The Bride Wore a Red Lehenga, Then a Vivienne Westwood Gown at This Indian-English Wedding
The Bride Wore a Red Lehenga, Then a Vivienne Westwood Gown at This Indian-English Wedding
“Friends of mine from boarding school knew him from Colby, where he went to college,” Anjuli Nanda, a curator for the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, explains of how she met attorney Charlie Diamond. “We were obsessed with each other, but he resisted asking me out for six months because he was told I was out of his league!” He finally asked her on a date at his going-away party, before moving to London for six months for work, and by the time he returned to New York City, they were moving in together.
About two and a half years later, he proposed. “We were staying at Claridge’s the week between Christmas and New Years in 2017,” Anjuli remembers. He suggested a drink at The Iron Duke, a pub around the corner from their hotel, before their dinner reservation. “After a couple of pints, we were walking back up the cobblestones of Brooks Mews when he suddenly stopped—and when I turned to see why, he was on one knee!” They celebrated with drinks at The Connaught with two of their closest friends, who’d been in on the surprise.
While Charlie was born and raised in London, Anjuli grew up in northern Connecticut. “I always knew I wanted to get married in the countryside, surrounded by nature,” she says. “The U.K. has a very special place in our hearts. It’s where we started dating and where we got engaged. After we visited Aynhoe Park in the Cotswolds, there wasn’t a question in my mind—it was the perfect venue.”
Once Anjuli and Charlie had decided on the location, they set out to plan a weekend-long celebration. “We really wanted a home base for our guests,” Anjuli says. “Not only were the building and grounds at Aynhoe impeccable and the staff unbelievably accommodating, but the entire house is like one giant cabinet of curiosities, with endless bits to explore. I absolutely loved the eccentricity mixed with the pastoral setting.”
Both Anjuli and Charlie are fans of classic, understated elegance. With this in mind, they wanted the decor to enhance, not overpower the venue—letting the architecture and interior of Aynhoe speak for itself. “We tried to practice restraint whenever possible, and focused on tons of dark green and silver,” Anjuli says. “For flowers, I went for delicate whites, with lots of leafy greens and sprays of lavender. We wanted everything to blend seamlessly with the house, which brought so much magic of its own.”
The festivities started on Friday night. Indian weddings often can last for a week or more, but Anjuli and Charlie condensed a number of traditional events into one evening. The night began with the Baraat. (This is when the groom makes his way to the wedding venue on horseback.) Charlie began the procession down the road at the inn where he and his groomsmen were staying. He was accompanied by friends and family, dancing to Dhol players (traditional drummers). Upon arrival at Aynhoe, there was the Milni, where the bride’s family welcomes the groom’s. “Six elder male members of my family exchanged garlands with his and embraced,” Anjuli says.
From the start, Anjuli knew she wanted to wear a lehenga in red—the traditional color for Indian brides. “My late mother wore red for her and my father’s Hindu ceremony, so I wanted to pay tribute to her,” she says. Prabal Gurung is a dear friend of Charlie’s family and offered to design his first bridal lehenga for Anjuli. “It was a dream come true! He and his team worked tirelessly and created a true work of art,” she says. Each of the eight panels of the lehenga was personalized with symbols special to Anjuli and Charlie’s relationship, including their go-to bar (Greenwich Treehouse), their favorite places (London, Nantucket), even their dog.
The bride wore her hair in a long braid with gold ribbon woven throughout, surrounded by fresh jasmine. Her jewelry was a total mix: necklaces and one set of earrings were by Anita Dongre, who also created a custom outfit for Charlie as well as his little nephew Henry. Anjuli lined her wrists with traditional red bangles and a few gold ones that belonged to her mother, as well as doubling up on earrings, also wearing a pair of Marlo Laz baroque pearl drops, designed by one of her closest friends and bridesmaid, Jesse Lazowski.
The ceremony started in the orangerie, on a traditional mandap, and was conducted by a Hindu priest. “One of the most special and sacred parts is the seven circles around a ceremonial fire that Charlie and I walked together, completing them as husband and wife,” Anjuli says. “It was surreal and steeped in tradition. I felt exhilarated—we were along for the ride along with everyone else. When it was all said and done, I know Charlie felt relieved that he got on the horse successfully and the entire procession went smoothly.”
Ceremony cocktails with a buffet of Indian food came next. “My father made a welcome toast, thanking everyone for making the journey to celebrate with us,” Anjuli says. Once dinner wrapped, everyone made their way to the dance floor. “My cousins kicked it off by performing a skit and dance—in the tradition of Sangeet—about the beginnings of mine and Charlie’s relationship. It was hilariously accurate. Afterwards, we all danced to Bollywood and bhangra music.”
The next day, Saturday, brought the English ceremony. Anjuli knew she wanted a classic British designer for her white dress and couldn’t imagine anyone who fit the bill better than Vivienne Westwood. The dress was Westwood Couture, complete with a corset that was perfectly fitted to her body. “I worked with the Westwood team in London and New York for months to perfect the dress, and it exceeded my expectations,” Anjuli says. “I felt strong, powerful, feminine, and most importantly, like myself.”
She wore her mother-in-law’s earrings, bracelets, and trinity ring as her something borrowed, a sapphire and diamond pinky ring of her mother’s as her something blue, her great-grandmother’s gold wedding band as her something old, and her favorite Marlo Laz tanzanite and diamond ring—a gift from Charlie. Her shoes were classic Manolo Blahniks. (“Chosen because they’re so comfortable, and I can last all day and night in them!”)
One of Charlie’s oldest and dearest friends, Sasha White, conducted the ceremony. “Charlie’s nephew took the dutiful role as ring bearer,” Anjuli says. “And we asked Charlie’s sister, Nell, and my maid of honor, Nina, to each do a reading. Nell read Act V, Scene II from As You Like It by William Shakespeare, which was the first play she and Charlie ever performed in together. Nina read Unending Love by Rabindranath Tagore, one of my favorite poets (and my father’s namesake).” The couple wrote their own vows. “They had everyone, including us, in tears. It was short, sweet, and very us. Even though the ceremony wasn’t long, it felt like the world stopped, as cliché as that may be! I don’t think I took my eyes off Charlie the entire time.”
Afterwards there was a champagne reception, along with croquet and badminton on the back lawn of Aynhoe. “Once we sat down to dinner, my father made the initial toast, which was unbelievably heartfelt and had everyone in tears,” Anjuli remembers. “Charlie’s father, Bob, made the second toast, which was hilarious and a lovely complement to my dad’s. Before we moved to the dance floor, Charlie gave a final speech, which was incredible. After our vows I couldn't imagine anything more personal, but he paid special tribute to my late mother and my stepmother, the two most important women in my life, the latter whom helped plan the entirety of the wedding weekend. This meant more to me than he’ll ever know.”
Eventually Anjuli changed into her second dress of the evening, another custom look by Prabal Gurung, as the crowd segued into party mode. “I wanted something sparkly, and he absolutely delivered!” she says. “It was the gold-sequined dress of my dreams! I chose to let my hair down—literally and figuratively—with the outfit, and switched into Miu Miu gold and rhinestone platforms (that sadly, and perhaps symbolically, broke at the very end of the evening).”
At midnight, those who were still awake moved downstairs to a nightclub in Aynhoe’s basement. “We didn’t tell any of the guests this was coming, making the reveal all the more fun,” Anjuli says. “The DJ moved downstairs, and we served late-night snacks like lobster rolls and spicy chicken sandwiches. It was heaven!”
Originally Appeared on Vogue
