Aarthi and Vamsi
April 25, 2015
Stories
The Proposal!
Vamsi surprised Aarthi by proposing to her on the eve of his birthday. She said yes.
(ok the real story)
On a lovely Friday evening in mid June, Vamsi went over to Aarthi's place to pick her up and go out to dinner with 3-4 friends. Aarthi, though, had other plans. She had secretly arranged a surprise birthday dinner for Vamsi, with about 10 friends, even getting his friend Omar to fly in from San Francisco. Her plan was to surprise him with dinner and then a weekend getaway to Santa Barbara. Little did she know, Vamsi was in on this, and had a larger surprise up his sleeve...(yes, this proposal involved Inception-level story-within-story planning. It was not easy.)
On the walk to dinner, they passed by a tree. Not an ordinary tree, but this spectacular tree. And sitting at the base of that tree was a guitar and a bottle of Champagne. Aarthi didn't quite process what was going on as Vamsi picked up the guitar ("What are you doing?" "Who's guitar is that?" "What's going on" "Stop it!"), but quickly recovered. Vamsi sang her a song (badly) and pulled out a ring and said a few words, and Aarthi said yes. The couple walked back home to call family and absorb what had just happened. Omar and Naureen show up at Aarthi's door, and Vamsi feigns surprise that they're in town.
Aarthi and Vamsi show up at dinner (Vamsi has to stall along the way to allow the rest of the surprise to come together), and the host has unfortunately canceled Aarthi's reservation for 10. She starts to panic about her surprise, but as the manager takes them around the corner, she sees not a small group here for Vamsi's birthday, but 35 people. Our closest friends and family from all around the country flew in to be a part of the celebrations. It was pretty great :)
Lots of good times ensued, and the Santa Barbara trip still happened, just with a much larger group, and this bus.
Vamsi would like to thank everyone who was involved, but especially Koel and Rani, for helping him not screw this up.
Events
Travel
Key People
Bridesmaids
Geetha Radhakrishnan
Geetha and I have been friends since before we can remember. We've come a long way since our days of eating chapstick and playing hide-and-seek with our third musketeer, Prem. Geetha is currently in her Chief year specializing in Pediatrics down in Galveston, TX. She and her husband Ravi have two adorable little girls, Meena and Leela.
Rani Nandiwada
Rani and I have been friends since middle school. She enjoys the Disney Channel, traveling and carbs. She's a doctor, currently lives in Pittsburgh, is married to Jay and they just welcomed the cutest little baby girl named Seetha Meera.
Koel Guha
Koel and I have been friends since middle school. Koel and I have traveled the world together. She is married to Sanjeev, and they will be welcoming their first child in May. She's a pediatrician in Princeton and lives in Hoboken, NJ
Vaneeta Shah
Vaneeta and I met in high school at an SAT prep class. Fast forward a few years, and we were traveling together through Belize, Argentina, Tanzania and Costa Rica. She's married to Neil and they live in Hoboken, NJ.
Sheena Sahibdeen
Sheena and I have been friends since high school and worked at YMCA camp together through high school. She has more energy than anyone I know. Sheena lives in West New York, NJ and works in NYC.
Carlee Tressel Alson
Carlee and I were roommates in college for our first two years at the University of Chicago. She's a passionate writer, and is on her way to top the NY Times best seller's list. She and her fellow UofC alum husband Adam live in Rennselaer, IN where they are soon going to be a party of three!
Alison Servi
Al and I have been friends since college and she has been one of my closest friends in Los Angeles. She just welcomed a new member to the family - her gorgeous rescue pup named Chuck.
Ariella Omholt Guardi
Ari and I met at the gym our freshman year of college, on the first day. She's a lawyer, lives in Chicago, is married to another fellow UofC alum named Tom and has an adorable baby girl name Leonora.
Jess Nowak Madsen
Jess and I became fast friends at Wharton pretty much right away. We traveled around the world (New Zealand, Nicaragua, Turkey) and often got mistaken for sisters. Jess lives up in the Bay Area with her hubby (and my good friend) Jay, their cat Chloe, and they will be expanding their family in a few months!
Sam Perry Krause
Sami and I met at business school and first bonded over a group trip to the beach at the beginning of our first year. She's a pretty sick salsa dancer and can do all the yoga moves that you wished you could do. Sami lives in Washington DC with her hubby Ben and they will be a family of three in February!
Nina Sen
Niners and I went to business school together, and lucky for me, she also decided to move out to LA/Santa Monica after business school. Niners works for TOMS shoes, where's she's a really big deal. When you meet her, ask her where she's from.
Anurima Mummaneni
Junior Bridesmaid
Anurima is my soon-to-be niece and is a junior bridesmaid in our wedding. She's the smartest 7th grader in Texas, way more fashionable than anyone I know and a really talented dancer. She lives in Austin, TX with her parents.
