The moment a Taylor Swift doppelgänger walked out on stage at Wild Side, Ahana Raheja and Yash Patel’s after-party, the internet made up its mind about this wedding. It wasn’t just the impeccably convincing lookalike, complete with fringe dress and rhinestone cowboy boots, performing to a room full of people who genuinely believed it. It was the fact that this was somehow the most logical ending to four days that had already included a Van Gogh Starry Night Sangeet, a poolside Sundown Club, a mandap where Gujarati, Punjabi and Sindhi cultures merged under one sacred roof and a bride who planned every single detail herself in under a month, with no mood board and no template to follow. Ahana and Yash’s Gujarat wedding was not aspirational in the way that word usually gets used. It was aspirational because it was entirely theirs.
The First Encounter
The Mumbai-based duo met during Ganpati season, when the city is at its loudest and most alive. “I wasn’t supposed to be out that night until a friend dragged me. While there, I ran into a girlfriend who happened to be a long-time friend with Yash. In my typical matchmaker fashion, I spent the evening trying to set them up, and when that failed, I tried pairing him with someone else. But despite my efforts, Yash and I kept ending up in deep, solo conversations. One talk led to another until the sun came up. Even though we were technically strangers, I felt safe enough to let him drive me home. Since my parents were out of town, I didn’t have a curfew to worry about, and we finally exchanged numbers at 6am,” recalls Ahana, a content creator who is closely involved in her mother’s label, Beena Raheja Fine Jewellery. Four months later, they decided to meet each other’s parents on Dhanteras. “It felt like God nudging us in the right direction.”
Planning By Two In Under One Month
When it come to the big day, there was no mood board. “I’m very much a go-with-the-flow kind of person,” Ahana says. With planner 70EMG executing their vision, the couple built five distinct events across a Gujarat property whose secret gardens, poolside lawns, temple, golf course and ballroom each became a world of its own. “From day one, we knew we didn’t want to just show up at our own wedding. We wanted to build it,” she says. Families were asked to enjoy rather than plan. “We wanted them to oversee, guide and bless the process, but we wanted to be the ones calling the shots.”
The Celebrations, From Stardust To Wild Side
The celebrations kicked off with the couple’s haldi and Ahana’s mehndi. “We played with water guns and my favourite part, a dunk pool. Nothing felt stiff or formal, just spaces you could sink into and stay for hours.”
The sangeet, Stardust Symphony, transformed the gardens on February 18, 2026 into a luminescent fantasy: velvety orchids layered with cloud-like fillers, fibre optic stems glowing from within, oversized translucent poppy sculptures frozen mid-bloom, giant cloud installation, and vertical LED panels playing animated versions of Van Gogh’s Starry Night across the entire backdrop. “I didn’t want a typical stage-and-dance-floor setup. I wanted it to feel like stepping into another world, almost dreamlike, like a floral fantasy under the stars.”
Sukhwinder Singh headlined the night and Ahana took the stage in an as-yet-unreleased Gaurav Gupta sculptural gown, Yash in Falguni Shane Peacock. “The evening was the high energy opening night, set in the gardens with music, performances and everyone coming together on the dance floor. We had intimate photo moments tucked into every corner. The overall atmosphere felt theatrical, romantic and slightly otherworldly, exactly how I had imagined the first night of our wedding celebrations.”
The AY Sundown Club the next day slowed everything down into golden-hour ease: coral and cream sofas, iridescent spheres and floral rings floating on the pool, Harshdeep Kaur performing sufi folk into the afternoon before DJ Chetas lifted the energy. “We made it interactive with the nostalgic games and playful experiences. There were stations where guests created their own lip gloss, blended custom fragrances, and made charms and keepsakes.” Ahana wore a custom multi-coloured lehenga by her cousin Sonaakshi Raaj, with a butterfly blouse. “Butterflies are a sign of Guruji for me, so this outfit felt deeply personal and spiritual in a subtle way.”
