Puppy Makes 3: Ishani and Ritesh's Boston Engagement

Meeting in Toronto, dating long distance between Boston and Toronto, getting engaged in New York City, and planning a wedding in India — Ishani and Ritesh's love story crosses both international and national lines. But when it came to their engagement shoot, they wanted it to be representative of the new home they've made together in Boston. Photographer Christian Pleva captured their daily life in this Fall engagement session that took place around their neighborhood on the North End of Boston, along the waterfront, and Fanueil Hall. They even included their adorable puppy, Rambo, in a few of the shots! Scroll through the photos now and read more about the day from the bride-to-be. Photos by Christian Pleva

Tell us a little bit about your relationship. How did you meet?

"Ritesh and I had a lot of mutual friends in common. Over 100 according to Facebook. But we actually had never met or even knew that one another existed until my best friend's cousin happened to introduce us. After a few failed attempts of us trying to meet up, we accidentally bumped into one another at a party, and from then onwards we were inseparable. However, we had a bit of a journey ahead of us. I was living in Boston for school and Ritesh was in Toronto. We met over the Summer that I went back home, and I was only home for about two months. Once I came back to Boston, we began our long-distance relationship and worked through the long-distance hurdles together. Ritesh ended up moving to Boston after two years." Photo by Christian Pleva

How long did you date before getting engaged?

"We dated for one and a half years before getting engaged. When long distance is a major factor in the relationship, you get to know the person very well, very fast. A few months into our relationship he pretty much knew all about my imperfections and flaws in addition to all the good things, too, of course! We both knew very early on how special our bond was." Photo by Christian Pleva

How did Ritesh propose?

"Ritesh proposed to me at the Gramercy Tavern in New York City. We often traveled to different locations to switch up traveling back and forth between Toronto and Boston; so when we initially planned the NYC trip, I thought we were just planning our typical 'let's have fun and go somewhere different' trips. Ritesh and I like to spilt the responsibility of planning an itinerary by assigning days to each other, but I became too involved with the itinerary and made it very challenging for him to do what he actually wanted to do for the proposal. Then his flight from Toronto was delayed due to a snowstorm. He managed to switch flights by showing different flight attendants my engagement ring to convince them to let him switch over to a different flight so that he could make it on time for our reservations. He managed to get on a different flight and his plane flew in 20 minutes after mine.

My proposal came at a fancy restaurant in a fortune cookie. It was perfect. The fortune cookie actually meant a lot to both of us since we always have a game around fortunes for fortune cookies. Before I had opened by cookie I remember asking Ritesh excitedly, 'what's our game for this set?' He was so nervous, but he managed to state, 'how about you read me my fortune and I will read you yours?' I began to open my fortune cookie and inside it it said, 'Ishani will you marry me?' my heart stopped and I thought he was joking. But thank goodness he wasn't and I felt a rush of emotions. Of course I said yes, after I repeatedly asked him, 'Seriously!? Really!?'" Photo by Christian Pleva

Describe the engagement shoot theme. How did the day go? What was your favorite part?

"Our engagement shoot was amazing! We chose to have our shoot in mid October to capture the essence of Fall — the leaves were just in the process of changing colors — while at the same time there was still plenty of greenery around everywhere. The main theme that we were going for was simple. We just wanted to be captured in our element, with us being us. We wanted pictures of us hanging out with our dog in our Boston neighborhood since it had so much significance for us.

I had also done some research online a few days prior to our shoot to get some ideas of different poses or backgrounds that I really wanted. I ended up sharing some of these inspirational pictures with Christian. On the day of shoot, we lucked out with the weather; it ended up being sunny, warm, and beautiful. We were relaxed and just went with the flow. We had such a blast with our photographer." Photo by Christian Pleva

Any tips for other brides-to-be on taking engagement pics?

"Have an open discussion with your photographer of what your expectations are from them during the engagement shoot. Do your research and show them examples of styles or fun things that you like and would like to incorporate. And finally, on the actual day, have a wonderful time with your significant other!" Photo by Christian Pleva

Can you tell me a bit about your wedding?

"We really wanted a destination wedding. We ended up booking a palace in Jaipur, India, to have a wonderful traditional Indian wedding. Our theme was 'royal Indian wedding' and was pretty intimate with 200 close family and friends who traveled 20-plus hours to get to our wedding destination. It was a three-day affair at the palace, and we booked the entire palace where our guests and us stayed together.

We had events planned for all three days including an afternoon mix and mingle with games for family and friends, evening cocktail party, Mendhi (Henna) party, a rehearsal dinner, the wedding, and the reception. Each day had its own theme and vision. We had a lot of traditional indian customs that we also incorporated in addition to having a Western spin on things. I had seven bridesmaids, who ended up wearing similar saris, and Ritesh had eight groomsmen, who wore traditional matching indian outfits.

Ritesh had a procession of elephants, camels, and horses that led him to the altar, and he rode in on a white horse. I was carried in on a 'golden throne' to the altar. It was incredible. The best part of all of it was that we got to have the time of lives with our closest friends and family members for three full days. We built amazing memories and it was a magical experience." Photo by Christian Pleva