Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma and cricketer Virat Kohli got married in a private ceremony in Italy on Monday but apparently, the fairytale wedding had its own share of ‘disaster moments’. Wedding designer Devika Narayan, who designed the ‘Virushka’ wedding, told BBC in an interview that they faced such a moment, thanks to the weather in Tuscany.
Anushka and Virat took place at a countryside resort called Borgo Finocchieto in the Tuscany region of Italy, one of the most expensive holiday properties in the world.
Asked if she faced any disaster moment or panicked during the hush-hush wedding, Devika said, “Weather. It is winters here (in Italy) and nobody gets married in the winters here. On the morning of the wedding day, we all woke up to a completely white landscape and the dew had frozen. It was frozen all over by 10 and by noon it was dripping. The outdoors function had to be moved to an indoor courtyard.”
Devika, who has also worked on other celebrity weddings, further said, “When I met them (Virat and Anushka), I kept addressing Anushka as ‘bride’ and she was like, ‘what’s wrong with you?’. I told her, ‘I need to condition myself so that I don’t take your name anywhere’.”
Detailing on the kind of a ceremony Anushka wanted, Devika said, “Contrary to my expectations, Anushka was a typical bride. She had reference photos and was invested in every decision. All of this was her idea and we just executed it all.”
“The function was like a typical Indian wedding. We had a welcome lunch and a sangeet on the first day. The second day was bright, colourful mehendi and that night was supposed to be a bonfire night but it rained. We were all huddled around one giant campfire. There was karaoke and everybody was singing,” she added.
Devika also spoke about the return gifts the guests received: “Anushka and Virat are extremely spiritual people, I don’t know how many people know this but they wanted everything to function around the idea of growth and prosperity. So the entire venue was like an overgrown garden and they are big fans of Rumi and his poetry so an anthology of his poems was given as a take-back gift.”
Virat and Anushka plan to host a reception in New Delhi for their relatives on December 21 which will be followed by a reception for couple’s Bollywood friends and cricketers in Mumbai on December 26.