AY Forever on February 20 brought Ahana’s Punjabi, Sindhi and Yash’s Gujarati traditions together under one mandap that was “the centrepiece, almost architectural in its presence. Around it, we layered dense florals, threads and textured elements. In the background, swirling Sanskrit scripts in gold added a sacred, almost ethereal energy to the space. The palette moved into rich reds, oranges and marigolds. The entrance featured a grand embroidered toran with gold work and bells.”
The Milni, the Chooda, four Gujarati pheras representing Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, and a Maha Aarti as their first act as husband and wife. “We did our varmala inside a temple, which was very important to us spiritually. Right after our four Gujarati Pheras, the first thing we did as husband and wife was a Maha Aarti, grounding our marriage in devotion and gratitude before anything else. Faith has always played a huge role in both our lives, so starting our journey with prayer felt completely aligned.”
Mika Singh led the baraat; Parthiv Gohil and Bismil provided live vocals through the ceremony. Ahana walked to the mandap to a bridal song written specifically for her love story by Devangi Chopra, with her girls beside her. “I walked down the aisle looking into his eyes, knowing I was walking toward a love that feels calm, certain, and home.”
Wild Side, the after-party, flipped the mood completely into jungle darkness, with LED dance floors, a glitter bar, and custom sunglasses for the dance floor. “It felt unfiltered and electric, like the formalities were done and it was just our closest people dancing the night away.” After Rodolphe Manoukian and DJ Ganesh’s set, a surprise awaited Ahana. “Yash planned a surprise performance for me by Taylor Swift, or so I thought. It turned out to be her chaos-certified doppelgänger, and honestly, the internet believed it harder than I did. Instagram absolutely lost its mind. It was a well-planned prank!”
The Custom Wardrobe & Personalised Details
Every look carried a story. Ridhi Mehra created a fully beaded haldi blouse she describes as never having done before. The mehndi was Anamika Khanna AK|OK, a silver chain with bright blue pants that looked fashion-forward and not remotely bridal in the conventional sense. “love doing things differently. It feels young, confident and fun, exactly the energy I wanted.”
The bridal look was Manish Malhotra, a bejewelled blouse and red lehenga with thin panels in different shades, artwork-light embroidery with destination-inspired motifs and lotuses, finished with a crystal drape rather than a dupatta. The veils were inscribed with Om Namah Parvate Patahe Har Har Mahadev on the first, and their names and wedding date on the second. Bridal favourite makeup artist Shradha Luthra dreamed up a custom, lit-from-within look for Ahana.
Every piece of jewellery was designed by her mother through Beena Raheja Fine Jewellery, polki diamonds, layered necklaces, maatha pattis, all created specifically for each function and revealed to Ahana only when finished. “It felt less like styling and more like carrying a part of home with me.” Her Mrinalini Chandra kaliras carried their entire story in miniature, featuring every important date, her dogs Richie and Rio, a map of Italy, the pizza-making class, their first photograph together. Guests left with engraved glass bells, handmade block-printed textiles and lacquer bangles made on the spot. “For us, this wedding wasn’t just aesthetic or ceremonial. It was three cultures, three histories and two families merging respectfully, joyfully and with intention.”
The Bride’s Checklist
The Bride: Ahana Raheja
The Groom: Yash Patel
Wedding Photography: Cupcake Productions
Portrait Photography: Annoushka Sharma
Wedding Planner: 70EMG
Bridal Makeup: Shradha Luthra & GlammSquad
Bride’s Outfits: Manish Malhotra, Gaurav Gupta, Anamika Khanna AK|OK, Ridhi Mehra, Sonaakshi Raaj, Arpita Mehta
Groom’s Outfits: Manish Malhotra, Falguni Shane Peacock, Abhinav Mishra, Ridhi Mehra
Jewellery: Beena Raheja Fine Jewellery
Kaliras: Mrinalini Chandra
Entertainment: Sukhwinder Singh, Mika Singh, Harshdeep Kaur, Parthiv Gohil, Bismil, DJ Chetas, Rodolphe Manoukian, DJ Ganesh, Krish Mulchandani and Devangi Chopra
Catering: Foodlink Global
Choreography: Rian Mistry Productions
