A Destination Wedding Weekend at St. Regis Bal Harbour in Miami, Florida

Although Arian Agrawal technically met Arjun Naskar at some point while they were attending MIT, neither of them left a lasting impression on each other. Despite having several mutual friends, they mostly ran in separate social circles and didn’t cross paths often. It wouldn’t be until Fall of 2012 that the two would have the opportunity to meet again, after they both moved to San Francisco to pursue their startup dreams.

“I moved into an apartment with some friends from MIT and Arian happened to move in next door with her best friend, Sarina,” Arjun recalls. “At Sarina’s birthday party, I found out she was looking for a job. Luckily for me, I had just joined a startup a few weeks earlier and knew that they were hiring. I invited her to coffee a few days later where I convinced her to interview for the job. A few days after that she became my new coworker and friend.”

The demanding job led to several years of long days, and work trips together to Miami, Toronto, New York, and Las Vegas. For the two friends, taking their relationship to the next level was inevitable.

“The next few years were intense,” Arjun shares. “The company we had worked at went out of business. Money became tight and we moved in together. If that were not enough, we decided to start a company together along with my future best man, Daniel. After that pressure cooker, it was clear we could last through anything.”

After getting over their initial career hurdles together, the pair traveled to New York for Christmas in 2018, where Arjun told Arian’s parents about his intention to propose. A couple days later, they jetted off to the Azores for the holidays, and Arjun popped the question during a rainy hike. Arian promptly said, “No.” After the shock wore off, she modified her answer to a, “Yes!”

With roughly a year to plan the wedding, Arian and Arjun started creating mood boards for their ideal wedding weekend. They quickly identified their non-negotiables which included a multi-day party, a warm oceanside location, a celebration of their Indian roots and Ariana’s Latin heritage, friends and family, and a minimal ceremony. For extra inspiration, they even spent weekends walking through the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art with their laptops, ready to plan.

“Planning a wedding is like making a cake,” says Arjun. “All the ingredients need to come together. Arian is the batter, the main substance of the cake. She made decisions like our location, venue, and all the vendors. Our vendors and family are like the icing, holding all the layers together. Without them, the cake would surely crumble. Finally, I am the sprinkles – ultimately totally unrequired, but makes the cake extra special and memorable with decisions like having a classic convertible as our baraat vehicle or having spiked ice pops to cool off our guests in the heat.”

Before long, the bride and groom were headed to Florida for a destination wedding weekend in Miami. One memorable aspect was how they came up with a code word with their photographers. Periodically, the photographers would say, “Pineapple!” – a cue for the couple to stop and take in the moment. They also made it a point to meet up once every hour to pause and look out at their friends and family together. 

“To say that we felt blessed is a huge understatement,” says the groom. “We really don’t like the spotlight so it was so incredible to us that friends and family would fly all the way to Miami to hang out with us. The music, the food, the decor all worked harmoniously together to convey the fun vibe that we wanted. It was perfect. All of a sudden, it was Sunday and the weekend was over. Along with a few of our friends, we went to the Bahamas for two days to keep the party going.”

By the time the newlyweds returned to the United States, COVID-19 and quarantine orders were taking place. Arian and Arjun are grateful to have been able to safely celebrate with their loved ones beforehand, and they look forward to their future 2021 honeymoon in South Africa.