Photo: Lucy Cuneo1/61We woke up early to take pictures in the nearby town of Cernobbio. The light was so ethereal and made the embroidery on this Oscar de la Renta dress sparkle.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo2/61Momental Designs hand-painted our wedding villa for our welcome notes. We also created a custom crest together that featured the official flowers of India, Pakistan, the United States, and Italy. We used the crest on custom playing cards each guest received. Playing cards is one of my family’s favorite pastimes.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo3/61I leapt into his arms because the boat was swaying so much.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo4/61My mehendi artist included peacocks in the design as a nod to the peacocks embroidered on my wedding dress. She also hid Shehryar’s name in the peacock’s tail—it’s good luck if the groom can find it. He did!
Photo: Lucy Cuneo5/61It was 100 degrees on this day due to a heat wave in Italy the week of our wedding, but thankfully we were poolside for most of the afternoon.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo6/61Our welcome dinner was at a restaurant next door to our wedding venue. The party spilled out into the garden. We played games as endless trays of pasta, Aperol Spritzs, and mini pastries were passed around.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo7/61I love this picture; it defines us as a couple—fun-loving and playful.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo8/61For brunch, we ate off of banana leaves—one of my favorite South Indian wedding traditions. It really was funny watching my family explain to our friends from the United States how to eat vadas and bisibelebath with your hands.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo9/61My planner Rachel Birthistle of The Lake Como Wedding Planner stumbled across these ornate oversized umbrellas from East London Parasol Company just weeks before the wedding, and I immediately fell in love with the look. We reused them throughout the events as shade and splashes of color.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo10/61My mom and aunt draping my sari—no matter how old I get, I’ll never be able to perfectly pleat a sari like they can. The three of us bought it together in Bangalore; it felt like a rite of passage.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo11/61I loved this look because it fully embraced my South Indian roots. My jewelry was all borrowed from my aunts and cousins. I didn’t want to take off the magenta Charlotte Tilbury lip color Kelly used on me, and my hair stylist Viktoria wove those flowers into my braid so flawlessly.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo12/61My aunt blessing me and my future marriage.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo13/61All the richly hued saris dotted along the garden mimicked the parasols, so it made the guests look like part of the wedding decor.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo14/61Each of the tables at the Sangeet featured a different monochromatic tablescape. The entire effect was this explosion of color.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo15/61I loved that the floral arrangements looked like they could’ve been picked from the gardens around the villa.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo16/61My planners Rachel and Taimar of The Lake Como Wedding Planner spent a lot of time sourcing a patterned tile dance floor for the Sangeet that somehow looked Indian, Pakistani, and Italian at the same time. Between the hanging clouds of baby’s breath, the exposed grass, and the colors on the floor, it felt like the garden was dancing around us the whole night.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo17/61My parents found this gown when we were in Delhi. My glam for this event was definitely the most bold I’ve ever done (with slicked-back hair and super smoky green eyes) but I trusted Kelly and Viktoria, so we just went for it. Shehryar said it was his favorite.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo18/61My beautiful bridesmaids.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo19/61Shehryar entering the Sangeet with his dad, uncles, and brother. The men in his family are amazing dancers.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo20/61Shehryar and his groomsmen opened the Sangeet with a dance that had the entire crowd on their feet, whistling and cheering. The boys couldn’t stop doing it all weekend.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo21/61My bridesmaids and I danced to Aishwarya Rai’s iconic Bollywood songs. She was my idol growing up.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo22/61Shehryar’s 82-year-old grandmother traveled from Pakistan for the wedding. She has always supported our relationship, despite the religious and cultural differences.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo23/61My cousins surprised us with this hilarious and elaborate skit about how Shehryar and I met—and I surprised Shehryar by hopping up for one dance too. I learned it the night before at 3:00 a.m.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo24/61We were so loud that my planners were afraid the cops were going to come. They had to drag us all off the dance floor—but we kept the party going inside.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo25/61My niece being camera shy, but she loved that her robe matched the older girls.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo26/61I changed seven times throughout the weekend. Each outfit felt so special and distinct.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo27/61Shehryar opted for a vespa instead of a horse for his bharat. We got a little worried the morning of because we weren’t sure he could drive a manual vespa, but he managed!
