Our Story
How we met (by Divya)
It was April 2010, late on a beautiful Saturday night in New York City. I had gone up to Columbia University with some friends for a party. Our group had gotten split up and I was trying to gather everyone before heading back down to our dorms at NYU – and then I locked eyes with someone. He started walking straight towards me and before I knew it he was right in front of me saying, ‘Hi, I’m Prish. What’s your name?’ Little did I know that our story was about to get way more complicated.
Over the next 8 years, we spent over 5 of those years in a long-distance relationship. First, starting shortly after we met, when Prish moved to Boston and I was finishing school in NYC. Then even longer distance when Prish moved to San Francisco and I was working in NYC. Over the past 8 years, we’ve collectively lived in 16 apartments and have helped each other move numerous times (including the time that I lovingly ‘asked’ Prish to drive my big U-Haul up & down NYC). We’ve traveled thousands of miles to see each other on planes, buses, and rental cars. In 2016, we finally both settled in San Francisco and happily live there today.
We hadn’t both been back to NYC since I left in 2016, so Prish suggested we do a trip there together when it started warming up in the springtime. Both of us have jobs that require us to travel a lot, so we didn’t get around to planning many details beforehand. Once we had booked flights, Prish mentioned that his friend invited us to an exclusive cocktail party at the Rainbow Room.
How he asked
We hadn’t both been back to NYC since I left in 2016, so Prish suggested we do a trip there together when it started warming up in the springtime. Both of us have jobs that require us to travel a lot, so we didn’t get around to planning many details beforehand. Once we had booked flights, Prish mentioned that his friend invited us to an exclusive cocktail party at the Rainbow Room.
A couple weeks before our trip, Prish mentioned that he’d need to help set up for the event so he would need to go an hour before I could arrive there. He also made a point to say that there was a strict formal dress code. Fast forward to the afternoon of the proposal – it’s drizzling outside, we get our NYC bagels, go back to our hotel to hang out.
Around 3 PM, Prish starts getting ready and then heads out to the Rainbow Room. I go there about an hour later. When I get there, he meets me in the lobby of 30 Rockefeller Plaza and starts taking me up to the 65th floor. I’ll admit I was hoping he would propose in the near future. And while he did seem excited, he was so relaxed throughout the day, that I decided there was no way he was proposing today.
We get into an elevator up to the 65th floor, he takes my hands and says, ‘There is no cocktail event, you and I are the only people here.’ At that moment, I knew what was happening and just started tearing up. We get up to the 65th floor and start walking into the Rainbow Room then to the outdoor terrace, all I can remember are flashes – roses, candles, photographer.
Prish talking, me crying, Prish kneeling. Saying yes, trying to fix my mascara, someone bringing us champagne. I was in such a state of shock that I didn’t even look at my gorgeous ring for at least 10 minutes after the proposal.
We spent some time taking engagement photos on the outdoor terrace of the Rainbow Room, then got some precious moments at 620 Loft & Garden before heading to Dumbo, Brooklyn for more photos. Turns out Prish wasn’t done yet, he had one more huge surprise up his sleeve.
We already had dinner plans with our close friends Mir & Andrew who live in NYC. Prish had told me that our families and a couple close friends knew that he was planning to eventually propose, but they didn’t know it was happening this weekend. I was excited to start telling people, but Prish told me to hold off until after our dinner.
Hold off? Are you kidding?? I’ll admit, I did get a little annoyed. But thank goodness he pushed me to wait a little longer on calling people. Turned out that dinner was actually a surprise party with both our families and all my closest friends. Anyone who knows me knows that I am really really hard to surprise. And Prish, my future husband, pulled off the BIGGEST surprise of my life.
The Cut-Out
A Love Story
Early on when we were dating, Prish told Divya of a Greek mythology story he read in high school, where a couple was immortalized by two intertwining trees representing their love for each other.
While meeting ring designers, Prish came across one that was equally excited to try and make a reference to the love story on Divya’s engagement ring. It all started with a sketch from Prish’s notepad.
Prish and the designer worked on multiple renders of the ring, to eventually make the symbolic cut-out on the engagement ring that embodied the story.