{About Meera & Anurag}
Meera and Anurag’s bi-continental relationship started in sunny, Southern California and it was love at first date! Below, enjoy Meera’s telling of their journey from their 1st date to their engagement. They had a beautiful wedding with Rajasthani and Gujarati flare, right where it all started – in Southern California!
The first day I met Anurag I knew I wanted to marry him. After chatting for a few hours on our first date, it didn’t take long to realize that he was a huge catch. He was extremely genuine, shared the same family values as me, and wanted to do something bigger for the world. Luckily for me, two dates later he announced that I was going to be the girl he married.
A year and a half later, we were living in India together and in Jaipur for his sister’s wedding. The wedding was a few days away and there was tons of work left to do. So you can imagine how surprised I was, when he wanted to whisk me away on New Years Eve to Amber Fort, a historical icon and palatial emblem of the Rajastani rule.
He insisted we go, “You love visiting ancient sites and we haven’t even had a chance to explore the city with all the wedding stuff going on!”
{Amber Fort}
I care-freely shrugged my shoulders – excited to see Amber Fort. And I carefully dodged my MIL’s “complaints” (she was in on the surprise too!) to come back soon to help with the wedding preparations. When we got there, our driver dropped us off at the foothills and we waited in line for our elephant that was going to take us up the landscape, into the palace. As the elephants came closer and tourists hopped on, Anurag pointed, “Look babe looks like we’re going to get the super decorated elephant!!” Sure enough, though all the elephants donned a simple red and yellow saddle, ours looked like it had just come from a wedding- painted and in full “Royal” garb. “Cool!!” I exclaimed without a clue that Anurag had set this up and none if this was merely coincidental. “Raja aur Rani” the elephant caretaker toothily grinned. As we hopped on and made our way up, a photographer kept snapping photos of us – not uncommon at such popular tourist attractions. “Humein photos nahin chayye bhaiya” (we don’t want photos sir) I told him in my broken Hindi. He continued snapping away and I went on to enjoy the majestic views while bouncing along on the elephant.
When we disembarked the elephant, Anurag disappeared to the restroom before we started the tour of the fort. When he returned, my back was towards him as I was admiring the view. He tapped me gently on my leg and when I turned around, he was down on one knee with his super shy, sweet smile, and one hand outstretched with a beautiful red square box.
My hands immediately flew to my mouth in surprise! Though I regret that I don’t remember exactly what his heartfelt words were, I remember how my entire being burst with happiness! I dropped to my knees and enveloped my arms around his neck in a tight hug. He pulled away after a few seconds and glanced at me nervously. “Is this a sympathy hug or was that a yes?” I laughed, realizing I hadn’t actually given him a reply so I smothered him with “yes” kisses. The photographer from earlier magically reappeared and began snapping more candid pictures. It was all coming together by then – Anurag had hired the photographer to capture this beautiful moment.
After all the hugging, kissing, and jumping up and down, we actually did take a tour of the fort, but I was too distracted and jittery to pay attention. Our proposal received so much excitement that our story made the front page of the Rajasthani newspaper the next day. It was truly a magical ending to a fairy tale day.
As far as proposal venues go this takes our breath away. Cultural, royal, and full of rich history! Anurag didn’t have an ele baraat at the wedding but he got his fill at the proposal anyway…and in India!
Once you’ve proposed it’s time to start thinking about the wedding! What’s the first thing you’ll need? A venue!
Wanna know which venues:
You’ll find all of this info and more on ShaadiShop!
