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#swayyestoparikh
September 4, 2016
Home
#swayyestoparikh
September 4, 2016
OUR STORY
OUR STORY
OUR STORY
OUR STORY
The Last First Date
It was a blind date.
Having just moved to Cincinnati barely more than a month before, Shwetha joined some coworkers for a night out on a Saturday night. Noticing that one of the husbands of her coworkers didn't really know anyone either, she struck up a conversation with him. After a little while, John asked her if she was seeing someone and Shwetha informed him that she was single.
"What are you looking for?" John asked.
"Taller than me," Shwetha responded.
"Anything else?"
"Employed," she said.
"I think I know a guy," said John.
With that, Pavan received a text at that moment from John (a friend he had only met once at a baby shower over a year prior), "Where are you?"
Pavan replied, "Tonight? Or in life? Tonight in Cincy. Columbus in life."
John mentioned that he met a girl, a beautiful Indian doctor, and that if Pavan was interested, he would exchange their information. Pavan agreed, and John gave each one of them the other's number.
Pavan texted Shwetha on Monday and they agreed to meet up that Friday evening, after chatting all week.
As she walked up the stairs at Keystone in Hyde Park, Pavan mouthed, "Wow," and had no idea Shwetha saw him do that. They met and chatted for over an hour about any and everything. Shwetha seemed to think it was going well up and until Pavan dropped a bomb on her.
"Here's the thing," he said. "I hate to cut this short but I have to go because I'm leaving for Korea early in the morning for three weeks with the Army."
"Oh, okay," she said. However, in her head all she could think about was that that was a terrible excuse to get out of this date. Also, she thought it was going well! What happened?
As Pavan walked Shwetha out to her car, he told her that he wanted to take her out as soon as he returned from Korea. She tentatively agreed, even though she thought he might be blowing her off. "If he follows through," she thought, "I'll say yes. But I'm not holding my breath."
For the three weeks he was gone, they had riveting conversations online about everything from Taco Bell and living in a tent to fireworks and the intricacies of HIPAA. But when he returned, they went out to enjoy Cincinnati Riverfest and Labor Day Fireworks, the night before Labor Day.
That night, only the second time they had met or spent time together, Pavan's friend Catie jokingly asked him if he was going to marry her. He non-jokingly said, "Yes."
Ever since that night, they have been inseparable.
The following May, Pavan moved back to Cincinnati to be with Shwetha and in August he asked her to marry him.
She said, "Yes."
The Proposal
THE PROPOSAL
The Proposal
THE PROPOSAL
"Can we please stop taking pictures?"
Pavan knew how he was going to propose, but he was terrified Shwetha was going to figure it out.
Once they had decided to go on vacation to Mexico in August, Pavan had committed to proposing to Shwetha on the beach at sunset. However, there were some logistics to work out - namely, how to get this event commemorated on film. One day when they were at their friend Gauri's house, he figured it out.
On a previous family trip, Gauri and the rest of her family hired a professional photographer from the resort to take a series of pictures of the entire family on the beach. They turned out beautiful and Pavan started mentioning to Shwetha how it would be nice to have some professional pictures for their families. She seemed to think that was slightly weird, but since all the pictures they had together were taken on a cell phone, many times at a restaurant under dim light, she also thought what he said made sense. So everytime they went to Gauri's he mentioned it in the months leading up to the vacation.
When they arrived in Mexico, it had been approximately a year from the date they met. Pavan then mentioned to Shwetha that it might be nice for them to have a private dinner on the beach to celebrate their anniversary, and she agreed. After they checked in, Pavan met with the resort's photographer and set up the beach dinner with the concierge. It was Saturday and everything seemed to be set up for the surprise proposal on Tuesday.
On Tuesday morning, Shwetha noticed Pavan was being somewhat easily agitated, which she just attributed to too much sun. They had a nice morning reading out on the beach but Pavan seemed distracted about something. He was having issues getting in touch with the chef for the dinner to make sure the menu was vegetarian, but Shwetha thought it was weird it was bugging him so much - after all, it's just food.
After taking some time to freshen up and get ready for the pictures, Pavan and Shwetha met Pepe, their photographer, and started taking pictures at the first location. But it was hot and really humid. After the first few rounds of pictures, Shwetha went to fix her hair and Pavan pulled the photographer aside and told him that he wanted the last pictures to be by the dinner tent on the beach and that he was going to propose. When they all finally arrived at the beach, Shwetha was tired of pictures.
"Can we please stop taking pictures? This has been going on for an hour. It's hot. I feel gross. I just want to eat.," she said.
Pavan replied, "We've been taking these with the resort in the background. How about one or two more with the beach in the background?"
"Ugh. fine."
With that, Pepe knew it was time. As Pepe started rapidly taking pictures, Pavan turned to Shwetha and told her (in his serious voice, as she likes to say), "You know I love you."
Then she knew what was happening. But all she could muster was, "Oh sh*t. This is happening."
"Yes, this is happening," he said.
Neither of them really remember what else was said, but he got down on one knee and told her that whatever he had said was contingent on her saying yes to one question.
"Will you marry me?"
She nodded her head and he tried to put the ring on her finger, but was nervous and started putting it on the wrong hand.
"That's the wrong hand!" she screamed, through her tears.
"It's my first time doing this!" he laughed back.
The ring on her finger (on the correct hand), Pavan stood back up and whispered into her ear, "You still haven't said yes."
She hit him and said, "Of course it's yes!!!"
The small crowd that had gathered clapped and took pictures, but soon they had left and Pavan and Shwetha enjoyed their private dinner on the beach - their first meal as an engaged couple.