Groomsmen
Sivram Prasad
Sivram is Vamsi's cousin, and they grew up like brothers. He was in the Air Force, and has been stationed in both Japan and Afghanistan. He has good stories. He is theoretically training for another half marathon, because he feels shame that he is just a few minutes slower than Vamsi.
omar seyal
Omar was Vamsi's roommate in college. He does things with computers. Something something startup something something cofounders. They have traveled the world together. They console each other after Stanford losses. He introduced Vamsi and Aarthi. When Vamsi and Aarthi started dating, Vamsi and Omar agreed that Omar would get firstborn middle naming rights, should Vamsi and Aarthi get married (it was a long shot at the time). Sorry, Aarthi.
Srinivas Panguluri
Srinivas is one of Vamsi's closest friends, as both a family friend and from Stanford. He also does things with computers (with Omar, his cofounder). As children, Srini and Vamsi somehow found themselves in the middle of a riot at Dodger Stadium, and thought this was cool, though in retrospect it was pretty dangerous. He has a wife and a dog, and once had a Silver 2001 Honda Accord, so Vamsi is generally copying him (he also has a child, but Vamsi isn't quite there yet). They console each other after Stanford losses.
Mark Boucher
Mark is also one of Vamsi's closest friends from Stanford (and a new father!). They spent a good portion of Senior year devising extremely complicated card games. Double Fisted Pai Gow exists to this day, in some circles. They have decided that while they have the best times together, it would be difficult to get anything done if they lived in the same city. They console each other after Stanford losses.
Pat McManus
Pat lives in Boston. It is a miracle he will (hopefully) leave New England to come to the wedding in New Jersey. He is also an excellent runner. At Mark's wedding, Pat was so far ahead in the 5K (yes, there was a 5K) that he got lost from the trail, and Vamsi won. Sucker. One time Vamsi and Pat went to Mexico. It was interesting.
Rajeev Tummuru
Rajeev is Vamsi's best friend from high school, where they were neighbors. They overcame their caste differences to have lots of fun together and do lots of shenanigans (by "shenanigans" I of course mean "math competitions"). They share a love of video games, doritos, and pens, and an aversion to scary muppets. He is a doctor and is married and lives in Chicago and otherwise has his life pretty together. Good job, Rajeev.
Sanjay Kotte
Sanjay and Vamsi have known each other literally their entire lives (the same doctor/Indian aunty delivered us!). Our parents took a trip together to California in 1981, where Vamsi's mom found out she was preggers at the beginning, and Sanjay's mom at the end. Good job, California. One time they convinced a girl to climb a tree with them even though she was wearing a dress, and when the dress tore they tried to repair it with scotch tape. This was unsuccesful. Oh btw I think I'm contractually obligated to mention that Sanjay is a great dancer.
Rohan Rangaraj
Rohan and Vamsi were sort of set up . A girl invited Vamsi to a party, where she introduced him to a guy who also is obsessed with sports. Sounds dumb but they hit it off. Rohan has become a surrogate Stanford supporter, and we root for his LSU Tigers. He is probably the nicest guy any of us know. He is a large friendly bear, but instead of salmon he likes jack and diets. And Del Taco. And salmon.
Bharat Sowrirajan
Bharat is Aarthi's brother, and Vamsi's brother-in-law to be. When I told him I was going to propose to his sister, he gave me a 12-second speech about if I break her heart..., then trailed off, then we had another drink. Hooray! He just completed his PhD in immunology (and he's single, ladies!), which I imagine makes him like Nicholas Cage in The Rock.
Venkat Mangunta
Venkat is Vamsi's de facto older brother. He's been there for me through all the ups and downs. He used to be a flight surgeon in the Marines, which sounds like someone who operates on airplanes, but that is not the case. Disappointing, I know, but he is still a badass doctor about to start his fellowship, and get married this summer!
Chirag Parghi
Chirag thought he would be the last person to ever get married, but he was the first of Vamsi's home friends. Fun story: on a spring break trip to Montreal, Vamsi wingmanned Chirag into talking to a pretty girl. Chirag was nervous but acquitted himself well. At the end of the night, he wrote something on a napkin, slid it to her, and left with us. I assumed this was a smooth move, leaving his phone number/e-mail/AIM screen name, but alas, it was just the recipe to the drink he bought her.
Alex
Alex is the host of the popular TV show "Jeopardy". He is now wrapping up his 31st year on the show.
Leo
Leo
Groomspup
Leo is Vamsi and Aarthi's puppy. He enjoys Stanford Football, licking faces, and just being pretty darn cute. He will be involved in the wedding somehow.
Gallery
Vamsi & Aarthi
Gallery
Gifts