After Will Fry proposed to Anisha Kamat, his girlfriend of seven years whom he’d met at the University of Pennsylvania, he suggested a no-phones policy for dinner so they could bask in the moment before sharing the news. But Anisha asked for just one call. “I knew my parents, who live in London, would be going to bed soon, so I negotiated one group video call to my family,” she says. “They all looked like they were in random different places, but I didn’t think anything of it as I was just so over the moon to be sharing the news with them.” It made it all the more surprising, then, when the couple got home from dinner and her family from the U.K. was there, waiting to see her. “I have never been so surprised in my life. Our families live all over the world, and the fact that they were all in Philadelphia to celebrate with us, I couldn’t believe it. Will knew how much family means to me, and the fact that he invited them to be part of this moment is something I am so grateful for.”
It was the easiest “yes” of her life, Anisha says; choosing the wedding venue, not so much. “We wanted to do an Indian wedding while incorporating elements of Western traditions, so the first question was whether to do it somewhere in India or closer to the U.S. or Europe.” When they eventually decided on the once-in-a-lifetime experience India would offer, Anisha’s mother offered to tour options that could feel intimate, traditionally Indian, and luxurious. Her mother called her from The Leela Palace Udaipur and said, “Anisha, this is it.”
The wedding was to have four main events over three days: a sangeet on the first day, mehndi on the second day, and a ceremony and reception on the third. The bride and her mother spent three weeks in India to curate looks for each event.
“I wanted to take the opportunity to discover and showcase designers and fashion houses I hadn’t seen on other brides,” Anisha says of her wedding wardrobe. The first day was the time to go all out. Their sangeet was themed “Bollywood Royalty,” and the mood board was filled with jewel tones. “Because we were going to be onstage dancing, I wanted an ornate embellished outfit that would sparkle underneath the lights. I wore a gorgeous green lengha from Shaveta & Anuj.” She worked with the design team to remove the original sleeves and change the neckline into her perfect silhouette. “I felt like Princess Jasmine.”
The mehndi was to be colorful and floral. When she saw her Sahil Kochhar dress in the shop window in Delhi, “it just sparked joy and made me so happy,” Anisha says. “The dress, which was really a work of art, was a strapless lavender gown with a rainbow of colorful flowers hand-sewn in 3D appliqué.” It was also a nod to her hometown of Kew Gardens, outside London.
“Indian brides traditionally wear red, but I felt pulled to a lighter color, something that felt more delicate and soft,” Anisha says of her ceremony look. At Seema Gujral’s showroom, she found a selection of cream, gold, and silver lehengas and fell in love with an ivory one. “For the reception, we wanted to change into more Western looks, but I was so in love with my wedding lehenga that I couldn’t bear the thought of only wearing it for a few hours,” Anisha shares. “I had the crazy idea to ask Seema Gujral if they could create a strapless bodice that, when paired with the skirt of my lengha, would give the effect of a one-piece gown. Even though they hadn’t done something like this before, the team immediately agreed and started sketching. They did such a phenomenal job and brought my vision to life.”
Jewelry is a major part of any Indian wedding look, and for Anisha, it was extra special. “I am extremely lucky to have a jewelry designer as an aunt; her company, Atelier Mon, has the most exquisite pieces,” the bride says. Her aunt custom-created a necklace, bracelets, earrings and more. Once the jewelry was on and glam by Rounicka Rimon and Santosh Pokharel complete, “I felt like royalty,” Ansha says. “It all worked in harmony together.”
On March 9, the wedding-day festivities kicked off with a baraat, where the groom made his way to the hotel’s Guava Gardens, where Double S Enterprises had created a mandap bedecked in pink and white flowers. “We wanted to do a Hindu ceremony, but also incorporate elements of Western weddings that felt especially important to us—for example, having my father walk me down the aisle, and Will and I writing and reading our vows to each other,” Anisha explains. Their priest conducted the ceremony in Hindi, stopping to offer English translations along the way. “We concluded with our first kiss as husband and wife, and we danced our way down the aisle to ‘This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)’ by Natalie Cole. We were truly on cloud nine.”
Behind Bars crafted custom cocktails—including an Old Fashioned with a wedding hashtag-branded orange peel—before guests sat down for a multi-course dinner. “Given that we had served mostly Indian food the two days before, we decided on Italian for the wedding dinner,” Anisha says. After the bride and groom finished eating, they dashed upstairs to change. “We had the most fabulous band, OnEmpire; they announced our re-entry, and we had our first dance.” But it wasn’t just any first dance. “We may have gotten a little carried away, but we landed on three different songs and did a choreographed mash-up of ‘Everything’ by Michael Buble, ‘You’re The One That I Want’ from Grease, and ‘Mundian To Bach Ke’ by Panjabi MC.” It was a surprise to everyone—even her very involved mother and sister—and got the entire crowd on the dance floor.
DJ AJ took over for an epic after-party. Anisha concludes, “Drinks kept flowing, and we had the best late-night comfort food, including fries for the Frys, of course!”
