Daniel Mullen surprised Tamanna Malhotra with a proposal during an annual trip to his family’s lake house in Newport, Vermont. One night, he asked Tamanna to join him on a boat ride to a restaurant across the water with a breathtaking view of the Canadian mountains. Little did she know, his four nieces awaited them on the dock with a sign that read: “Will you marry me?” He then proposed with an ethically-sourced diamond from South Africa, her favorite country in the world. Tamanna, feeling all the emotions at once, admits being she doesn’t remember much, but she definitely said, “Yes!”
At first, the couple envisioned two wedding ceremonies—one in the United States and another in India, Tamanna’s home country—and the couple even toured venues in Boston and Rajasthan. But given the uncertainty of the pandemic and the difficulty in obtaining international visas, it became clear that asking guests to travel back and forth would be too difficult. Instead, they put together a 100-person guest list for a three-day multi-cultural wedding in Tuscany—the halfway point between the couple’s home countries. Tamanna, a creative strategist, designed the entire wedding herself, working with a local planning team to execute all the details. She enlisted Italian photographer Cinzia Bruschini for the Catholic wedding and reception, Naman Verma for the Indian events, while videographer House on the Clouds captured the precious moments in motion.
Since Tamanna is based in the United States and couldn’t easily travel to India for her and Dan’s Hindu ceremony outfits, she worked with Nisha Kundnani, the stylist and founder of Mumbai-based Bridelan. Together, they sourced her lilac Anamika Khanna lehenga for the mehendi. It had playful floral designs married to Mughal motifs and traditional zardozi hand embroidery. Her groom donned a mint green silk kurta that complemented the embroidery in her lehenga, paired with a monochromatic embroidered Dhruv Vaish jacket.
For the sangeet, the bride chose a muted metallic foil work lehenga from Falguni & Shane Peacock. It featured traditional motifs like elephants and a nod to old Indian palaces in Rajasthan. Meanwhile, Dan’s look was both minimalistic and modern in a layered jacket set from Kunal Rawal.
For the Catholic ceremony, the bride stepped into an Elie Saab dress in Italian Chantilly lace. She can still remember the first time she saw the dress with its off-shoulder neckline, translucent long sleeves, and cathedral-length veil. “The gown, to me, felt like a piece of art, carrying a Grace Kelly-marries-Meghan Markle charm. It was perfect,” she notes. So as not to overwhelm the ornate dress, she kept jewelry to a minimum with her aunt’s diamond and pearl earrings. The groom sported a three-piece black tuxedo with the wedding date and his bride’s initials embroidered on the cuff.
Keeping to tradition, the bride and groom wore shades of yellow for the Haldi, with Tamanna in a mustard Banarasi handwoven silk lehenga from Ekaya Banaras. Later, for the Choodha, she put on her mother’s red silk sari from her mother’s wedding 42 years prior. “Anything I know about love, selflessness, and a good marriage, I know from my mom. Wearing her wedding sari on the morning of my own wedding made me feel the most emotional a garment can ever make a person feel,” Tamanna admits.
For the Indian wedding, Tamanna hoped to look like an “authentic” Indian bride. “I wanted to feel gratitude and wear my heritage on my sleeves,” she notes. “When I thought of Indian craftsmanship, thoughtful motifs and timeless elegance, there was no other designer that came to mind other than Sabyasachi.” Her mother, uncle, and aunt broke into tears upon first seeing Tamanna in her lehenga and dupatta veil with colors evocative of a Tuscan sky at sunset. Inscribed on the veil was the beautiful mantra, “Sada Saubhagyavati Bhava,” which translates to, “May God and auspicious fortune embrace you forever.” She added all-gold accessories, including her mother’s bangles. Meera Sakhrani came to Italy to create all of the bride’s beauty looks for the wedding events.
The wedding festivities kicked off with the mehendi party, which was filled with peacock blues, greens, and lilacs. When guests weren’t playing ping pong or admiring the family photo wall, they were using the bazaar kiosk for bangles and bindis and listening to the dhol walas play Punjabi music in the courtyard of the villa.
Later, everyone attended the sangeet in a the renovated medieval castle adjoining the villa. Each side showed off their choreographed dances underneath the castle chandeliers. There was even a performance dedicated to Tamanna’s uncle, who hosted the wedding weekend her father would have wanted for her. The night ended with a Champagne tower, a shoe game, and a huge Indian buffet by a chef from Milan.
On August 26, 2023, the couple had a Catholic ceremony at the Duomo Montalcino. 50-60 locals gathered outside the church to witness the ceremony and watch Tamanna enter the church arm-in-arm with her uncle and a photo of her late father on her bridal bouquet. After the rose petal-filled recession, the newlyweds joined guests for cocktail hour at the villa. The night was filled with delicious Italian food, private vows, speeches from their best friends, and first dances with their parents.
The next day began poolside with the haldi ceremony. Guests dressed in yellow as the turmeric was applied to the couple’s faces, symbolizing the cleansing, purifying, and blessing of their minds and bodies. After, Tamanna had an emotional private choodha ceremony before the Hindu ceremony later.
Seeing her groom dressed in traditional Indian attire will forever be a core memory for Tamanna. She walked down the aisle with the most important people in her life—her mother, uncle, aunt, and two cousins. Guests followed along with helpful printed brochures that explained every symbolic ritual of the ceremony. The joyous night ended with even more music, retro Bollywood songs, local Italian wine—Brunello Di Montalcino, a massive Indian buffet spread, and speeches from the mothers of the bride and groom.
