A New York City Love Story: How I Met My Husband

Today kicks off my one-year-wedding-anniversary-weekend with my husband!

As many of you know 2011 was an especially action packed year for us that included racing a marathon, getting married twice on two different continents and in two different faiths, honeymooning, moving to a new home, a hip surgery, and going out on my own with the launch of Sarah Sarna Interior Design.

Needless to say, we’re still getting settled – a.k.a. living life to the fullest, while fitting everything in as best we can!  And now that the dust has settled a bit, I’m so happy to be able to begin blogging about good stuff like how I met my husband, our wedding(s), and how it all fuels and inspires my work at SSID.

We’ll start at the beginning of how Vikas and I met - but first a collage of the first night that we met.  Note: the collage will all be explained once you finish up the post!

 The true beginning starts here:  It was April of 2008 and I was working in the Fuller Building on West 57th for Interior Designer Sandra Nunnerley.

After work, my colleague and I decided to get a drink.  So we headed around the corner to Tao.

We were at the bar (pictured on the left), ordering our white wines, when a scholarly looking fellow came over and started chatting with us.  He was wearing a tweed jacket with elbow patches and was completely drawn to my friend.  Said gentleman invited my friend and me to a party that he said he’d be attending on Saturday.  He exchanged numbers with my co-worker, told us he would find another gentleman to be my date for the party night, and explained that it would be a double date over dinner with the party to follow.

How random, right?  Yet sure enough, this gentleman and my colleague texted consistently over the next few days (I believe we met him on a Tuesday?).  It seemed that he had asked his boss to be my date and that we really would be meeting for dinner in Chelsea at 7:30PM on Saturday April 12, 2008.

The party, my friend and I learned, would be an 80s costume party somewhere in the Meatpacking District.  And, it would be a celebration of one of the gentlemen’s colleagues’ 40th birthday.  I decided to wear a pair of my trusty J. Crew pointy toe flats (exactly like these, but in a banana yellow that read almost as neon) and a black jersey dress with an asymmetrical hemline as my mini contributions to the 80s flair.

Saturday came upon us, and then it was showtime. A few minutes early, I was the first one to arrive at Omai for our Vietnamese meal.  I sat at the bar (pictured on the left) and ordered a glass of prosecco.  My date was the third to arrive, and he introduced himself as Vikas.  I was very uncertain of how to pronounce it and managed to refrain from doing so by asking questions like, “and what would you like?,” in lieu of trying to replicate the name he introduced himself as.  I learned later, several days later, that it is pronounced like Picasso, i.e. like this.  It is a meaningful and beautiful Hindi name.
But back to the story.  Vikas introduced himself and the four of us were seated at a table against the wall, under one of the inset Vietnemese lighted panels (pictured at right).

After dinner, on the walk to the birthday festivities, Vikas and I chatted solo for the first time.  Although at dinner it seemed we had little in common, on the walk we were more relaxed and realized that there was indeed overlap in our outlook, what we liked to read, and our sense of humor.  From there we started to have fun.

It turned out that the 40th birthday celebration was at a hotspot by the name of Mansion.  Once we were outfitted with our neon bracelets, Vikas went to get a drink for us at the open bar.  The guest of honor had reserved the entire club and the 80′s music and dancing were in full swing when we arrived.  Also in full swing were trapeze artists, lofted high in the air with scarves that they twirled up, down, and around in.  It was a spectacular event, and I hadn’t seen anything like it before, nor since.  The venue was therefore packed and at at last we found a great spot close to the stage where we could dance.  When Vikas and began dancing together to Michael Jackson, we officially clicked.  Synergy happened on the dance floor and we were having a blast.

When it was time for the birthday boy to come out on stage, in keeping with the 1980′s theme, he had two models in full 80s party couture come out with him. Then came the celebration’s crowning moment transpired: the DeLorean DMC-12, à la Back to the Future drove on stage.  We loved it, the crowd loved it, and on we danced.

From Mansion we headed over to Buddha Bar for more dancing,

and as it was such a beautiful night (a classic New York City summer, kicked off in April, with temperatures in the mid-80s), we went over to the Gansevoort.

By this time, well into the wee hours of the morning, we were all ready for a bite.  In my case, the tuna nicoise salad - with a final glass of bubbly.

On the cobblestones in front of Pastis, we parted ways (after exchanging numbers), and my first meeting of my future husband was complete.

Parting shot: an interior inspired by the so-very-many interiors we visited that special night.

 

Images from OUR FIRST DATE / Mansion / Trapeze Artist /  Buddha Bar / Gansevoort Hotel Facade / Pastis Menu /

Images from STORYLINE / Fuller Building / Sandra Nunnerley Office Interior /  TAO Bar and Dining Room / Omai / Mansion / Buddha Bar / Gansevoort Hotel Rooftop Bar /Pastis /

Images from THE INTERIOR / Life is A Party, similar available via Everything Neon / Mirror Ball / Club Interior with Purple Lighting / Silas Seandel Bronze Cocktail Table  / Pastis Mosaic Tile Floor Detail / Neon Wristbands /