A wedding in Mykonos shaped by Bollywood dreams and a love story that crossed continents

Planning the wedding became a family project with Agarwal’s mother leading the logistics while the couple focused on how to bring as much of India as they could to Greece. They wanted the celebrations to feel familiar to the guests who had grown up attending big Indian weddings, only now framed by Aegean skies and bougainvillaea. “We wanted to replicate the same vibe and fun feeling, just in a totally different location,” they say.

The wedding blended Marwari and Punjabi rituals. They kept most traditional elements including the bhaat and the dholki. They also had a pandit who explained every step of the ceremony, which delighted their American friends. “Our friends from America loved and embraced all of our traditions. They truly destroyed us at the haldi.”

Agarwal’s mood board referenced her favourite Bollywood films. Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania and Kal Ho Naa Ho guided the colour and choreography. Bougainvillaea pinks, Mykonos whites and Aegean blues threaded through the spaces. “My dream wedding was colourful, loud, fun and a constant rager,” she says. “Success.”

The personal touches were everywhere. A neon sign at the sangeet read Dil Toh Pagal Hai. Their wedding logo was projected across the mountains of Mykonos behind the stage. At the haldi, a custom wooden Cafe Rishi sign greeted guests at an espresso station that referenced Khanna’s love for making coffee for friends at home. Their welcome dinner included Greek hair crowns and evil eye bracelets sourced from a local boutique. Their mehndi favours were Indian earrings and purses carried all the way from Kolkata by Agarwal’s aunt.

At the reception, guests found their seating cards tied to miniature Greek Ouzo shots under the banner “Take a shot and take your seat.” The most personal touch came from the handwritten cards the couple wrote for each guest with polaroid-style photos tucked inside. Agarwal designed the stationery herself, titled Our People and Humare Log, with an outline of Mykonos town printed at the bottom. “This was a huge hit,” she says. “It took forever to write them but was so worth it.”

The wedding in Mykonos featured food that crossed borders with ease. The couple mixed traditional Greek dishes from the hotel with Indian classics prepared by Dosa King, a caterer flown in from Athens. They also worked in a dosa station at breakfast, a nod to Agarwal’s favourite part of weddings in India. Maggi and chicken gyros appeared as late-night snacks during the sangeet and reception. Drinks were central too with spicy margaritas for Agarwal and espresso martinis for Khanna.