Long Island Winery Engagement: Congratulations Amitha and Sharat

Amitha and Sharat were looking for a fun and unique way to celebrate their relationship. They love wine and found the perfect winery in Long Island for their autumn engagement session at Bedell Cellars. But first, we stopped along the shore of the beautiful North Fork beaches.

Amitha shares, “It almost seems old-fashioned in how we met – we were in many of the same clubs at college so I suppose it was inevitable we would become friends. He was an upperclassman set on building a career and I was the freshman just trying to make sense of Cornell. By the end of college we were both board members of the same clubs, graduated with the same major, and headed toward the concrete jungle to pursue a career in finance. We both played the piano growing up, loved watching tennis, especially Federer, hated eggplant, and I guess we liked Katy Perry (only one of us runs to her music though…). Cornell engineering had a way of grilling us and Sharat always had a way to lighten the load. His favorite jokes are corny puns and you couldn’t help but laugh at them: “Can’t slam a revolving door,” “a hungry clock always goes back for seconds,” “You should stand around the corner if you’re cold – it’s 90 degrees,” “a farmer is best in his field” – really the list goes on. We became fast friends and each other’s confidante through the course of college and our relationship has only grown stronger since then.”

Sharat likes to mention that Amitha makes everything much more complicated than anything may need to be, which she agrees, probably isn’t a lie. He shares, “I had been planning to propose for awhile, but her work schedule made it a little difficult to plan. At the sight of a free weekend, her friends were inviting her to a college reunion in Chicago. Unbeknownst to her, I was planning to fly in and surprise her in front of her friends. However, Amitha quickly became busy and decided against the trip, ruining proposal idea #1. Proposal idea #2 was a hit, however. We decided to take a trip to Newport, Rhode Island, famous for its beautiful scenery. We began the day with a trip to the International Tennis Hall of Fame and ended the day with a proposal on the cliff walk on the shore bordering the ocean. My only question was how long do you think we will be together, which I also answered by saying, I thought it would be a lifetime (she agreed).”

Amitha and Sharat will be getting married in August at the Brooklake Country Club. She shares, “Many would think that just because we are both Indian, it should be simple to plan our wedding. We are actually from two different states in India and incorporating both influences has been a learning experience, literally. A lot of the time I am figuring out what happens in my culture and he in his – and understanding where the traditions overlap. Hopefully it will all come together next August! We can’t wait to celebrate with family from India and some of our best and oldest friends who knew us from the very beginning.”