Our Story
Our love story didn’t start when we were born on opposite sides of the USA—Vai in California, Ariel in Maryland—exactly three days apart. It didn’t start when we grew up on opposite sides of the world, Vai in Bangalore and Ariel in Denver. It didn’t even start when we both moved to Philadelphia in the summer of 2018 to pursue graduate studies at UPenn and lived half a block away from each other. It took until May 2023 and a match on Hinge to get our love story started. Our first date was a comedy of errors; we didn’t realize there would be a two-hour wait at the bowling alley, so we decided to catch a movie Vai had heard was good. Turns out a horror film about paranoid schizophrenia isn’t great first date material! We quickly bailed and ended up spending hours walking all over the city and talking about everything. By the end of the first date, we were both smitten.
We quickly started building a life together; Vai got into board games and Ariel got into capital-f Films. Together we’ve explored foreign countries, film festivals, glacier hikes, and even an Improv 101 class. In November of 2025, Vai constructed an elaborate scavenger hunt that ended up driving us to Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania where he asked Ariel to marry him. She said a resounding yes and posed the same question to him a few weeks later at Morris Arboretum. We feel so lucky to get to spend the rest of our lives together, and can’t wait to celebrate with you!
Header art by Claude Monet and side art by Minnal Arcot
