The next day, the baraat led into the wedding ceremony on the main lawn. Before the jaimala, the Gujarati antarpat separated the couple, making their first sight of each other part of the ceremony itself. Pradhani had asked to skip a private first look earlier in the day, and the planning team spent hours making sure they missed each other around the property. Somewhere in the wedding archive is a photograph of Shah hiding behind a circle of bridesmaids so he would not accidentally see her before the ceremony.
After the sindoor, Shah wore Odia bridal elements gifted to her by her mother- in-law: silver anklets, silver toe rings and red glass bangles, with alta applied to her feet. She also incorporated Odia mukuta crowns and ghomta draping into the ceremony wardrobe. Two female priestesses officiated beneath a floral mandap, which both their mothers helped bring to life.
Shah’s wardrobe kept returning to Gujarati craft. She worked with Ahmedabad-based designers and artisans across the wedding, choosing Kutchi embroidery, ajrakh-inspired detailing and hand block printing. For the haldi, she collaborated with Raedh on a custom two-piece outfit made with reused Kutchi embroidery patches by women artisans. Some patches were placed reverse side up, exposing the handwork usually hidden inside the garment.
For the sangeet, she wore a Rajdeep Ranawat lehenga made from recycled textiles, styled with oxidised jewellery and a waist belt for the garba-led evening. Shah only saw her wedding sari, designed by Tilla by Aratrik Dev Varman, the day before the festivities began. The finished piece had pitta, ari, zardozi and gota work, paired with an organza veil and rust blouse. She draped it in the Bengali style as a nod to Pradhani’s side of the family. Around her wrists were her maternal grandmother’s chooda, red with gold inlay. Growing up, Shah had watched her mother rewear her wedding panetar every Diwali. She wanted her own wedding sari to have the same afterlife.
Pradhani’s wardrobe followed the wedding’s craft-forward approach. For the haldi, he wore an ivory floral kurta by Steel with white trousers and neutral mojaris. At the sangeet, he chose a dark navy kurta under a textured midnight-hued sherwani jacket with floral embroidery and threadwork. For the wedding, his ivory sherwani was detailed with tonal and metallic embroidery, with motifs of florals, fauna, trees and elephants, paired with an ivory shawl, ombré safa and dark brown mojaris with metallic accents.
That preference for objects with an afterlife appeared in the bamboo-and-rattan guest hampers, filled with copper water bottles, coconut-husk candles and wooden games inspired by the couple’s game nights. Jo Malone White Sage & Sea Salt perfumed the hotel and welcome gifts because Shah wanted the scent to spark memories. Invitations used recycled hemp paper, soy ink and seed-paper inserts, while the couple offset emissions from guest travel, utilities, food wastage, labour and sourcing through certified carbon capture credits.
After the ceremony, while guests moved towards cocktails and dinner, Shah and Pradhani slipped away to the Savoy’s original 1906 post office. Still in their wedding clothes, they wrote a postcard addressed to their future married selves, then mailed it the next morning using the property’s original stamp. By the time the wedding in Mussoorie ended, the postcard was already travelling towards a life that had only just begun.