Photo: Lucy Cuneo28/61My mom preparing the garlands she used to welcome Shehryar’s family.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo29/61He’s the best dancer I’ve ever seen.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo30/61A full dance party in front of our villa at 10:30 in the morning.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo31/61I could hear the dhol of the bharat from the window as I was doing the final touches on my hair and makeup. It got me nervous and excited.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo32/61Two of my bridesmaids started crying when they saw my final look, and it set off a whole chain of tears in the room.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo33/61My lehenga was by Sulkashana Monga; we found it in Delhi. The pastel colors reminded me of a Jaipur royalty the second I saw it, so we used that as our inspiration for the glam too.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo34/61Kiana from Tulipina blew me away with this mandap. We wanted it to be somewhat traditional, so she incorporated carnations into it, but she mixed in painted palm leaves that added an unexpected tropical flair. The exposed wood kept it clean and didn’t take away from the garden’s views.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo35/61His wave when he saw me made me smile. It was so cute and so him.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo36/61We weren’t supposed to hold hands yet, but we snuck it in before the priest saw.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo37/61It was so hot out that everything looked like it was melting together in this bright, beautiful candy-coated mirage.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo38/61The ceremony went on for a little over an hour because there are so many customs and prayers in a Hindu wedding, but we were laughing throughout.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo39/61The beads symbolize your life overflowing with color, joy, and happiness.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo40/61We had so much fun during this part.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo41/61“Kaho Naa Pyar Hai” played during the recession, and the dhol player joined in. The song starts with the main character yelling “I love you,” and Shehryar spontaneously mimicked it.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo42/61Our bridal party had ombre outfits which gave my planners and florist the idea to dye baby’s breath in a gradient and use that as a prismatic table runner instead of traditional florals.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo43/61The lunch felt really intimate. Everyone sat at long tables, and our siblings and childhood best friends gave really sweet toasts.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo44/61They say the darker your mehendi, the deeper the love for your groom.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo45/61Felt like a fairy tale...
Photo: Lucy Cuneo46/61Shehryar’s uncle officiated our Nikah. It was really important for us to get married in both the Hindu and Muslim faiths. You typically only hear about the conflicts between Pakistan and India or Hindus and Muslims, and it was important for us to show that we can embrace each other’s beliefs and customs and that we aren’t so different after all. Having parents and families who supported that meant everything.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo47/61Exchanging wedding rings
Photo: Lucy Cuneo48/61The town’s church bells coincidentally went off during both ceremonies. It felt magical, and everyone was clapping and cheering in disbelief.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo49/61We wanted the decor to feel glamorous, romantic, and classic.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo50/61Guests dined on North Indian and Pakistani classics like chicken biryani, laccha paratha, navratan dal, and ras malai.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo51/61It took days for them to build this greenhouse structure in the villa’s “secret garden.”
Photo: Lucy Cuneo52/61The vibe felt really striking because we kept the decor muted—a first for the weekend.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo53/61A quiet moment together as husband and wife.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo54/61Excited to spend forever smiling by his side
Photo: Lucy Cuneo55/61I found this clutch from a company called Stelgal on Instagram days before the wedding. It added a perfect touch of playfulness to my lehenga, a show-stopping Anushree Reddy creation I found in Bangalore after searching endlessly.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo56/61My stunning sister, Priyanka. We coincidentally got married on the same date she and my brother-in-law Tarun did five years before. It felt fitting, since I’ve copied her my whole life!
Photo: Lucy Cuneo57/61Walking into the reception. We felt relieved and excited, a little sad it was all over, and hungry...very hungry.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo58/61Trying to keep it together during our parents’ speeches. All four gave toasts and each was so uniquely them—eloquent, emotional, funny, creative! They had everyone laughing and crying, a lot.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo59/61The room felt dazzling as the sun set. The candlelight glittered off of the chandeliers, and we kept looking around in awe.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo60/61At the end of the night, I found my bridesmaids all soaking their feet in cold water—they spent the whole weekend running around to make sure our wedding was perfect.
Photo: Lucy Cuneo61/61In my vows I said, “I promise to always dance with you even if you outshine me on the dance floor.”
