When it came time to plan their larger celebration, a wedding in New Delhi felt inevitable. As lovers of art, history and culture, they wanted the celebrations to unfold in the city that shaped Shukla.
They planned the wedding in New Delhi together with Shukla’s family. Her mother, whose background includes floral design and choreographing fashion shows, played a central role in shaping the décor and visual language. “We wanted a boutique, highly customised wedding unique to our aesthetics, family stories and culture,” they explain. “We wanted every detail to tell a story about us.”
Honouring culture, for them, began with textiles. “We quite literally traced my family’s map across India,” Shukla says. In Lucknow, her father’s home, they worked with a designer from the royal family of Awadh to revive a nearly forgotten zardozi technique. From Jaipur came leheriya and bandhani. From Kolkata, in honour of her grandmother’s Bengali roots, an heirloom kantha stole. “Each piece of handloom holds a story of the women in my family, and of the artisans who keep these crafts alive.”
Sound was equally essential. The celebrations opened on October 9 with a baithak at Bikaner House, held in honour of Shukla’s grandmother. “Ritual for us is also sonic,” she says. Hindustani classical singer Vidya Shah performed a programme dedicated to forgotten female gramophone artists, as friends and family sat together.
The next morning brought haldi by the reflection pool at The Imperial. “There was something about the morning light with the fragrance of gendha phool, mogra, sandalwood and rose water that made the ceremony feel so grounding,” Shukla says. Guests arrived early, dressed in hues of yellow. “I saw everyone who will stand by us for the rest of our lives.”
The mehendi and sangeet unfolded on October 10, moving between the family home near Lodhi Gardens and India Habitat Centre. Folk percussionists from Rajasthan, led by 13th-generation nagada maestro Nathu Lal Solanki, turned the mehendi into a participatory drum circle. The sangeet blended choreographed dances with performances from friends, Bayes himself, and Shukla’s brother Aditeya.
The Hindu rituals took place on October 11 at the family home. Shukla walked down the aisle beneath her grandmother’s 64-year-old wedding sari, held above her as a chaadar. Priests from Vrindavan filled the space with continuous chants.
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