Can you believe that it's already been 6+ months since the big day!  When we were taking to each other about what to do with this website, the first thing that came into mind was how much was it costing us, just kidding.  We thought deep about the website and what it can turn into.  After much thought and bouncing ideas off of friends and family we decided to share a little of our married life with everyone.  Here you will find out what we are cooking in the Patel household, to things like where we are traveling.  If you have ideas for us please share them through the Contact Us page, we look forward to seeing them.

How did we meet...

Sonum's Story: 

Let's just say I had a bit of a crush on him before I even met him. But, I was too nervous to initiate anything. So, I forgot about it (not really, the crush I had was always there), but months and months later, my life had a new twist. One night at work, I get a call from a friend asking if I was interested in talking to this guy, which turned out to be Sanket. I was hesitant, but I'm glad I said yes. That same night he texted me, and from there we talked every single day. He visited Atlanta and I visited Ohio. From that point, we were inseparable. I'm beyond blessed that in short amount of time, I found my best friend and soul mate.

Sanket's Story: 

So Sonum apparently had a crush on me and I really had no clue who she was.  One evening I was talking to a mutual friend of ours and Sonum came up in our conversation.  I didn't think much of it, but then I figured that I had nothing to lose so I asked another friend of mine if she knew anything about this girl.  Thirty minutes later my friend comes back to me and tells me that I should message Sonum on Facebook, and I was totally against it.  My friend insisted that I leave her a message since it would be "cute", so I left her a quick short message and headed off to bed.  Literally, 15-20 minutes later, I hear my phone go off from a Facebook notification and I see it's Sonum.  My first thought was "oh boy, I wasn't prepared for this."  I texted my friend and she said you would have never messaged her if I didn't keep bugging you.  I asked my friend if she knew if Sonum was awake and she said "yeah, shes working night shift."  Now what I was I suppose to do?  Tell Sonum that I'm going to bed and I will talk to her later?  We ended up texting for hours and then talked every single day since that night.  After a week of getting to know each other, Sonum revealed that she had a crush on me.  My reaction was laughter and disbelief.  I had no clue how to react to what she had just told me, but looking back at how our story unfolded, I'm glad everything happened the way it did.

How he did it...

After talking for a few months, we both knew that this was turning into more than just a relationship.  We both made trips to meet each other’s families, those meetings went well and solidified the fact that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Sonum.  I was nervous and had no clue where to begin in order to get the ball rolling.  The first step was to gauge Sonum and that was pretty easy because both of her best friends were in the process of getting engaged and married.  Next was the conversation with my parents.  I really didn't know what to expect and I went into that conversation with an open mind.  They were supportive and were more excited than I was.  The one thing they told me was that they were proud of me and all they want is for me to be happy.  I looked at them and told them being with Sonum makes me happy.  Now I needed to get approval from her parents.  I called her parents and told them that I wanted to marry Sonum.  I have never sweated as much as I did that day.  My family had planned a trip to visit Sonum and her family.  This was the ideal time for me to pop the question.  If you know Sonum, you know that she is very suspicious.  I had to tell her that we are going on a photo-shoot.  In her mind, she thought it was going to happen at Stone Mountain.  Knowing that she would assume I would propose to her at Stone Mountain, I called an audible and worked with her cousin and one of her best friends to set up a backup plan at a local park.  The week leading to our trip, I had Face-timed my planning team and we detailed out the proposal.   We got to the park (finally convincing her we needed more candid pictures on the swing, since the ones we took at Stone Mountain looked too staged) after a few hours of taking pictures in the sun and Sonum was already annoyed that we were late for a family lunch.  We walked along the trail and on the ground I had her cousin and friend write out lyrics to "Hey pretty girl" by Kip Moore. We walked the trail as she read the lyrics and then I went down on one knee.  Her first reaction was is this really happening?  And then slowly she started to laugh and then tear up.  Before I could even ask her hand in marriage, she asked me if I was going to ask her; mind you that I had asked her 3 times already.  It was a picture perfect moment that both of us will never forget.

Faith has a funny way of working its magic, but none of this would have been possible without the inspiration from our guru Pramukh Swami Maharaj.  Coming in to satsang 14 years ago I can say that the person I have become today is all due to Swamishri's grace.  Not only did satsang allow me to marry my best friend, but it had taught me the values of compassion, time management, organization, and most importantly, understanding that everyone has a story.

 - Sanket

Since the beginning, Swamishri has been a significant part of my life. With his love, support, and guidance, I am the person I am today. I am so thankful to him for molding me into a better individual and finding me my best friend- someone who will encourage me to be stronger in satsang and make me smile and laugh every day!

 - Sonum