These unseen pictures take you inside Shweta Bachchan Nanda’s wedding

From the ivory and gold chikankari sari Deepika Padukone wore to her Mumbai reception to Isha Ambani’s wedding lehenga that made use of her mother's wedding sari—couturiers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla have been behind many of the stunning bridal ensembles you've seen recently. But there's one celebrity bride dressed by the designer whose pictures you probably haven't seen until today—Shweta Bachchan Nanda. As the designers celebrate their 33-year milestone in the fashion industry, they took the opportunity to share some unseen pictures from Bachchan Nanda’s wedding album, when she married businessman Nikhil Nanda in 1997, over two decades ago.

Shweta Bachchan Nanda championed chikankari with a white lehenga

While the trend of fashion designers lending their expertise to an entire event—from decor to ensembles—is fairly common now, Jani and Khosla revealed on Instagram that Shweta Bachchan Nanda's wedding in 1997 was their first gig as event designers. “Their wedding was the first ever event done by Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla and the duo handled everything from decor to ensembles for each function for the entire Bachchan family,” according to the label's Instagram page.

According to them, it was a beautifully intimate affair at Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan's Mumbai residence. “For her mehandi, we dressed the entrance of the house in trees made of white tuberoses. Inside, beautiful floor-to-ceiling curtains in intricate floral jaali adorned the space. Her sangeet was a traveling royal entourage awash in beiges and oranges. There were flags with gota details and in-lit tables, and the florals were inspired by the Bengali tradition of flowers, shola work,” Khosla had revealed in an exclusive interview to Vogue India.

The series of photos starts with Shweta Bachchan Nanda’s mehandi, where the then-bride-to-be is seen wearing a white chikankari lehenga. “1997: The Bride wore White! Shweta Bachchan exudes pristine grace in a spectacular floral veil and ornaments at her mehendi dressed in exquisitely intricate chikankari. A pathbreaking ensemble which made the statement that white is absolutely auspicious,” the caption of the post said. It wasn’t long before Bachchan responded saying, “Ahhhhhhhhh omg!!! The bride was a babyyyyy!!! My fav outfit 💋”

The sangeet ceremony included a massive performance

The second post, from her sangeet, reveals three pictures. In one photo, you can see Shweta Bachchan Nanda being escorted to the event by her brother, Abhishek. The second picture shows her shaking a leg with her husband, while the third is from what seems to be an typical scene from an Indian sangeet, with a family-and-friends performance. For this event, Bachchan Nanda is seen kitted out in a gold and white “brocade khinkhaab ghagra with gold zardozi vasli in a leafy tendril pattern.”

Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan performed the wedding rituals for daughter Shweta

Some of the wedding pictures present rare glimpses into the beautiful ceremony, starting from the bride being carried down to the venue on a traditional doli, followed by a picture of her and the groom, and then a picture of the parents Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan performing wedding rituals with the grandparents watching on. In one of the photographs, Bachchan Nanda is seen holding two betel leaves against her face as she enters the wedding mandap—a sweet nod to mother Jaya's Bengali roots. Both Jaya and Shweta were seen in shades of red, with Shweta choosing a maroon velvet lehenga embellished with threadwork, crystals and badla, while Jaya picked a bright red "bandhini ghagra sari". Another picture has the mother and daughter twinning again in chikankari ensembles.

Fast forward to present day, Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla remain among the favourite couturiers for the Bachchan family. The family was seen in outfits by the designers for Isha Ambani's wedding back in December 2018.

More recently in March 2019, Shweta Bachchan Nanda turned showstopper for the designer duo. Among the many videos from the event that went viral, one included Amitabh Bachchan and mother Jaya cheering for their daughter from the front row.

Also read:

Your guide to coordinating the wedding party’s ensembles

26 pictures that take you inside Amitabh Bachchan’s Mumbai home, Jalsa