Who needs online dating sites when you can tweet your way to true love?
An adorable couple from Atlanta, Georgia were recently engaged in an extraordinary Twitter proposal, and the bride-to-be is sharing their contemporary love story in an exclusive interview with The Knot.
- 27-year old
- attorney and
- social media
- coordinator, Sumita Dalmia, replied to a twTwitter proposal
Anuj Patel and Sumita Dalmia hold up their tweets after their Twitter proposal. Credit: Nawal Taoussi and Meghna Nagarajan
“I often use Twitter to search for tickets to events that I can win,” Dalmia tells us. “I searched for the event ‘Jazzo’ and his tweet came up saying that he had an extra ticket. By the time I got to him, he no longer had the ticket, but his bio caught my attention because he worked in sports, a field I love. From there a few tweets led to DMs, e-mailing, texting, calling, and then meeting in person.”
The soon-to-be bride became fast friends with Anuj Patel, a 26-year old sports marketer from Atlanta. Although their Twitter interactions initially led to friendship, they eventually fell in love. “Our first date was an Atlanta Dream (WNBA Team) game,” Dalmia recalls. “It reflected our sports passions and was super low-key. This happened a year after we met on Twitter, because we were friends for a year. I met Anuj in person about two months after we met online. We met in 2013, started dating in 2014, got engaged in 2015, and plan to marry in 2016!”
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The couple, who officially began dating in August 2014, continued to keep things “low-key” for a year and a half. But Patel went to great lengths when he decided to make it official. “The actual proposal was atop a helipad in midtown Atlanta,” Dalmia shares of the Twitter Proposal. “Given [our] background, it was only fitting that his proposal was ‘Twitter’ themed.”
“The day started with my sister dragging me out of bed for breakfast. Then, she led me to Drybar to have my hair done,” Dalmia recalls fondly. “At this point, I knew something must be going on. As soon as we left the hair salon, a few of my closest friends were waiting outside, and they had the first clue for me, along with instructions for the scavenger hunt. I was blown away just by the first clue. Anuj had created his own ‘tweet clues.'”
Twitter Proposal
Sumita Dalmia read Anuj Patel’s first tweet for his Twitter proposal scavenger hunt. Credit: Nawal Taoussi and Meghna Nagarajan
“The tweet clues resembled an actual tweet so perfectly, and they were already time stamped with the EXACT time I was to receive each clue throughout the day,” the bride-to-be says of the all-day Twitter proposal. “My sister and friends were tasked with getting me to each location on time. The tweet clues always led me to a meaningful location in our relationship and at each new location, there was a close friend of mine waiting to greet me with a rose and the next clue.”
“Anuj was also tweeting as soon as I received a clue, so I had to go on Twitter and favorite and retweet the same tweet clue that I had just received on the actual website as well,” Dalmia tells us. “He also had a unique hashtag, ‘#SumitaFindAnuj.’ He had asked two of my friends to follow me all day, capturing photos and videos.”
“One of the last clues included a horse carriage ride around downtown Atlanta,” she goes on. “The horse carriage ride ended at the W Hotel in Midtown where he had booked a room. When I went in, a dress and my shoes were already laid out for me along with the last clue, which asked me to take the elevator up to the helipad.”
Twitter Proposal
Anuj Patel proposed to Sumita Dalmia on top of the W Hotel’s helipad on December 19, 2015. Credit: Nawal Taoussi and Meghna Nagarajan
After a whirlwind of a day, Dalmia was in for a surprise she could have never imagined. “I headed up there, and there he was, waiting for me at the top,” she shares with The Knot. “Anuj is deathly afraid of heights, so the fact that he chose this spot to propose blew me away. Not only was he waiting with the ring, but he had one more tweet for me! He held up a tweet sign that said, ‘Will you marry me?’ It was perfect. He had the entire day timed so that this last tweet would be at 5 p.m., right when the sun was setting over Atlanta.”
But the epic Twitter proposal didn’t mark the end of Patel’s creative surprises. “After saying yes, he led me back down to the hotel, where all of my friends were waiting with one more surprise,” the future bride recalls. “They had choreographed a dance to two of my favorite artists, Justin Bieber and the Backstreet Boys. Anuj does not dance, he always refuses to, but he completely blew me away when he joined in in the middle of one of the songs. He had learned the dance just for me! As if this was not enough, after the dance, we headed to Tin Lizzy’s restaurant. He had both of our families waiting for a celebratory dinner. It was truly a magical day.”
Twitter Proposal engagement ring
Sumita Dalmia’s engagement ring is a custom Neil Lane design from Jared. Credit: Nawal Taoussi and Meghna Nagarajan
The Twitter proposal took place on December 19, 2015, and Dalmia couldn’t be happier with her ring. “The engagement ring is just beautiful,” she gushes. “It is a round halo design from Jared and is a custom Neil Lane design with a beautiful 1.3-carat stone in the middle.”
The duo, who are both of Indian heritage, are planning a November wedding. “South Asian weddings are a 3-4 day affair,” she explains, “so our festivities will kick off Thanksgiving Day, and we will be married that Saturday, November 26th.”
So, will the Twitter-themed romance continue into the wedding? We just had to ask the future bride. “We definitely want to incorporate Twitter,” Dalmia tells The Knot. “Our wedding hashtag is #Tweethearts2016. We are hoping that we may get some help from Twitter for our wedding as well.”
Sumita Dalmia and Anuj Patel's Twitter Proposal
Sumita Dalmia and Anuj Patel pose with all the tweets from their Twitter proposal. Credit: Nawal Taoussi and Meghna Nagarajan
“We love the idea of a Twitter-sponsored wedding, because we just love the social media platform so much!” she goes on. “We are also hoping to use all local Atlanta vendors, so we would love the help of any vendors that may have ideas for us to reach out! We are both drowning in student debt, and Indian weddings are naturally very expensive, so any assistance we may receive locally or from Twitter would be amazing.”
Congratulations to the lovebirds. Best wishes for a lifetime of the “tweetest” surprises!