When I was in elementary school, I met a girl with the kindest smile. Throughout our years in grade school and Girl Scouts together, I got to know Krithika’s gentle demeanor and fierce intelligence. 20 years later, I officially mastered pronouncing and spelling her last name (Shanmugasundaram) JUST in time for her to change it! 🙂

A week before Krithika and Ben traveled to India for their wedding ceremony, we met at the Nichols Arboretum to celebrate their Ann Arbor, Michigan engagement. We should also mention that the day before they left for India, they graduated hand-in-hand from The University of Michigan Medical School (where they met).

During the session, we fell in love with their chemistry. (How stunning are their smiles?!) However, afterward, we received an unprompted email from Krithika that made our hearts melt. She passed along the sweetest snapshot of her soon-to-be-husband and why she fell in love with him:

“We studied together frequently and became really good friends, best friends. He was ever the “nice guy”/gentleman always ready to support me, whether it be taking me to the gym at 5am and making me protein smoothies after, or ordering a repair kit and personally fixing my iPhone when the screen broke (the first time), or battling ants that crawled out of my laptop in the library. He accompanied me to go Salsa dancing even when he hatedddd it, and he taught me the rules of football before my first game in the Big House.

Our connection was easy. We were both huge nerds, with a large respect for mathematics (Ben wants to make sure our kids learn Calc by age 5… ), science, and history. And although he has scored higher than me on every standardized test we’ve taken thus far, he somehow believes I am the genius in the relationship (so humble)! I loved that we could jam out to country music, Eminem, 90s punk rock and be moved by it! We enjoyed similar movies (he likes rom coms!) and we loved to explore new places and experiences. He has a sense of social and moral responsibility that outshines mine, and often he is my moral compass. He is so compassionate, self-less, and an outstanding teacher. His example is a lofty one, and I am so lucky to stand next to it each day!”

We can not wait to follow all these two accomplish together. We wish you all the best Dr. and Dr. White!