Lifestyle Influencer Sana Grover’s Beachside Wedding Was Straight Out Of Her Dreams

Sana Grover’s first date with now-husband Swadheet Chaturvedi did not go well. “He was only talking about football and techno music,” she says, recalling their first date after matching with each other on a dating app, “My first impression was that I can't deal with just football and techno music all the time. So I did not want to go on the second date!”

Thankfully, the two got a chance for a do-over when they decided to meet again (“I thought what’s the worst that could happen?” recalls Sana) and the rest was history.

As the couple began dating, a series of serendipitous events began to nudge Sana into slowly accepting that Swadheet could be The One. “I lost my mom in 2021 to COVID. And so I really wanted to marry someone who at least my mom knew of, you know?” she says, “The first time he came to pick me up, I noticed his car number which added up to a nine. Now, my mother used to ensure that all of our car numbers always added up to nine. Then there was the fact that he was an architect, and so was my mom.” Along with these signs, Swadheet’s generous and kind presence in her life made Sana realise that this was the person she was meant to spend the rest of her life with. As it turns out, Swadheet had reached this realisation too.

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“Swadheet began planning the proposal with my best friend,” she says, “He is not a social media person at all! His feed is all buildings and I had to intervene to post at least some non-building shots on his Instagram! So he was absolutely clueless as to how to pull off a romantic proposal which is why he decided to consult my friend.”

Sana had (helpfully, in retrospect) already pointed out her dream engagement ring to her friend ages before even meeting Swadheet, so the Tiffany engagement ring was sorted. Now came the actual proposal. Swadheet’s not-so-sly planning had tipped Sana off about something fishy in the works (especially when he began to pester her about her location so that he could sneak into her house to take her grandparents’ blessing before proposing to her), so she wasn’t truly surprised when a series of ‘coincidences’ led them to spend a picture-perfect evening atop a BBQ boat on the Thames in London. “I had a McChicken in my hand when he finally brought out the ring and popped the question. It was very sweet!” she says.

When it came to the wedding, the couple was on the same page about wanting a personalised celebration that didn’t impact the environment negatively. They enlisted the help of destination wedding planners and designers The Shaadi Knot to pull this off for their beachside nuptials in Goa.

Even though she's a style influencer, the bride eschewed trends in favour of going with a wardrobe that felt true to her heart for the wedding. For her choora ceremony, for instance, Sana chose to wear a 20-year-old Ritu Kumar suit that belonged to her mother along with her great-grandmother's jewellery.

The haldi and mehndi ceremony was a riot of vibrant hues in yellow, blue and pink. The bride chose to wear a Suhino ensemble.

For the sangeet, a ceremony that the bride was particularly excited about, Sana wore a Seema Gujral lehenga and danced the night away with her friends and family with the beautiful Goan coastline in the background.

The sunset wedding ceremony called for the big guns. Ever since she was a kid, Sana knew she wanted to get married wearing a Sabyasachi outfit, thanks to repeated viewings of the 2011 reality show Band Baajaa Bride.

“I was obsessed with the show,” she gushes, “I would watch every episode where Sabyasachi would come and he would dress the brides up and all of that. So I always knew that it’s what I wanted for my wedding too.”

As the bride made her way atop the mirrored aisle to the mandap, Swadheet got visibly emotional, making for yet another poignant first look. “He's the chill person and I'm the super emotional person in our relationship. I had seen his outfit already since I helped him shop for it, but I kept my look secret. I think that’s why he got emotional,” she says.

“I do this thing where I take a mental picture of moments that I want to remember for the rest of my life. When I reached Swadheet at the mandap, we both looked around at the beach and all our loved ones were present there. We realised that this was exactly how we wanted everything to be. It was one of the purest moments of our lives. We took a mental picture then and there.”

Despite having upwards of 250k followers on Instagram, Sana made a conscious choice of keeping the wedding, and the journey to it, as private as possible. “Swadheet is a very private person, and even though initially I used to get defensive about my choice to invite people into different aspects of my life, I began to appreciate keeping the wedding stuff private until it actually happened,” she says.

The wedding ceremony was followed by a few after-parties in Goa and a reception in Delhi. The couple went on a mini-moon to Sri Lanka and are now planning a trip to the South of France to celebrate Swadheets’s birthday. But if there’s one thing that Sana is looking forward to after getting married to the love of her life, it’s celebrating festivals together. “Holi is coming soon so I’m excited about that. Eventually, there’s going to be karwa chauth and Diwali. I'm really a sucker for all of them!”

She leaves us with advice for brides to enjoy the wedding planning process in the run-up to D-Day. “So many people have so many opinions, whether it is your parents, grandparents, extended family, or your partner's family, but just be true to yourself,” she says, “Know what you want deep down in your heart and just focus on that. Also, I think someone gave me this advice that helped me a lot for my wedding, you should know that not everything's going to be perfect. Just go with the flow and enjoy the ceremony.” There you have it!

Here’s wishing Sana and Swadheet a lifetime of happiness!