Destination Wedding
Ananya and Arjun always knew they wanted their wedding to feel like an escape — for themselves and for every guest who made the trip. They found it on a working tea estate outside Darjeeling, where the rows of tea bushes roll into the mist and the Kanchenjunga range appears and disappears with the clouds.
The couple chose a colonial-era planter's bungalow on the estate, converting its lawns into three separate function spaces over three days. Mornings were cool and quiet, perfect for the haldi under the open sky, while evenings called for bonfires and warm shawls for the 120 guests who flew and drove in from across the country.
"We didn't just want photographs that looked good — we wanted our friends to remember what the air felt like. Getting married in the hills gave us exactly that."
Marigold and orange chrysanthemum framed a bamboo mandap built by local estate carpenters, with hand-woven Nepali textiles used as canopy drapes instead of the usual silk. Fairy lights strung between deodar trees carried the sangeet lawn into the night, and every centrepiece used flowers sourced from the hill markets that morning.
The wedding followed traditional Bengali rituals — shubho drishti, saat paak, and sindoor daan — performed as the sun set behind the tea gardens. Ananya wore a Benarasi in deep red with her grandmother's jewellery, while Arjun opted for a cream and gold sherwani to match the misty backdrop.
