Anjli Mohindra Wore A Custom Lehenga And Pre-Loved Jimmy Choos To Marry Fellow Actor Sacha Dhawan In Tuscany

The Bride Wore A Vintage Baby Blue Dress To Marry At A Moroccan Villa Steeped In Fashion Lore

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By Kerry McDermott

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Anjli committed herself to designing and making the stationery by hand, something that was slightly hindered by her work commitments – including performing in The Years in the West End and filming Richard Gadd’s new series, Half Man. “I had been nervous about not having enough time, but on my days off I used a second-hand Cricut machine and some Etsy tassels, and against all the advice I’d been given to not make life more difficult, I set about painting and printing fan-programmes detailing the Hindu ceremony, and hand-made place names with secret personalised messages inside for our guests,” she says. “In hindsight the advice had been bang on, but our guests’ faces when they read them made it well worth the mission.”

For their wedding outfits, the couple were keen to acknowledge their Indian heritage, their British identities, and also their Tuscan surroundings. They called upon stylist Krishan Parmar to help them pull together all their looks. Anjli and Krishan ultimately stumbled across her dream bridal outfit on a shelf behind the counter at a hole in the wall store on Ealing Road. “It was the tiniest suggestion of pastels and antique threadwork through a plastic bag,” she remembers. “Krishan asked to see it and as soon as the shopkeeper opened the bag we knew we’d struck gold! The dress was completely unstitched, so he had dressmaker Vasilica Daineanu rework the lehenga blouse pattern into the dream outfit that felt really bespoke, and custom to me.”

Anjli accessorised with a choker and necklace set from Sokora Jewels. “The vintage detailing on the crystal set worked perfectly with the dress, and the V-shaped drop of the flat necklace worked perfectly with the cut of the blouse,” she says. Meanwhile her wedding bangles came from her mum’s favourite accessory shop in Leicester. “I hadn’t visited the shops on Melton Road since I was a child, and so running up and down it with my mum, stopping for dhokla along the way, was a trip down memory lane,” says Anjli. “And a new core memory made.”

Anjli turned to The Own Studio for her Western ceremony outfit. “The draping and pleats felt romantic, vintage and almost like a nod to a saree, while the hidden corset felt really supportive and comfortable,” she explains. “Krishan and I discussed ‘the feeling’ a lot, and with each of my looks there was a moment as soon as I put it on that it felt right.” She also wore a custom crepe-silk cape. “It flew in the wind and had to be wrestled by my sister Nikita and maid of honour, Lauren,” laughs Anjli. “I think at some point or other it hit every guest in the pews, which added to the wild, wonderful and unpredictable nature of the day.” She borrowed some vintage 1950s diamond earrings from Piccadilly Vaults for the ceremony, and wore second-hand Jimmy Choo shoes throughout.

The couple ended up wearing complementary colours quite by chance, after Sacha found the perfect Nehru jacket from designer Saran Kohli. “The fabric was custom designed and it wasn’t intended for a groom, but instead an experiment of merging South Asian florals with Lancashire checks, bridging two worlds of textile heritage,” explains Anjli. “Saran had the jacket sent to his atelier in Delhi and had the piece hand-embroidered, which took 60 hours. The embroidery was done by hand and freestyle to create a piece of art. Finishing details, like the old 1930s rupee coins for buttons, made this something Sacha will cherish for a very long time.”

The groom paired the jacket with cream tailored trousers and a gold silk double cuff kurta, making it feel contemporary, while still being an ode to the heritage of India. For the Western ceremony, Sacha changed into an Italian dinner jacket by Oliver Brown, paired with trousers and shoes he’d worn previously to the SAG Awards, and completed with gold cufflinks borrowed from his dad.

The Hindu ceremony was conducted by the same pandit, Vivek Ananda, who had married Sacha’s sister. “A Srividyā practitioner and advanced clinical practitioner, Vivek blends spiritual depth with compassionate care,” explains Anjli. “It was important to us that our ceremony felt inclusive, and he honoured both feminine and masculine energies in a way that felt truly equal. His rituals wove in astrology and playful games, to reflect the power balance in our new journey.”

In the afternoon, the couple were married by two of their friends for their Western ceremony. “My mum and dad accompanied me down the aisle to Sacha’s favourite song, Elbow’s ‘One Day Like This’,” says Anjli. “My dad took a wrong turn as we emerged, then a few steps later I nearly skidded over the gravel – all the while my three-metre cape danced over our guests’ heads. Everyone laughed, and I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect entrance. I love a mishap and things that ground you in the present.”

The day was full of serendipitous moments. “We had written our own vows, and I had joked about Sacha’s trait of belting out Lauryn Hill’s ‘Doo Wop, That Thing’ at the most unexpected moments of our relationship,” explains Anjli. “Blissfully unaware of this, he had asked if we could play it as our ceremony exit song.” Later in the day, Anjli’s sister surprised them with a group dance, while the couple’s first dance was to a garage remix of Rusted Root’s “Send Me On My Way”. The DJ eventually had to encourage people to leave the dance floor after 2am.

“I think we both prepared ourselves for a crash landing of exhaustion and relief for getting our guests safely to us, and through it all,” says Anjli, looking back. “We found ourselves laughing the next morning, really sad it was all over but in stitches at our earlier angst about the pre-wedding storm. But nothing had prepared us for the euphoria and subsequent afterglow of the wedding itself. We’ve all heard it before – having all of your loved ones there in the same room feels incredible.”