Hollywood Hike Proposal

These love stories are so fun! We’re excited to feature the proposal story of ShaadiShop couple, Anjli and Kapil, who are getting married this week!

{How We Met}

We met the new-fashioned way – on an online dating App, one of the very well known ones! We planned our first date a few weeks later, for coffee in hipster Silver Lake and a trip to the Museum of Contemporary Act in Downtown LA. We ended up going out for dinner and drinks and after wrapping up past midnight, realized we’d had a 12 hour date!

{When We Knew}

They say when you know, you know, and I hate that saying! But it’s also so very true. I think we both knew we had something special when we realized we could be our complete selves around each other – no pretense, no games, no awkward silences.

{Kapil’s Proposal}

We’d been training for a 5k and 10k run so most weekends were spent running around Silver Lake Reservoir. The weekend after the event, Kapil suggested going on a hike as an alternative to running. We left later than we were supposed to and the sun was beating down on Hollywood. We’d done this trail before and while a little steep, it would be classified as an easy hike, but I was struggling in the heat. Every time I tried to get the water bottle from the backpack Kapil was carrying, he would get it out for me and hand it to me – I thought he was such a gentleman – which he is, but little did I know it was because he was hiding the ring in there!

We made our way to the top and stood there, behind the Hollywood sign – a place I’d wanted to go since I moved to LA. It was breathtaking. We walked past the crowd and a little further out – we were alone until a lone man decided to join us – Kapil didn’t look too happy about that and I wondered why he was staring at him intently, secretly wishing him to go away and stop cramping his style! I was enjoying the view and excited to realize I also had a good view of Burbank’s Ikea. : )

When I turned around, Kapil was standing a short distance away from me. I walked over and gave him a hug. We shared a few words and then he bent down on one knee on the pretense of tying his loose shoelace. He pulled out a ring from his pocket and asked me to marry him – and I said yes!

We celebrated at the Warner Brother Studios Tour which we had booked in advance and then went out for dinner to the bar where we had drinks on our first date – it was a perfect day!

{The Engagement Party and Photo Shoot}

A few weeks after we got engaged, we flew to London where my family is based and Kapil’s sister had just moved to. My family organized an epic engagement party – within just two and a half weeks, they managed to pull off what looked and felt like a wedding reception for 150 people! Kapil’s outfit was already sorted so I took that shopping with me to find something that matched. I had just a few hours to find an outfit, shoes and accessories – extremely grateful to Ealing Road in London! I got my hair and make up done for the event, my first time wearing hair extensions and fake eyelashes! We stood at the entrance greeting the family and definitely feeling the happiness and excitement in the air – especially when we said the wedding was most likely to be in Los Angeles, California! During the engagement party, we snuck out to take a few photos – some traditional shots and of course, some cheesy Bollywood ones!