In high school, Sanjay knew Emily but Emily didn’t know Sanjay (a typical beginning to any blossoming romance). He watched her from afar… just kidding – he tried to approach her (unsuccessfully) at a couple high school parties, but they never formally met. Until… they both ended up at Loyola Marymount University, and having many friends in common, they finally met when Emily was a freshman and Sanjay was a junior. Sanjay’s not afraid to admit that he organized a party bus to take a group of friends to a college bar, and specifically made sure Emily was on that bus. After she dropped her phone on a crowded dance floor later that night, where it broke into pieces, Prince Charming found each piece and put it back together, in a Darwinian demonstration of his ability to provide for her. From then on, Sanjay and Emily would be virtually inseparable.
Seven years later, Sanjay took Emily on a trip to Charleston. They spent the weekend at a romantic bed-and-breakfast: eating at amazing restaurants, traveling through the back-country, and relaxing. While shopping downtown one day, Sanjay kept checking his watch, and Emily didn’t know why. After buying an ambitious Stetson straw hat, Sanjay told Emily it was time to go back to the hotel and get ready for the evening. He surprised her with a trip to the harbor, where he had rented a private yacht to take them out on the water. Emily wondered why Sanjay was guzzling Chardonnay (a drink he typically hates)…
After an hour or so on the boat, the captain recommended that Sanjay and Emily spend some time on the bow of the boat, where Sanjay got on one knee and asked the question he always knew he would. After making the best decision of their lives, Sanjay and Emily enjoyed a bottle of 1993 Dom Perignon, and watched the sun set over Charleston.
Emily had no idea that Sanjay had hired a captain, who moonlit as a photographer, and that 1,000 pictures would later surface of the entire event. Emily’s response: “Good thing you didn’t wear that straw hat…”
Over the past year, Sanjay and Emily have been raising a “test baby” (their Wheaten Terrier, Kyla) together, and recently moved back to the Bay Area from Austin. Their love for each other is intense, natural, effortless, and everlasting. On Sundays, Sanjay watches football while Emily watches reality TV, dinner-and-a-movie is a ritual, and Sanjay brainstorms ways to make more money so he can buy a bigger bathroom.
Photography: brittrene photo
flower crown: the petal co.
Video: Spencer Sarson
Dress: White, high low- Target