How We Met
Farzin and Alan first met 5 years ago as co-workers at an education, non-profit company in the Financial District in NYC. They were hired at the same time for the same department. Although it was a relatively small company, they never interacted much during formal work hours. In fact, Alan would learn later on that Farzin didn’t particularly like him given his “Cornell, Ivy league” background. She thought he was rather pretentious and a “know-it-all”. “Perhaps she’s just really into Andy from The Office?,” Alan often thought to himself. After work, it was typical for Farzin and Alan’s coworkers to go out to happy hours in Manhattan. Alan left the company in the Fall of 2014, but Farzin stayed.
In an effort to stay in touch with his former coworkers, Alan would meet up with them after work for happy hours, dinners, etc. Slowly but surely, Farzin became enraptured by Alan’s charm, and Alan simply couldn’t stop thinking about her. In the summer of 2014, Farzin and Alan began dating, and they became “official” in January 2015. Over the years and many curry vs. jalapenos, naan vs. tortillas conversations later, Farzin and Alan fell in love. From their immigrant background to their love of making each night out an adventure, Farzin and Alan share much in common. Fast-forward 3 years of a too-good-even-for-a-sitcom dating relationship in NYC to December of 2017 when Alan decided to pop the big question. I mean…how often do you find a Catholic immigrant from Mexico falling in love with a Muslim immigrant from Bangladesh?
how they asked
Over the years, Farzin and Alan have gotten to know each other’s friends and family quite well and considering how they “met” to how they eventually “fell in love,” Alan had quite the plan up his sleeve. He decided to gather 32 of their closest friends/family and organize a scavenger hunt for Farzin across 13 of their favorite bars/restaurants. Farzin’s “journey” began on Sunday, Jan 7th 2018 at 12 PM on the Upper East Side at a “brunch” with her sister, Afia, stationed at Alan and Farzin’s favorite local bar. To her surprise, Farzin was met by Afia and Rollie with a clue on how to get to the next place. The clues were given to Farzin on Post-It notes in Alan’s own handwriting. The Post-It notes were significant because Alan often surprises Farzin Post-It notes containing small messages of love or encouragement. It’s his signature “thing”. Farzin would go on to visit 11 more bars, from the Upper East side to the Financial District to the Lower East Side, each time met by a different group of friends with clues on how to get to the next spot.
There were 4 friends (2 in California and 2 in Florida) that were included via FaceTime! Farzin’s final stop was the restaurant Alan took her to on their first official date. There, Farzin’s family and Alan’s family were waiting with the final clue at the very same table where Farzin and Alan sat during their first date. Farzin arrived at the restaurant at 4:30 PM (Alan knew she would arrive at roughly that time because he had “rehearsed” her journey 1 week prior, by himself). The final clue was given to Farzin by her mom, and it indicated that Alan was coming next. At that moment, Alan came in to pop the big question.
Although the day had been planned to perfection when it came time to get down on one knee Alan broke down…he couldn’t even get the words out of his mouth! After blacking out for about ten seconds, he sputtered out some words and Farzin said “obviously!” Afterward, as a final surprise, everyone from the scavenger hunt was waiting for the Garcias and the Hossains at a bar nearby for an after-party!
