The Pyramids Were The Spectacular Backdrop To This Couple’s Traditional Indian Wedding
Any big day should be filled with wonder, but in Dr Monica Nayyar and Vivek Nandha’s case, a literal wonder was the backdrop of their wedding. As is probably clear from the pictures that prompted you to click on this page, the London-based couple’s celebrations unfolded in the shadow of one of the most impressive accomplishments of ancient human civilisation: the Great Pyramids of Giza.
While the wedding celebrated a timeless monument, their own backstory is a decidedly modern one. Like many couples, the paths of Monica, a cosmetic dentist, and Vivek, an investment banker at JPMorganChase, first crossed during their uni days – though theirs isn’t the story of a lifelong romance struck up during freshers’ week, mind you. “We first met around 2015 while studying at neighbouring universities – Vivek was at the London School of Economics, while I was at King’s College London,” Monica recalls. “We didn’t start dating until March 2020, just before lockdown.” The sudden pause on life at large subsequently offered them a moment to properly connect. And from the start, it was clear that the pair’s love story would unfold against picture-perfect scenes: “Our first date was a sun-soaked picnic in the Cotswolds,” Monica says. “It was simple, grounding, and the beginning of everything.”
The story of their engagement also set something of a precedent for the cinematic scope of their ceremony. Back in February last year, they “set out to trek to Everest Base Camp – a dream that was years in the making,” Monica shares, with “Vivek secretly carrying a ring in his backpack.” At the end of their trip, the couple headed to Jaipur in Rajasthan, “where Vivek proposed at sunset on the rooftop of Samode Palace. Just as he got down on one knee, fireworks lit up the sky. It was surreal and emotional.”
The anecdote is a testament to Monica and Vivek’s deftness in navigating complex logistics, but the preparations involved in the engagement were but a molehill next to the mountain of bureaucracy that the wedding itself proffered.
The formalities began on a simpler note in London with an intimate civil ceremony at the Old Marylebone Town Hall in the company of close family and friends. In early September, though, it was off to Egypt, where Monica and Vivek staged “a three-day wedding experience across Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah, Dahab Island Palace, and finally, the Great Pyramids of Giza,” the bride explains. “Saying it aloud still feels unreal!”
After four trips to Cairo in the run-up to the celebrations, “meeting planners, caterers, architects and government officials,” the scene was set for a breathtaking traditional Indian wedding. Proceedings opened with a haldi – “a traditional pre-wedding ceremony where family and friends apply a herbal turmeric paste to the bride and groom’s skin to bless them with good luck, radiance and protection” – held at the Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah. “It was led by our family priest. The atmosphere was joyful and light-hearted. By the end, we were both completely covered in turmeric and surrounded by love.”
For the traditional Hindu wedding ceremony, staged at the Dahab Island Palace – a formal regal residence perched on an islet in the Nile – Monica was elegantly swathed in a red raw silk bridal lehenga by Indian occasionwear label Dolly J, while Vivek sported “a custom white sherwani designed in Delhi’s Khan Market, based on his own sketches. He later changed into a classic tuxedo from Huntsman on Savile Row,” reflecting the couple’s desire to ensure that “their looks subtly reflected [their] British, Indian and Egyptian influences,” Monica says. “We sourced pieces from designers in London, Cairo and Delhi, while all jewellery was custom-made by Vivek’s father – a fifth-generation jeweller.”
