Caribbean dream

With only 18 guests in attendance, Katyayni Gupta and Shlok Punjabi tied the knot in a ceremony officiated by the bride's brother.

- THEA MULCHANDANI.

Modern love stories don't always begin with candlelight and champagne.

For product manager Katyayni Gupta and recruiter Shlok Punjabi, it started in 2022 at a dog's birthday party. Gupta had just returned to San Francisco after her father's passing; Punjabi had moved to the city from Los Angeles. Over the weeks that followed, they found themselves gravitating towards one another at friends' parties, their shared sense of humour and values drawing them close. Soon, the group dwindled until it was just the two of them. “I remember telling Shlok, ‘We're going to be such good friends, you'll probably be at my wedding someday’,” she laughs. “I didn’t imagine he'd be there as the groom.”

In January 2024, Punjabi proposed at the Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco, complete with a string quartet. “This city is tied to who we are,” he says. “If I'd proposed anywhere else, it would have felt like the trip was diluting the intention.” A year later, they slipped into City Hall to elope. Gupta wore a blue raw silk foil-printed Masaba sari. “The first sari I ever wore was my mum's Masaba,” she says. “It felt like the right full-circle moment.”