Our love story began in January 2019 after connecting on the dating app, Hinge. Our first date was at the Italian restaurant, Rosemary's, in the West Village. We shared stories of our recent travels-- Lakshmi returning from seeing the Northern Lights in Yellowknife, Canada. Atul had just returned from a solo road-trip/ hiking adventure around the SouthWest (Death Valley, Sedona, & Grand Canyon).

Early dates included many adventures around NYC-- from pizza making classes, paint nights, and rock climbing. We even soon took our first trip together upstate to New Paltz, NY, which soon took on a symbolic meaning for many of our life's biggest moments. We enjoyed many other adventures, from cooking new dishes together to moving into the West Village and exploring our neighborhood.

Throughout the COVID pandemic, we would escape to Upstate NY and the Catskills area as a way to change up scenery from our city apartment. In December, we were able to take a week-long trip as a way to relax, disconnect, and wrap up the crazy year that was 2020.

On one of the days, Atul surprised Lakshmi with a trip to the Mohonk Mountain House area in New Paltz. We had previously gone on a hike overlooking the lake, but it was our first time at the historic property. We began with a walk around the lake, which had just been covered in a thin layer of snow from the night before. When up at one of the observation towers, Atul got down on one knee and asked Lakshmi to marry him. She was surprised to find a photographer not too far behind capturing the moment!