Like every love story, our's was destiny. But every couple has two versions of their story...so here's Neil's version and Nishita's version: Neil's Version: Call it love at first sight or something straight out of a Bollywood movie, the moment I first saw Nish, I knew there was something special about her. Flashback to February 2019 when my friend Faizan told me about a Valentine's Day party Nish and her roommates were hosting. And the moment I walked up to introduce myself, I noticed the prettiest eyes I had ever seen and couldn't look away. I very (im)patiently waited for 6 months until Nish was done with her optometry entrance exam till I got to meet her again at the 'fanciest' spot at Rutgers: G-Rail. Very few people knew that I wanted to get to know Nish better including our friends Faizan and Sapna. While Faizan first introduced me to Nish, Sapna helped me muster the courage to ask Nish out on a date. And the rest is history... 5 1/2 years later, here we are getting married after making it through a global pandemic and long distance as we finished up graduate school. And all these years later, it is safe to say that my soon-to-be wife still has the prettiest eyes (and eyelashes) I have ever seen! Nishita's version: We first crossed paths at a Valentine’s Day party that my roommates and I hosted. I had run into Faizan, a friend from high school, at another birthday party and invited him to come. Since he didn’t know anyone, he asked if he could bring a friend—enter Neil. That night, I only spoke to Neil for about five minutes, but I had seen him around campus. A little later, I told Faizan that I planned to spend the summer studying for my optometry entrance exam. When the semester ended, Faizan invited me several times to join him and some friends (specifically Neil) for dinner, but I kept saying no because I was focused on studying. By the time the next semester started, I had missed the first day of class because of my exam. Two days later, my friend Sapna convinced me to go out. When we got to G-Rail, Neil reintroduced himself and immediately asked why I hadn’t been to class—he even mentioned that he had saved me a seat. I remember being so confused—how did this ~random guy~ know I wasn’t in class, and why would he save me a seat? The very next day, I went to class… and the rest is history. We officially started dating a few months later on January 25, 2020. Since then, we’ve made it through the pandemic, long distance during grad school, and now we're building our future together in Atlanta. Both of us are so excited to celebrate this next chapter in our journey with all of you!