4 YEARS AGO...

FEB
2014

HOW WE MET

Who said technology can’t bring us happiness?

It was February 3rd 2014 in New York City. Radhika lived on the west side and Ravi lived on the east side. Since nobody in NY leaves their 10 block radius, the chances of Radhika and Ravi crossing paths were slim to none, but technology had other plans. Both matched on Coffee Meets Bagel, where conversations about pizza led them to their first date. (Check out the original text messages)

FEB
2014

FIRST DATE

Judging a book by it’s cover

During a polar vortex, Ravi and Radhika bundled up and made their way over to a speakeasy called Middle Branch. Ravi, the early bird, got to the bar first and waited anxiously. Radhika showed up and they had the classic “I don’t really know you”, awkward hug. Conversation kicked off and they discovered their common backgrounds in the creative industry, shared experiences with one another along with some bad jokes. The night went on, and Ravi asked for a second date before they parted ways. Ravi’s straightforward ways won Radhika over, and she said yes to a second date.

2014-
2017

EVERYTHING IN-BETWEEN

How they stuck together like PB&J

Over the next few months and years Radhika and Ravi’s relationship snowballed. They introduced one another to their friends and big Gujju families, plus oned it at 12 weddings, shared a crazy love for crack sauce at Calexico, and explored all corners of NY. They survived their first trip to Lisbon and Spain primarily eating tapas, and went on a week long hiking excursion in Arizona and Utah. As months went by, Radhika realized Ravi was the only person she might possibly ever move to Jersey for in life, and Ravi realized that Radhika was the only one he wanted to eat dosas with for life.

MAR
2017

SOMETHING'S COOKING

The Panera Plan

Ravi and Radhika were killing time at Panera before heading over to a magic show. Ravi J. “Smooth” Thakkar, seized the moment and grabbed the ring that Radhika was wearing that day off her hand. He tore off a piece of the Panera brown paper bag, dove into his backpack, pulled out a pen, and traced the ring. This was his size reference for the actual ring, which to no surprise ended up being one size too big - go figure. (Check out actual footage of this moment)

JUL
2017

THE PROPOSAL

STEP 1: THE PERMISSION PYRAMID

Talking to the family

Ravi was ready to pop the question, but there was a whole slew of people he had to talk to before the proposing part. He broke the news to his parents and his brother Raj. He then called the president of the Ravz and Radz fanclub — her sister Nehal. Filled with excitment, they both immediately started scheming on when it was going to happen. They landed on July 15th, which gave Ravi 6 weeks to pull it together. He finally met Radhika's parents over Dosa for the official green light. It was go time...

STEP 2: THE PERFECT STORM

Location scouting

Knowing Radhika, Ravi had the perfect location in mind. Storm King — an outdoor sculpture park in the Hudson Valley area. It was artsy, outdoors, away from NYC, and not cliché. When Radhika was in Rochester, Ravi seized an opportunity to visit and scope out the area. He walked around for hours and found the perfect sculpture, overlooking the perfect scene. It was all coming together. Also sidenote, for those who have watched Master of None, Ravi did not get this idea from the show.

STEP 3: WHY ARE THERE SO MANY C'S?

Ring shopping

Ravi consulted “his boys” – Heren, Anjan, and Prem – to learn everything about ring shopping. Once he got a crash course, he talked with Nehal and some friends on the style of ring. Radhika had only loosely described the kind of ring she liked as “doesn’t want it to look like everyone else’s, and doesn’t want it to be too blingy”. With those very specific guidelines, Ravi searched around and finally picked one.

STEP 4: GO TIME

Day of the proposal

Ravi crafted the perfect plan to get Radhika to go to Storm King without any suspicion. She woke up on July 15th and hopped into the car thinking that they were meeting up with her friend Sonali. They got to the park and waited since Sonali was still "45 minutes away - stuck in traffic." In her classic ways, Radhika plopped herself at the picnic table and ate her bagel as slowly as possible, because ya know, “they had time to kill”. Little did she know, that both of their parents were stuck outside the parking lot entrance because she was sitting there eating her bagel.

Finally after she was done eating, Ravi suggested that they start walking around while they were waiting. Radhika was distracted taking photos of the sculptures, still clueless about what was to come. He led her to the sculpture he had scouted out earlier, and got down on one knee. Caught by total surprise, Radhika took a step backwards, and almost started kneeling with Ravi in the moment. She then stuck out the wrong hand and said “yes” before he asked the question – it was all very smooth. They both laughed and cried and hugged and kissed. Both families made their way over and they celebrated over champagne and a picnic.*

*Shout out to Ravi's cousins Kiran and Pooja and Radhika's sister Nehal and her friends Linda, Pria, Sonali, and Swetha for helping to make it happen.