Roshni and Rohan, Florence
The three-day glamorous celebrations took place across different venues including The St. Regis and Villa Corti and a lavish renaissance villa in Tuscan, Florence.
Documenting the most talked about wedding of the year (reported in the international media as a 14 million pound extravaganza) in captivating Florence is a daunting challenge. A challenge that destination-wedding favourites, DotDusk Studios from Delhi, were more than up to. With their inimitable skill of fusing a journalistic immediacy with a timeless, artistic aesthetic, Team DotDusk bring us a handpicked selection of perfectly captured moments from a superlative wedding.
Dubai-based Indian magnate Yogesh Mehta’s son Rohan Mehta and London-born Roshni Khemlani, co-founder of luxury brand Izaak Azanei, wed at historic venues across Florence. The “magical RORO wedding” – as the groom’s father aptly coined the event on Twitter – was a five-event Bollywood-style celebration. Obviously, some of the most preferred wedding specialists of the rich and famous Indians were involved with the wedding- Mumbai’s Aditya Motwane (MEW- Motwane Entertainment and Weddings) and team managed the wedding while the decor & design was conceptualized and executed by Vandana Mohan’s The Wedding Design Company (WDC). The invitations were designed by Delhi’s Vivek Sahni Designs, while chef Ritu Dalmia of Diva, Delhi’s Indian Accent restaurant and Puneet Sikand of The Kitchen Art Co. catered to the lavish spread at some of the events.
Welcome Lunch
Four hundred and fifty friends and relatives were flown to Florence from across the globe. The wedding party stayed at St Regis and The Westin Excelsior at the Piazza Ognissanti or the All Saints Square. The celebration commenced with a welcome lunch party hosted at the square between these two luxury hotels. A beautiful marquee was erected in the square to create a cozy, homely lounge space where guests were served food and drink round the clock. From a live Napoli pizza station that is known to serve the best pizza in Italy to a Panini bar, a gourmet popcorn stand and Indian street food stations, the menu featured a mouthwatering spread.
Mehndi
The venue was done up in fresh vibrant color and ethnic flavor for the Indian Bazaar style mehendi. The dance floor had an ethnic painted mosaic with umbrellas hanging from the ceiling. The centerpiece of the ceremony was a hanging flower-bedecked wall as in an Indian flower market. The bride wore a peach and pink lehenga by Tarun Tahiliani. There was a live caricaturist, a tea leaf-reading fortune teller and live music by Indian-born American singer Vidya Vox. Sicily’s Michelin starred chef, Tony Lococo, created an Italian street food menu.
Welcome Dinner
The wedding dinner was hosted at the Palazzo Gerini in Firenze – an aristocratic villa with high ceilings and huge chandeliers, and stunning décor that lent itself to the alta moda theme. Mime artistes painted as historic statues taking photos with the guests, and serving the bubbly were human tables and chandeliers! A dedicated party room had been created for the youngsters, where the couple’s favourite song lyrics were displayed on neon signs above the bar. The dining area had been set up in the garden, with two-Michelin starred chef Maurro Uliassi cooking at a live station, alongside Delhi’s Indian Accent.
Sangeet
Like a Toulouse-Lautrec canvas come to life, the venue for Roshni and Rohan Mehta’s sangeet, the historical Stazione Leopolda in Florence came alive on a surreal night. Featuring décor and character piques reminiscent of late 19th century Parisian nightlife, references to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, and with live entertainment, the #RoRoWedding Sangeet was visually, aurally and conceptually enchanting.
Wedding
On the wedding day, the groom arrived in a white vintage convertible, an Excaliber, accompanied by historic Roman cavalry. His carnival-style baraat had several mobile bars and trucks with huge speakers as Sukhbir performed classic Punjabi wedding songs with his dhol team alongside the DJs. The couple tied the knot in a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony. The bride wore a traditional red Sabyasachi lehenga with a diamond and ruby set. Her bangles were inscribed with the groom’s name and her own.
Reception
The wedding reception was hosted at the grand estate of Villa Le Corti in San Casciano, with its centuries-old cypress trees, surrounded by olive groves and vineyards. The 16th-century villa was transformed into ‘An Enchanting Winter Wonderland’ which was the theme. The driveway was lit up with candles. The main reception dinner set up was adorned with ivory flowers, crystal chandeliers and candelabras, white trees, more candles, and a magical water fountain cascading from the ceiling into various shapes. The couple danced their first to Michael Jackson’s Butterflies.
Rohan and Roshni, very thoughtfully, had Italy’s most famous perfumeries create a unique fragrance that was packaged in a RORO monogrammed glass bottle as a wedding memoir for each guest.
Wedding Makers
Venues: St Regis and The Westin Excelsior (welcome lunch and mehendi), Palazzo Gerini (welcome dinner), Stazione Leopolda (sangeet), Villa Le Corti (reception)
Wedding Planners: Motwane Entertainment and Weddings (MEW)
Decor: Wedding Design Company
Bride’s Trousseau: Tarun Tahiliani (mehendi), Sabyasachi Mukherjee (wedding), Manish Malhotra (sangeet)
Catering: Ritu Dalmia (Diva Restaurants), Puneet Sikand (The Kitchen Art Co.), Indian Accent and Federico Salza
Entertainment: Shankar Tucker, Vidya Vox, Natalie Di Luccio, Shamir Tandon, Sukhbir, DJ Sameer and DJ Zubair
Photos Courtesy– dotdusk
