New York Love Affair Winner Announced

Congratulations to Jules and Sachin! Merci New York, NYC Faces and I received so many great entries with beautiful New York love stories, it was very hard to choose. One thing we noticed, many people love New York City maybe even met in New York City and New York City is a large part of their lives but very few are actually getting married in New York. When looking through the entries, Jules and Sachin’s personalities were very evident. The love and respect they have for each other, the way New York is a huge melting pot of people and cultures and how it brought them together, plus their spunky photo endeared them to us. Plus their wedding sounds like so much fun! We are really excited to plan a shoot around their New York Love Affair.

Their friend took this photo as part of their save the dates. They did one word in a different place around NYC and then pasted them together.

Here is part of their story in Jules own words:

My name is Julie Chang and my finance’s name is Sachin Aggarwal. After seeing our last names, you’ve probably already guessed it…Yup, weare “Chindian!” My background is Chinese by way of Atlanta, Georgia and he is Indian by way of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. As you can see,one wrong turn anywhere in our background and we never would’ve crossed paths. So this is one match, we’re sure is meant to be!

We met in NYC six and a half years ago and love living here. We love grabbing a blanket, a bottle of wine and meeting a few friends in Central Park, discovering new coffee shops and restaurants in Nolita, shopping in Soho, enjoying brunch at Little Giant, eating pasta at Eataly, playing tennis at midtown tennis center and scarfing down pizza from Vezzo (we’re big eaters!). NYC has been the set that’s played out our romance and we could not have picked a more beautiful background that captures the cultural unity and open mindedness of our experience.

Sachin and I met as first year investment banking analysts. He was the rockstar former summer intern and I was the newbie they decided to take a chance on. Needless to say, I would turn to Sachin at 2am when my model didn’t balance or my vp would tell me to ask Sachin to explain how to perform the analysis the company requested. He was the perfect analyst…and I hated/admired him for it.

Although I really wanted to hate him, he was just so darn nice and a genuinely good person, I just couldn’t. I decided banking wasn’t for

me and left the analyst program to join a different bank to explore investor relations. I suppose we’d just gotten so used to seeing each

other everyday and hanging out that we found ourselves calling each other and making plans to see each other all the time. We were best friends for a year before we thought about exploring our relationship a bit more.

You see, Sachin is the kind of guy every girl dreams about. He’s kind, generous, strives to always do the right thing and be a good person, he is selfless and sincere and always sees the good in people. We’d been dating for about 2 years when my mom became very ill. We went straight to the hospital and I was an emotional wreck. I’d suspected that Sachin might be the one when we started dating, but my moment of realization came when I woke up on the couch in my mom’s hospital room to see him helping my mom walk up and down the hospital hallway. It touched my heart so much to see how tender and sweet he treated the people I loved.”

“We’d been dating for about 3 years when Sachin popped the question. Sachin proposed at Gotham Hall in Manhattan. It was the same ballroom we’d first met in 6 years ago when we were first year analysts at a welcome reception held there. We shared the moment

with our 2 best friends, Jay and Miriam. Jay was the behind the scenes as DJ and photographer and Miriam tricked me - I thought I was going to a nonprofit event with her! The ballroom was empty except for one table in the middle and candles everywhere. On the table was a scrapbook Sachin had made - the story of us. I was already half way through the book when he walked into the room, ring box in hand. I’d already been tearing up a little but when I saw the ring box, I went into full on sobs. We finished reading the scrapbook together and the last page asks, “you may be wondering how this story ends….it ends with a new beginning and one very important question. Julie, will you marry me?” It was the most magical night of my life!”

A true “fusion” wedding, we’ll have two ceremonies (Hindu and American-Christian) at the New York Athletic Club and then cocktails

and reception at the Essex House. Food will be catered by an Indian caterer that does Indian-Chinese food as well. We’ll be wearing

traditional Indian clothing for the Hindu ceremony and then I’ll be wearing a Carolina Herrera dress for the American-Christian ceremony.

The day will start with a “baraat” through central park down to the NYAC. Sachin will be on a horse with Indian drummers and lots of our friends and family dancing and leading the way through the park to the NYAC. Indian weddings are known for their vibrant colors and we’re excited to be incorporating beautiful shades of red and purple. This will definitely be a unique wedding as we combine our cultures and unite our family and friends, sharing both our past and future.