The night was full of choreographed performances from friends and family set to a mix of Bollywood classics and English pop. Parents, cousins, friends from New York and Mumbai all took to the floor before the couple closed the evening with their own dance, moving from Falguni Pathak’s Maine Payal Hai Chankai to Rihanna’s We Found Love and finally Chunnari Chunnari, complete with red chunnaris as props.
Almeida and Ford’s story began six years earlier in New York. The two met on a dating app and planned their first date for November 7, 2020 at a neighbourhood bar near Almeida’s apartment. That morning, however, Joe Biden’s election victory turned the city into an impromptu street party.
Ford texted to ask if Almeida would meet her at McCarren Park instead, where crowds had gathered to celebrate. When Almeida arrived with a bottle of wine in hand, she discovered Ford already there with about 30 friends, music playing and hundreds of people spread across the park. In the middle of the celebration, the two laid out a picnic blanket and spent the evening talking. “There was an instant connection of comfort and ease that felt rare and special,” Almeida recalls.
Over the next few years, their relationship grew alongside frequent travel. Friends often joked that the pair only lived in New York part-time. By 2023, the couple had already begun speaking openly about marriage. “Once we knew we were ready, we said, ‘Okay, on the count of three, say whether you want to propose or be proposed to,’” Almeida says. “On three, I said I’d like to propose and she said she’d like to be proposed to. It felt like perfect synchronicity.”
The proposal came the following February during a trip to Denver. At the city’s botanical gardens, surrounded by winter evergreens, Almeida got down on one knee and asked Ford to marry her. The rings themselves were designed together as yin-yangs of one another, Almeida’s set with her mother’s sapphire and Ford’s with a diamond from her great-grandmother.
When it came time to plan their wedding in Mumbai, the couple approached it as a creative collaboration. Ford, an art director and illustrator based in Brooklyn, designed much of the visual identity herself, creating the invitations, wedding website, signage and illustrated favours. “This colourful multi-day celebration was truly a raw, unapologetic showcase of ourselves,” she says. The website doubled as a guide for their international guests, featuring illustrated recommendations of Almeida’s favourite cafés, restaurants and bars across the city.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: vogue.in
