Deepika-Ranveer wed in fiercely private ceremony after public declaration of love

After months of will they, won’t they, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh finally got married in Italy’s scenic Lake Como on Wednesday but Bollywood’s A couple kept things fiercely private leaving the celebrity media breathlessly waiting for scraps of information.
In the best tradition of a celebrity wedding — think George and Amal Clooney maybe — the stars and their guests were ensconced in resorts tucked high above the lake ringed by mountains while the paparazzi was stationed at a safe distance, managing only grainy images and videos of the ceremony. Though there was no official confirmation from the couple, hazy pictures and distant videos showed people lined up in a terrace done up with white flowers. There was also a glimpse of the couple dressed in shades of white with reports suggesting that day one was about Konkani wedding rituals while day two would be a Sindhi ceremony. While Deepika is a Konkani. Ranveer belongs to a Mumbai-based Sindhi family.
But that was it. There were barely any other details. The couple declared the dates on social media in October after months of speculation but the ceremony itself was cloaked in secrecy. Television channels and social media kept the wedding chatter going through the day with distant shots of the villas, stray tweets and old photographs from their films together. The day also marks the fifth anniversary of the release of their first film together — “Ram Leela” — on whose sets their love story is said to have taken off.
Unlike Bollywood’s two earlier weddings – Sonam Kapoor-Anand Ahuja in Mumbai and Anushka Sharma-Virat Kohli in Italy — this couple gave the media no space to broadcast their love story ‘IRL’, ‘in real time’. “Such a stunning, gorgeous and beautiful couple. Nazar utar lo. Badhai ho. Love you both. Here is to a lifetime of love and joy,” filmmaker Karan Johar said tagging the two stars. Twinning in white, the actors, who have worked together in “Bajirao Mastani” and “Padmavati”, were photographed at the Mumbai airport leaving for Italy on November 10 in a blaze of camera flashes. According to reports, only 40 people, including Shah Rukh Khan, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Farah Khan, have been invited for the wedding.
With no guests allowed to post any photographs without the couple approving it, the media was left grasping at straws to feed a fandom thirsting for fly-on-the-wall accounts — and, in the absence of that, any titbit of information. On November 10, Ranveer’s stylist Nitasha Gaurav posted teasers of the pre-wedding rituals on Twitter. “No pictures but it was love personified to see them together today. Couldn’t stop my tears, but these were tears of happiness and so I hope they never do. #DeepVeerKiShaadi #ranveerkishaadi #foreverlove,” she wrote on the microblogging site.
Singer Harshdeep Kaur, who reportedly performed at the sangeet ceremony Tuesday, had to take down a picture from social media, that showed her standing near the lake with her husband.But a screenshot of the now deleted photo is already viral on social media. During the engagement ceremony, which also reportedly took place Tuesday, Ranveer went down on his knees asking for Deepika’s hand. After they exchanged rings, he gave a speech that made her emotional, according to one website. There was a small dinner followed by a dance session, which had the father of the groom, Jagjit Singh Bhavnani, shaking a leg.
Reports also said the bride was in tears throughout the henna ceremony. Earlier this month, Deepika’s stylist Shaleen Nathani alerted social media by sharing pre-wedding festivities of ‘Nandi Puja’ on Instagram. “To new beginnings @deepikapadukone,” Nathani wrote alongside a photograph of the actor dressed in traditional attire. The same day, Ranveer and close friend and casting director Shanoo Sharman were spotted from his balcony at a ‘haldi’ ceremony. The couple, who confirmed their relationship only recently, will have a reception each in Bengaluru and Mumbai on November 21 and 28, respectively.
Going by Deepika’s admission on season six premiere of “Koffee With Karan”, they have been in dating each other for the past six years. After portmanteaus Brangelina, Saifeena and Virushka went viral, fans of the duo are having a field day on social media with hashtags such as #DeepVeerKiShaadi and #DeepVeer till the time the actors make things internet official. Before the #DeepVeerKiShaadi fever wanes, there’s another celebrity wedding in the offing. Actor Priyanka Chopra and American singer Nick Jonas are reportedly set to get married in December.