Tanvir Bhatti and Amulya Manchukonda moved through the same Melbourne suburb before they ever met. Manchukonda noticed Bhatti first, a Melbourne-born emergency veterinarian whose Punjabi roots shaped much of his world. Their first real conversation came a year later at their local gym, when Manchukonda—born in Hyderabad and raised between New Zealand and Melbourne—finally introduced herself. Now a Talent Acquisition Specialist in the corporate medical space, she remembers approaching it with little expectation.
“At the very least, I thought I’d make a new friend,” she says. After a month of gym banter and casual hellos, Bhatti asked her out to brunch. “He figured out by then that the way to my heart was sugar,” she laughs. They spoke for hours; from the very beginning, it felt like they’d always known each other.
By their second date—a failed hike turned café stop—it was clear they were wired the same way. “We were only 20 steps in when I admitted I’d rather go straight to the café, and he had already turned around before I finished,” Manchukonda remembers. Six months into their relationship, they were speaking openly about marriage. “We found no reason to hold back,” Manchukonda says, “and every reason to tie the knot and let the adventure begin.”
Bhatti’s proposal reflected the same thoughtfulness. “I spent months planning a proposal for Manchukonda, making sure to include everything that was meaningful or special to her,” he shares. From designing a custom ring to organising a week-long scavenger hunt of handwritten clues, every detail was considered. Knowing Manchukonda would adore this, he finally got down on one knee, and she collapsed into the moment.
Their wedding in Melbourne carried the same energy: full of emotion, thoughtful details and a perfect balance of both their worlds. “Being from two different cultures, honouring both was extremely important to us,” they share. “We wanted to give the same level of respect, and so we decided on two weddings.”
The celebrations began with a high-energy Sangeet, themed ‘Two States: North Meets South’. Manchukonda wore a chocolate-and-gold Banarasi blend lehenga designed by her mother and created by Tejaswini Reddy, while Bhatti complemented her in royal blue, pairing a kurta from Jalandhar with a custom overcoat from Hyderabad. “Despite four layers and a huge A-line ghera, I managed all 10 performances,” she laughs, crediting her Air Force sneakers. The venue was styled with South Indian ornaments and bright Punjabi colours, with North-South snacks.
