From Manish Malhotra to Gaurav Gupta, this wedding was a three-day couture affair

Six months went into the making of Anita Parikh's wedding sari. She worked with the Manish Malhotra team on an ivory Chantilly-lace design embroidered with thousands of pearls, along with a long bridal veil that would replace the traditional odhni. The jewellery, however, had effectively been chosen years before the wedding was on the calendar. Parikh had grown up admiring her mother's diamond-and-pearl necklace, the first major piece her father had bought her mother after their marriage. “I had looked at that necklace my entire life, and she was as excited for me to wear it as I was,” she recalls.

The sari was one of four custom looks Parikh commissioned for her wedding to Vivek Raman in Paris. The New York-based couple had returned to the city often enough to develop their own routines, and wanted to share the Paris they knew with their families and friends. Fashion became an organising principle for the celebrations, extending well beyond the bride's wardrobe. Seven months before the wedding, guests received a style guide, with the opening evening at Plaza Athénée calling for an interpretation of Paris Fashion Week dressing.

For that evening, Parikh worked with Patricia Voto of One/Of, a New York label whose made-to-order practice incorporates deadstock and excess luxury fabrics. Their collaboration produced a white silk gown with a sculpted corseted bodice and a long train, worn with sheer opera-length gloves that ended in ruffles at the wrists. Parikh paired the gown with silver Gucci platforms and diamond jewellery, including a cluster necklace by Itara Jewelry, while Raman wore a grey velvet dinner jacket by Giorgio Armani.

At Plaza Athénée, red roses filled the courtyard, where electric violinists played music from the couple's twenties. The waiters who had been serving drinks suddenly dropped their trays and broke into a choreographed flash mob. Can-can dancers followed, teaching the guests a few steps before the celebrations continued at Manko, a nightclub Parikh and Raman frequented on their visits to Paris.

Having already completed their Hindu marriage ceremony privately with immediate family, Parikh and Raman moved the baraat to the sangeet so that she could join the procession rather than wait for the groom's arrival. She wore a custom white-and-blue Gaurav Gupta sari gown with crystal embroidery and a sculptural silhouette, developed with a blouse that allowed her to dance comfortably. Raman wore an embellished bandhgala by Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna, while Parikh's girlfriends joined her for a surprise performance.

Friends from different stages of the couple's lives had been meeting in New York for dance rehearsals, often getting to know one another for the first time. Similar gatherings were taking place in Chicago, where Parikh's parents and their friends were learning their own choreography. Some of the men performing with her father were in their seventies and eighties, with the oldest aged 81. What had begun as preparation for a few minutes onstage had become a regular reason for everyone to spend their weekends together.

Chicago, where Parikh's parents and their friends had been rehearsing, was also where she and Raman grew up without ever meeting. They attended some of the same maths programmes as children, and their social circles continued to overlap into their twenties. It took Hinge to finally introduce them in 2022. Raman was planning a weekend visit to New York, while Parikh was in Chicago for her sister's wedding. After nearly a month of talking, she changed her flight to return early and meet him.

The first date gave Parikh little indication of where things might go. Raman admitted he wasn't sure he wanted a relationship, and halfway through the evening, some of his friends unexpectedly joined them. She left confused but intrigued enough to see him again. Their second date lasted nine hours, taking them across Manhattan before his brother joined them and Parikh invited her cousin. “By the end of the night it had somehow become an accidental family affair,” she recalls. “I remember realising that I had stopped feeling as though I were on a date at all.”

Raman returned home shortly afterwards following the passing of his father. When he came back to New York, they continued getting to know one another, spending more time together and becoming involved in each other's daily lives. Today, Raman is the co-founder and CEO of technology company Etherealize, while Parikh, whose background is in startups and investing, advises emerging businesses and is pursuing her licensure in therapy. She has also worked with Raman's team professionally. “We are each other's co-conspirators: for the big ambitions, the ordinary Tuesdays, and for Irish-exiting a party early,” she says.

Raman proposed at their New York apartment, catching Parikh off guard a week before a planned trip to Paris. She had expected any proposal to happen abroad and was also surprised to discover he had selected the engagement ring without consulting her. She describes the decision as “slightly terrifying in theory and somehow perfect in practice.”

The vow ceremony took place in the Berlioz ballroom at InterContinental Paris Le Grand, where cream draping and pale flowers surrounded an aisle lined with candles. Raman, dressed in ivory by Shantnu & Nikhil, entered with his mother, while Parikh walked in with both parents to Kal Ho Naa Ho, wearing her pearl-embroidered Manish Malhotra sari and lace veil.

The couple had invited seven married couples whose relationships they admired to answer a question – What gets more beautiful with time? Their answers drew on years of marriage, with stories that prompted laughter and reflections on how relationships change as people grow older together. Both mothers spoke about the significance of marriage in Hinduism and offered their blessings. One of Raman's closest friends, Zack, officiated as the couple exchanged vows they had spent months writing.

For the reception, Parikh changed into a custom deep-burgundy ball gown by Natasha Das of Danary's. The setting was Salon Opéra at InterContinental Paris Le Grand, a gilded ballroom dating to the period of Napoléon III, whose ornate interiors had drawn the couple to the venue. Das, an Indian American designer who left Wall Street to establish her own atelier, had connected with Parikh over their shared familiarity with New York and Paris. They worked on a gown with a plunging halter neckline and a voluminous skirt built from sculptural tiers, its rich colour complementing the oxblood flowers and burgundy linens in the ballroom. Parikh wore a vintage diamond necklace sourced in Paris and earrings by Seema Arora. Raman changed into a custom tuxedo by Robbie & Co., with their wedding date embroidered inside the jacket.