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AMY SCHERZERHaving met when they were younger, Tejas Patel and Bijal Shah reconnect in college and recently were married.
WESTSHORE - Tejas Patel didn't have to look far to find a wife. Bijal Shah was practically family.
But with such close family ties came an abundance of caution. What if things didn't work out? How would it affect their parents?
"Our parents' friendship began before we were born," Tejas said.
Wisely, the adults did not interfere. They let their children find their own way to the altar, and they couldn't be more pleased.
"They knew the worst thing they could do was push us," said Tejas, 27.
"It had to happen by itself," said his father, Pradip Patel. Mr. Patel and his wife, Naini, came to the United States from India in 1976. Their first stop: the Wayne, N.J., home of Bharat and Bharati Shah.
Mr. Patel and Mrs. Shah are linked through siblings. His brother, Kiran, is married to her sister, Pallavi, both prominent Tampa physicians and philanthropists.
Pradip Patel led the family to Tampa where he bought a motel near Busch Gardens. Other family members followed, including Drs. Kiran and Pallavi Patel. Their three children, Sonali, Shilen and Sheetal, are Tejas' and Bijal's cousins.
Bijal, 26, visited her cousins every summer "and sometimes Tejas would come over to play," she said. She remembers a "cute extrovert" who used to tease the girls. He recalls "a shy girl from New Jersey."
Years later, they recognized each other among hundreds of college students at a Diwali party in Philadelphia. A graduate of Berkeley Prep, Tejas was a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania. Bijal attended Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J.
Their parents were eager to know if they exchanged phone numbers.
"No way," Tejas said. "We're practically related."
Obviously they changed their minds. In June 2001, they saw each other again at parties in Tampa. The families were celebrating Naini and Pradip's 25th anniversary and Senali Patel's wedding.
"She was so pretty, I was like, wow," Tejas said. By then, she was in law school at Seton Hall in Newark. He worked for the family business, WellCare, Florida's largest HMO, running First Choice Health Plan in New Haven, Conn.
Tejas seized every chance that week to talk. They discovered they lived about 80 minutes apart and made plans to meet in New York City. Both admit that marriage crossed their minds.
A few months later, Bijal knew "he was it." Tejas moved slower, fearful of jeopardizing their parents' friendship.
"I saw so much potential there, I didn't want to screw it up," he said.
Tejas proposed Feb. 27, 2003. He timed it to coincide with her spring break so they could fly to Tampa the next day to share the news. WellCare had been sold, and he was moving home to pursue some real estate projects.
He called the Shahs to clue them in.
"When I told her mother I was going to propose, she said, "It's about time.' "
He bought Bijal a dress and shoes, and hired a limo driver to deliver them and drive her to a meeting spot. She didn't know what to think when her doorbell rang.
"I thought Tejas was in Tampa, and here was this box and a poem asking me to meet him in New York for dinner," she recalled.
He was waiting in Union Square, on the corner where they met for their first date. After dinner, he surprised her with two tickets to the Lion King.
After the play, they went to meet friends for drinks at the Paramount hotel. Finding no one at the bar, Tejas suggested they might go look at a room. She went along, used to his impulsiveness.
The door opened to four vases of tulips and red rose petals strewn about. On the bed he had placed a book, What Should I do With My Life, by Po Bronson. Inside Tejas wrote, "Whatever I do in my life, as long as I'm with you, I'll be happy." Hidden in a square he had hollowed out, a diamond ring.
The celebration continued in Tampa the next day and hasn't stopped since.
In December 2003, the couple flew to India to exchange engagement vows in Pradip Patel's village, Mota Fofalia. Some of Tejas' Berkeley friends joined them, including Katty Hoover, Scott Zinober, Raj Ravi and Lauren Thomas.
The betrothed rode a horse-drawn carriage through the narrow, unpaved streets. Throngs followed the loud and colorful procession with flowers and music, ending up in a soccer field behind a school the Patel family built. Some 4,000 villagers were treated to dinner, dancing and fireworks.
"We both wanted to follow the traditional ways, especially for the many relatives that could not come to America for the wedding," Tejas said.
The festivities resumed Sept. 1 when 1,000 friends and relatives ate and danced to the Bombay Beats at a Garba party at the Indian Conference Center in Carrollwood.
The next morning, 100 gathered at the Patels' home in Carrollwood for the priest's blessing. They returned that night for dinner and the mehendi wedding ritual. The bride's female relatives spent hours applying red henna designs on her hands and feet symbolizing happiness in marriage.
Last weekend, the Patel family flew about 200 guests to Newark to see the couple wed at the Sheraton Crossroads in Mahwah, N.J.
Mr. and Mrs. Patel are honeymooning in Tahiti and Bora Bora before returning to their apartment in the Westshore area. Bijal has taken her Florida bar exam to practice law; Tejas is developing Paradise Pointe condominiums on Treasure Island.
- To pass along tips to Amy Scherzer, reach her at 226-3332 or scherzer@sptimes.com
DATEBOOKSUNDAY: Forester's Tampa Tailgate benefits Cystic Fibrosis Foundation; watch Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Washington Redskins on TV and eat food from 20 restaurants; noon; Raymond James Stadium East Club level; $50; 249-2111.
MONDAY: VIVO! Membership Mixer, That's Amore, 700 Harbour Post Drive; 5:30 to 8 p.m. Meet Susan Haig, associate conductor of the Florida Orchestra; $10; 503-2341.
WEDNESDAY: VIVO! Jazzmatazz series, An Evening of Ellington; 7:30 p.m.; Hyatt Regency Tampa; $35 VIVO members, $45 nonmembers; 503-2341.
SEPT. 17: Dessert First benefits Girl Scouts of Suncoast Council; vote for the best dessert made from Girl Scout cookies before dinner and auctions; 7 p.m.; Renaissance Tampa Hotel at International Plaza; $135; 262-1759.
SEPT. 18: Cultural Carousel Ball benefits 10 health, education, arts and cultural charities; 6 p.m.; Indian Conference Center, sponsored by the Patel Foundation for Global Understanding and JPMorganChase; $300; 471-4380.
SEPT. 22: Florida Orchestra Guild Tune-Up Tea; 1-4 p.m.; Culbreath Isles home of Jane Strom; new members welcome; 989-0044.
SEPT. 23: Florida Prostate Cancer Network Celebration of Hope Gala, 6 p.m.; Hyatt Regency Tampa; $150; 806-2800.
SEPT. 25: Tampa Hispanic Heritage Inc. and the Mayor's Hispanic Heritage Committee honors man and woman of the year; 6:30 p.m.; Marriott Waterside, $60; auction and casino games; 967-1413.