Aish Pandit and Sahil Chaudry, COMO Castello Del Nero, Tuscany, Italy

Aish Pandit, an entrepreneur and daughter of renowned Bollywood Producer, Anand Pandit tied the knot with LA-based Sahil Chaudry. Hosted in the Tuscan countryside, the couple’s wedding was planned by WeddingSutra Favorite – F5 Weddings who with their expertise ensured complete guest comfort while seamlessly striking a balance between tradition and modernity.

How They Met
Aish and Sahil met at a play through a common friend. In 2023, while visiting India, Sahil happened to visit a theatre to watch a play with this common friend where Aish was part of the play. And, while preparing for this production, Aish remembers feeling that she just wanted to make people watching the show a little more loved and a little less alone. As fate would have it, there – in the audience – sat Sahil who in fact, changed Aish’s life—perfect strangers to life partners! Post the play, they happened to hang together with a friend which led to Aish and Sahil starting a conversation.

Wedding Planning
Ajay and Purvi Modgil from F5 Weddings share, “Aish and Sahil prefer elegance over everything else. They wanted their wedding in all aspects to be a reflection of their personalities to have the emotions towards it, not just for themselves but their guests too. Since the wedding was going to take place in Tuscany as an intimate affair, they wanted to make each guest feel involved and have an Indian touch to everything they were doing. Not just that, since Sahil is Punjabi and Aish is Gujarati, they wanted to bring out each culture of each family into the celebration to make it easier to break the ice. We ensured that each guest felt involved and loved before they went back home. This was achieved by paying attention to several details.”

Innovation was also found aplenty at this wedding with the planners coming up with offbeat solutions to make each event engaging. Ajay and Purvi go on to share, “We installed a love board where guests could scan a barcode from this board and upload pictures taken throughout the wedding which the couple could see later and added to the list of photographs they would get from the photographer. Since we had a few kids coming to the wedding, a kid’s hamper with different items like coloring books and age-specific games was handed over to the little ones at each function. The room hampers for the adults was a hamper customised with all the favourite snacks of the couple covering all areas like sour, savoury and sweet.
Additionally, an Indian Snack bar was set up in the hotel lobby 24×7 to cater to Indian snack cravings. Snacks, like, mini khakra, banana chips and masala tea, to name a few, were made available for the guests.”

Wedding Functions
Mehndi and Haldi
Ajay and Purvi share, “The Mehendi and Haldi function was a take to a classy Italian Brunch with a stunning view of vineyards all around. Rich blue and yellow hues were combined with lightweight linens and geometric patterns. We amped the venue with real lemons as the couple’s seating backdrop, centrepieces and other elements along Tuscan tables and created a limoncello favor wall for guests! Not just that, we even had Mehendi artists for guests to apply mehndi and giveaways, like, traditional potlis with beaded hair clips and bindis for the ladies. Since it was their first function, an emcee made all guests play some fun ice-breaking games which set the tone for the rest of the festivities. The bar menu was also customised with drinks like, Vitamin C shot and Orange Sunrise to match the aesthetic of the celebration. The dress code was also in sync with the theme! Aish and Sahil entered on Vespa to a popular Italian song playing in the background!”

Sangeet
The sangeet consisted of purple and gold hues that looked dazzling under the chandeliers. After the couple made an energetic entry, the stage was set for glam performances! Family performances, a Garba-Bhangra face-off and an after-party ensured everyone had a gala time! Since the nights were chilly, hand and body warmers were made available to keep everyone warm and cosy. A bar menu featuring the couple’s favorite cocktails kept everyone’s spirits high.

Wedding
Ajay and Purvi share, “The wedding ceremony was designed with shades of pink & white. Since the bride was wearing a carrot pink colored lehenga, all elements were orchestrated in tandem with the same. And, in contrast, all other family members wore shades of ivory. A traditional baraat with a white horse, dholwalas and songs started off the festivities. Aish walked down her aisle towards Sahil with a bouquet in her hand. The varmala took place with large quantities of white flower petals being showered on the couple. After the pheras, a traditional vidaai ceremony followed.
We had kept reserved tags for the immediate family members on their chairs, along with phera information cards shaped like castles to keep the guests abreast of the rituals. Umbrellas, flower cones and hand-painted handkerchiefs were also placed in the vicinity for guest convenience. To keep the vibe in line, we had a 3-piece instrumental band from Italy playing some soothing music in the background while the ceremony took place.
Post the wedding, Aish and Sahil even exchanged vows in front of the scenic views of Tuscany. Their vows were custom written by a calligraphy artist.”

Reception
A green and gold reception awaited the couple. Seamlessly blending Indian and international elements, the dress code was formal for the seated reception. On being seated, they were welcomed with their name tags which had a personalised message inside it. A printed 5-course menu featuring dishes named after each country that the couple had travelled to delighted the guests. Tissues featured fun facts about the couple. Plus, the table mats and cutlery also matched the decor! A fun polaroid dispensing photo booth was also immensely popular amongst the guests.
After the newlyweds’ dashing entry, toasts were raised and an emotional father-daughter dance and mother-son dance followed. Finally, the couple cut Italy’s famous Millefoglie cake and watched fireworks together to bring the festivities to an end.”

The Wedding Makers
Venue: COMO Castello Del Nero, Italy
Wedding Planner: F5 Weddings
Bride’s Outfits: Seema Gujral (Mehndi), Falguni Shane Peacock (Sangeet), Sabyasachi Mukherjee (Wedding), Shantanu & Nikhil (Reception)
Makeup: Shradha Luthra
Emcee: Junaid – The Wedding Anchor
Photography: House on The Clouds

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