A Lake Como wedding where the groom became a “human pizza” and two faiths came together in one ceremony

Their texts quickly became the highlight of her day. A week after matching, she accidentally butt-dialled him. The missed call turned into a four-hour FaceTime conversation. A few weeks later, he told her he would be in town “scouting locations” for his Crumbl store. In reality, he flew in just to take her on their first date, then kept flying in every weekend for two months. “Billy is my best friend, the person I laugh with until my sides hurt, and the person who makes me the best version of myself,” says Saboo.

They spent two years together while she was in business school in New York and the next three years long-distance between Chicago and New York as they both built their companies. “We ended up dating for the two years I was at business school in NYC, but the next three years, through our engagement and all our wedding planning, we were long distance between Chicago and NYC,” she says. “Finally, we are now both NYC residents and are so happy.”

The proposal arrived in June 2023 on a cliff in Encinitas, near San Diego. The excuse was an annual boys’ trip. Every summer, Badruddin and his childhood friends follow the Chicago Cubs to an away game. This time the destination was San Diego and he encouraged her to join, folding her into what sounded like an easy weekend of baseball, brunch and the farmer’s market. While Saboo sipped lemonade at a kids’ stand with her friend Emily, pretending to wander, Badruddin engineered an elaborate setup at the Hyatt Alila Marea Beach Resort. On a private cliff, a live violinist played their favourite songs as a photographer waited beside a rose arch that read “Will you marry me” and golden stands displaying photographs from their years together. He had even packed her suitcase, down to her makeup bag, and arranged for them to move hotels.

“As we climbed the steps, I first saw Billy’s friends, then the violinist and finally him,” she recalls. Walking down a path lined with their photographs felt surreal. She barely remembers the words, only the joy of saying yes. Their friends popped the champagne. A pod of dolphins leapt across the water below, something their friends, who are locals, said they had never seen. Later that night, they skipped the fancy dinner for In-N-Out burgers and animal fries. “It was romantic, thoughtful and completely, perfectly us,” she says.