From Tuscany with Love: Experience the Magic of an Indian Wedding in the Heart of Italy

Kiran and I met in 2010 at the University of Maryland and were the best of friends for 7 years until we decided to give a relationship a chance in 2017. Taking the leap of faith to transform our friendship into a relationship wasn’t easy, but we realized our bond was eternal. I guess you could say it was “pyaar dosti hai” because our deep friendship became the foundation for our relationship! In July of 2022, Kiran and I planned our dream trip to Maui, Hawaii and had the experience of a lifetime filled with stunning beaches and coastline, waterfall hikes, and relaxation. Kiran decided to wait until the very end of the trip to propose to keep it an absolute surprise, and planned a sunset view experience on top of volcano Mt Haleakala, which sits above the clouds at over 10,000ft. We watched the sunset dip below the clouds and everyone else on the volcano decided to make the trip back down to sea level, and just as all the other cars left and every star in the sky came out, Kiran got down on one knee and retold the story of when he first met me. It was an intimate moment, just the two of us, under the Milky Way. The next day he planned an engagement photo session for us on the oceanside cliffs of Maui’s western shore!

Planning a destination, hybrid Tamil/Gujarati wedding was complex as we wanted to honor both of our deep rooted customs and traditions, while also embracing the culture of our wedding location. We decided on having our wedding in the picturesque countryside of Tuscany, Italy which was the perfect central meeting point to fly in 150 of our closest loved ones from 4 continents. In addition to being a central location for our families, Italy is known for its incredible food and we specifically chose Tuscany for our wedding location since it is the culinary and culture epicenter of Italy. Italy is also sentimental to us because it is somewhere Kiran and I have always wanted to go ever since our first date at an Italian restaurant.

Since we had multiple events over 2 weekends and 2 continents, we wanted each event to feel like a unique experience for our guests. We also wanted to have each of our wedding events outdoors to take full advantage of ideal Tuscan summer weather, so we tried to have each event complement the outdoor spaces.

Our wedding week began at my childhood home in Baltimore, where we hosted a tropical and whimsical backyard Haldi ceremony with a Dosas & Dhoklas brunch. I wanted to have one of my wedding events in the home where I grew up and it was truly a family affair (my father and I DIY-ed the décor and it happened to take place on Father’s Day).
We chose Villa Medicea La Ferdinanda as our wedding venue in Italy, specifically for its rich history in being a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The villa was once the summer home for the Medici family, and welcomed famous guests such as Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo. The villa is also a working winery/vineyard and olive oil manufacturer, and even provided wine to King Lous XIV of France, and all our wedding events served the estate’s wine.

Our “Rennaissance Reverie “ Sangeet kicked off our Italian festivities, where we had dance performances by loved ones. We wanted lots of jewel tones and gold to accentuate the sun setting behind the Tuscan hills for our evening event. We had a custom monogram dancefloor designed and wrapped for us, which incorporated renaissance motifs and jewel tones. Our guests enjoyed snack food stations like chaat, Indo-Chinese, and bhajia and we had a live pizza oven.

For our “Florentine Fairytale” wedding ceremony, our Mandap perfectly framed the medieval Borgo village in the background, and was covered in blush pink roses, Italian ruscus and snapdragons. Our ceremony included both aspects of our culture as well as custom music and lyrics in both Tamil and Gujarati that our priest composed for us. We had handmade details like our antarpat that my mother hand embroidered our names on, Kiran’s necklace that I made myself to match my dupatta, and wedding programs with sandalwood fans at every guest chair. We decided to go against tradition do away with the traditional tear-filled vidaai and instead embraced a “happy vidaai” where we celebrated the joining of two families rather than the bride leaving behind her family.

We capped off our wedding week with our “Tuscan Sundowner Soiree” outdoor reception, where guests were ushered through the villa to the back of the property and were welcomed to dinner and dancing under a sky full of stars in the form of thousands of fairy lights. We wanted the romantic lighting to be the focus of design so we also incorporated large gold candelabras and candles of varying heights. Rather than having a normal first dance where our guests are seated or a sparkler exit where some guests wouldn’t be able to participate, we decided to combine both into what ended up being one of our favorite moments of the week. Before our first dance, we decided to pass out sparklers to each guest to light up around us as we took to the dancefloor. It created a surreal and magical experience for all, as we were literally surrounded by love and light. All of our events had a mix of South Indian, North Indian and Italian food, as a reflection of our families merging together in this unique landscape.

Venue: Tenuta Di Artimino | Fashion: JJ Valaya, Shyamal & Bhumika, Purab Paschim, Dolly J Studio, Indochino and Sabyasachi | Planner: Distinctive Italy Weddings | Photographer: Rossini Photography, Oscar Navarre Photography | Videographer: Lumiere Wedding Films | Hair, Makeup & Draping: Shrena Kara, Manisha Shah | Henna artist : Apsaras Events | Florist: Fiore all’Occhiello | Catering: Haveli Ristorante | DJ: Kudos Music