College sweethearts Anirudh Pisharody and Jill V Dey got married in a ceremony in Rome that took the top off from their cultures.

Anirudh Pisharody and Gill V. Dey first met in the parking lot of their college grocery store in November 2014, or so the former claims, as Dey has no recollection of the incident. The next time the newlywed couple bumped into each other was at the Never Have I Ever actor’s Halloween party — Day was the only one who showed up in costume despite her now-husband’s band explicitly calling for her to ban it. As these things go, a few months later, Pisharody was working up the courage to ask Day out. They got to know each other over the following dates, and the two bonded over their love of cinema and filmmaking. “To my surprise, Anirudh was enrolled in an East Asian martial arts class that semester. I was half impressed and half mad that he knew Chinese kung fu movies better than me!,” recalls the bride, a film director and producer with shows on Amazon Prime and CBS. After graduation, the college sweethearts’ bond deepened as they moved long distances until Pisciarodi finally proposed in the summer of 2019 at Hearst Castle in California with a round-cut diamond ring from Tiffany & Co. The groom reveals Italian art and architecture, which we both adore. An introduction to their wedding Roman, as was their first official date at Mandola’s Italian Kitchen in Austin in 2015.

Having visited and fallen in love with Italy the year before their engagement, the Los Angeles-based couple already knew the wedding had to be in Rome. But the pandemic struck and the wedding had to be postponed indefinitely. Their wedding dream finally came true this summer with a magical weekend celebration in the Italian capital where they married their Indian and Chinese roots with their global upbringing.

Italian touches were evident in every detail of the celebration for 200 guests: Welcome bags included a small portable electric fan to beat the European heat, Italian chocolates and cookies, and personalized bottles of olive oil and Italian limoncello inscribed with the couple’s names. The intimate wedding was a private pasta and dessert making masterclass at Inblack Kitchen Studio, while the party was held at the Capitoline Museums’ historic Terrazza Caffarelli in the heart of the city. Keeping in mind the collection of famous statues and paintings that find a home at the museum, as well as the uninterrupted views of Rome, the couple, matching Seema Gujral’s icy blue look, arranged a special photo shoot for guests on the grand entrance steps.

The fairytale wedding took place the next day at Odescalce di Bracciano, a medieval lakeside castle built in the 15th century. The event was a beautiful amalgamation of a Chinese tea ceremony, Indian kalyanam and a Western wedding, followed by a ceremony the couple described as “unconventional”. For the Western occasions, the groom wore head-to-toe Dior with a Cartier Tank Must watch, while the bride wore Vera Wang.

The rain gods played hide and seek all day but gently stopped when the rain fell during crucial moments. “The sky was overcast during the Western Garden ceremony. As we exchanged our vows and rings, a ray of sunlight shone down on us like a warm spotlight from a parting in the clouds,” Day recalls. “A double rainbow appeared over Lake Bracciano as soon as guests entered the cocktail hour garden venue. Very magical, very serendipitous,” Picharodi adds. No doubt he means that.