Close your Tinder account — Twitter is the hot new place to find love.
Anuj Patel and Sumita Dalmia — a newly-engaged couple living in Atlanta, Georgia — experienced a techy love story like no other. Thanks to Dalmia’s social media obsession, the two ended up randomly meeting on Twitter.
Mashable had the pleasure of speaking with Patel and Dalmia via email to find out more about their romantic meet-cute.
Dalmia has used Twitter to find many professional connections, multiple internships and has even won “close to $10,000 in prizes,” ranging from concert tickets to tickets for sporting events. In 2013, she was perusing Twitter to find tickets to a local event when she discovered a tweet from Patel saying that he had an extra ticket to the event. She reached out, but Patel had already given the ticket away.
@apatel120 Do you still have an extra ticket to Jazoo? I’d love to go if you still have it! You don’t by any chance have two do you? 🙂
— Sumita Dalmia (@SumitaDalmia) September 13, 2013
“I honestly didn’t think anyone would respond, let alone someone I had never met,” Patel told Mashable. “I was really surprised to see that someone who I didn’t know or even followed had not only found, but also replied to my tweet.”
He and Dalmia instantly hit it off and began to chat.
@apatel120 No problem, thanks anyways! 🙂 Just noticed you are in the Sports Marketing program- that’s awesome! That’s my 2nd passion 🙂
— Sumita Dalmia (@SumitaDalmia) September 13, 2013
@apatel120 Yes 🙂 Just graduated law school and am aspiring to be an entertainment/sports lawyer but also love marketing/brand devlpment! 🙂
— Sumita Dalmia (@SumitaDalmia) September 13, 2013
The two direct messaged one another, which led to exchanging texts and phone calls before eventually meeting in person.
Patel, like many romantics, decided to incorporate the place where the two lovebirds first met when it came time to propose. In this case, of course, that meant Twitter.
Patel created a ‘Twitter scavenger hunt’ for Dalmia that took her on quite a journey.
For a couple that met on @twitter, it’s fitting that we had a #twitter #proposal! Scavenger hunt w/ tweet clues! pic.twitter.com/U1yfGsMEkO
— Sumita Dalmia (@SumitaDalmia) December 21, 2015
While Dalmia was searching, Patel also live-tweeted the clues, with the special hashtag #SumitaFindAnuj.
After receiving a clue that led her to a horse and carriage ride, she was taken to a hotel, given a change of clothes and told to travel to the hotel’s helipad.
“The tweet clues 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,” Dalmia said.
Change into this dress & take the elevator all the way up. To me you are very near; I’m very excited you’re almost here. #SumitaFindAnuj
— Anuj Patel (@apatel120) December 19, 2015
On the roof, Patel was waiting with his final tweet, which read, “Will You Marry Me?”
Image: Meghna Nagarajan and Nawal Taoussi
Dalmia then tweeted her answer to the big question — and it was “Yes!”
Image: Meghna Nagarajan and Nawal Taoussi
Image: Meghna Nagarajan and Nawal Taoussi
Patel said Dalmia was “blown away” by the scavenger hunt. “I don’t think she expected it to be so reflective of our story and how we met,” he said.
The couple that meets on @twitter stays on @twitter. Social media scavenger hunt proposal was a success. #shesaidyes pic.twitter.com/pOyWxzrnRJ
— Anuj Patel (@apatel120) December 20, 2015
As for the future, the tech-focused couple said they would love to incorporate Twitter into their wedding.
They’ve even chosen a perfect wedding hashtag to commemorate the day: #Tweethearts2016
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