now passed, she wrote some beautiful words to convey and remember her feelings surrounding this special day. We’re going to publish them in 6 parts, so we hope you enjoy this mini-series. Brides, we know you’re going to get lots of great planning tips! 🙂

Kinjal_e019

DATING + THE PROPOSAL

When I moved from Manhattan to New Jersey, I joined an online dating website. Anil and I met online… yes, it works! We took our time to get to know each other. Our relationship grew, slow and steady. We’d meet casually on the weekends for dinner or a movie. After a couple of months the dates became longer and more frequent. We’d find excuses to meet in the middle of the week. Dinner would be followed up by 3 hour long phone conversations. I knew I wanted to spend a lot more time with this caring, open-minded, fun-loving, hard-working, good-natured person. There wasn’t any one moment that made me think Anil is “the one.” But there is one moment that stands out. Right before Valentine’s Day, Anil and I were texting with one another. We were being silly (as we often are with one another… life is short!). I asked him to do one thing or another which he met with some reluctance. When I playfully asked “don’t you want to make me happy?” He simply wrote back “always.” Wearing his heart on his sleeve and being completely sincere, I thought, this feels right.

Although our relationship was slow and steady, it hit me like a ton of bricks that I wanted to marry this man. I knew Anil was ready too. The holidays came and went with no proposal. Valentine’s Day came with a very sweet gift and date, but, no proposal. The Friday after Valentine’s Day, I called Anil on my way home from work complaining that there was a ton of rush hour traffic and suggested that we should meet at the mall for happy hour. He insisted that I come home and promised that he’d do all the driving for the rest of the weekend. After some cajoling, I agreed. When I walked in, the entire apartment was glowing with candlelight, the floor strewn with rose petals, Anil in a black suit. He had prepared a slideshow of photographs of our fun moments together and when I turned around at the end he was on one knee with ring in hand. He asked me to marry him; of course, I said yes! We celebrated with blush champagne (which would become an inspiration for one of the signature cocktails at our reception). The proposal was followed up with a limo ride to New York City and a romantic dinner at the first class French restaurant, Per Se. I called my parents from the limo. They happily joined in my excitement, but, it turns out they knew the proposal was coming. Anil had driven to my parents’ house while I was away on a girls trip in Miami to ask for their blessing to marry me. I was so touched. There was nothing too dramatic or over the top about Anil’s proposal. It was celebratory and sweet and true to us.