allisoncorinne: July 2015

Jay proposed to me in June of 2014 by recreating our first date; we had drinks at Elsa in the E.Village, followed by Banh Mi sandwiches from Vicky's eaten in the pedestrian median on Houston and Ave B.

This is a google street view of the spot where he got down on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him.

(Facing east)

(Facing west)

Jay planned out every detail, from having a car pick me up from our apartment in Brooklyn to drive me to the date, to reserving the exact table where we sat on our first date, and researching the Vietnamese restaurant to make sure it was still open. As I hugged him after saying "yes", cars drove by and honked, and someone even yelled "congratulations!" from their car window. Afterward, we walked back to Elsa for another round of drinks and lots of calls to our family and friends to share the news. Then we headed back to brooklyn to celebrate with my best friend Jenn, who would later be one of my bridesmaids.

(We just got engaged! But first, let me take a selfie.)

After the engagement, Jay surprised me (and She-Ra) yet again with a weekend at a beautiful dog-friendly B&B upstate to celebrate some more.

A few months later, we had our chunni ceremony, which is a Sikh ceremony that symbolizes our official engagement. "Chunni" is the head covering worn by Indian women, and the ceremony involves Jay's family giving me one along with a matching outfit, matching makeup, bindhis, bangles, and basically the whole nine yards. There are also some symbolic rituals like being fed dried fruit, nuts with a silver foil, and other Indian sweets.

My Mom and Jay prepping flowers: