We're Getting Married!

Nate and Mareena met near the end of 2016 while working at Eli Lilly in Branchburg, NJ. Nate had just started as an engineer and Mareena was working as a contractor for the engineering team. The first time Mareena saw Nate was in the automation engineering office, where she typically worked during the day. She walked into the office and found Nate using one of the computers in the corner of the room, presumably to test some new automation for the bioreactors. The most interesting thing she noticed was that he wasn't listening to music while he worked; instead, he was listening to Minecraft videos streaming on YouTube (probably not ideal that it was so easy to see from the doorway). From that moment on, Mareena and another one of their coworkers, Melissa, dubbed him the weird guy. Thankfully, there were several fellow weird engineers at work that bonded together over the next two years. Nate and Mareena became close as that group started spending more and more time together, having game nights, semi-regular laser tag adventures, and group lunches away from the office. Some of them even started playing volleyball together every week. Through all this Mareena and Nate's friendship continued to develop, while hints of a deeper connection started to grow.

In July of 2019, after months of texting, volleyball, and internal debate over whether these new feelings were mutual, Nate came up with a plan (with Melissa's help!). He offered to drive the work group to a lunch outing at Chick-Fil-A one Wednesday afternoon. When they got back, Melissa "happened to leave her sunglasses in the car” and by the time she “realized” it, she had to run to a “meeting”. Instead, she asked Mareena to go back to the car with Nate to retrieve the “lost” sunglasses. In hindsight, it should have been obvious that something was up; Nate and Melissa had offices right next to each other. Why couldn’t he have gone on his own? Either way, Mareena and Nate ended up on a stroll to fetch the glasses and return to the automation office while drinking their milkshakes. Being an awkward engineer who forgot the entire purpose of the ruse, Nate spent the whole trek talking and sharing stories instead of asking Mareena on a date. When they had just about reached the automation office, he finished a particularly funny story, which made Mareena laugh so hard she choked on her milkshake. For some reason, that made everything click, and Nate finally asked Mareena out on a date to enjoy one of her favorite treats: ice cream. It is worth noting for those following along that the initial look of utter confusion on Mareena's prompted Nate to ask, "...you do know why I'm asking you, right...?" Thankfully, Mareena figured out the vague language, said yes, and they both ran back to their offices blushing...Classic engineers, no? Nate and Mareena went on their first date that Saturday (July 13, 2019) and spent 14 hours together roaming around Philadelphia and hitting up all of Mareena’s favorite spots. It was the first of three, all-day dates in their first two weeks as a couple. And while Mareena may not have actually received the ice cream date she was promised until date number 5 (whoops), now almost 5 years later they are getting married. <3