HOW WE MET
Stories differ depending on who you ask, but Raina and Atin either met at a high school debate tournament, at UC San Diego, in Manhattan, or are still waiting to make eye contact with each other. Before we move forward, we know some of you may be wondering, “Who’s Atin?” and “Isn’t Raina marrying Ethan?” Yes, yes she is but she wouldn’t meet Ethan until 2009.
Raina and Ethan hit it off right away, despite living on opposite coasts. They bonded over their mutual hatred and secret love of pretentious people, while having eloquent debates about the best ways to decant a nice pinot. Raina moved to New York shortly after she graduated college, and being a gentleman, Ethan made sure to show her a good time. From there, their friendship naturally turned into a crazy, healthy and loving relationship.
THE PROPOSAL
The proposal was perfect. It was exactly how Raina had always imagined. In fact, she described the exact scene to her friends few years ago - something Ethan was completely unaware of.
Ethan enlisted the help of Anika, Rashi, Mira and Kunal to pull off this special day.
In late June, Mira invited Raina and Ethan to a Fashion Week event that her company was throwing on July 1. For those of you who don’t know, Fashion Week takes place in late February and mid-September. This fact was completely lost on Raina (thank goodness) and she excitedly accepted the invite.
As it was a black-tie “event” Raina and Ethan both got dressed up and started to make their way towards Bryant Park. However, before they jumped in a cab, Ethan needed to visit the old apartment. They had moved apartments a day earlier and had to do a final walk-through of their old place to ensure they received the security deposit back. As the “event” was “running late,” they had plenty of time to do the walk through.
The doorman directed Raina and Ethan to the roof, which seemed odd, but Ethan’s “game was tight” and he played this off casually.
Once on the roof, Raina was greeted by a photographer, beautiful floral arrangements (courtesy of the amazing Rashi) and a gorgeous New York view.
Ethan got down on one knee and proposed. Exactly what he said is a bit fuzzy to both, but Raina swears that Ethan finally confessed that she’s the funny one in the relationship. With that argument finally put to bed, of course Raina said yes!
(For the record, Ethan doesn’t remember any of this happening. He would never admit to Raina being funnier than him.)
As they popped champagne, Raina was surprised by Anika, Rashi, Mira and Kunal, who were all hiding and waiting to celebrate with the newly engaged couple.
Following, this surprise, Ethan whisked Raina off to Gramercy Tavern - a restaurant Raina always wanted to dine at - for a celebratory dinner. As they walked home from a amazingly delicious dinner, Ethan wanted to keep the celebration going but Raina was a bit tired. She humored her fiance though and they stopped in at their favorite neighborhood bar, where the rest of their friends were waiting to surprise them.
Raina was overwhelmed by all the love and extremely suspicious that a group so large could keep a secret from her for so long (Ethan had called their friends a week ago to personally invite them to the surprise). After confirming that there were no more surprises, the couple was able to truly enjoy the outpouring of love an support from all those near and dear to them.
