Welcome to Isn’t It Romantic?, a week in which we will indulge our desire to shamelessly ogle lavish, beautiful weddings. Next up: Leily Amirsardary Ahmed and Will Ahmed.
Leily, a fashion designer, and Will, a fitness CEO, met on the dance floor at a party in Harvard Square. Leily had recently moved from Paris and was attending Wellesley College while Will was a recent Harvard Grad. “I thought she was so mesmerizing, I had to go talk to her,” Will said.
Leily was suspicious he might propose soon, and so she started making near-daily trips to Drybar in anticipation. (She said her stylist was “secretly concerned that I was delusional.”) Will proposed in a park in the South End of Boston and took her back home where her friends were waiting to celebrate.
They chose Cannes because they had visited the South of France early in their relationship and Leily’s family has a home there. It was important to Leily to combine Persian elements into the three-day wedding ceremony. The bride planned the wedding herself, and “really wanted to make sure our friends and family weren’t traveling long and far without a weekend to remember for a long long time.”
Rehearsal dinner venue: Baoli, Cannes
Welcome dinner & party: Hotel Barierre le Majestic Beach Club
Wedding venue: Intercontinental Carlton
Wedding dress: Berta from L’Fay bridal in New York
Veil: Custom
Wedding tuxedo: Dior
Florist: Roni Floral Design
Production and Decoration: DecoFlamme
Musicians: Vogue Live Band for the wedding; Le Trio Soltani for the ceremony and welcome party
Hair: Ilya Shabin
Makeup: Nora Kourkis
Photo: Francisco Bravo for Christian Oth Studio
The wedding was a three-evening affair: Night one was the rehearsal dinner, followed by “1001 Nuits” or “Persian night” welcome for the guests. The actual wedding was the third event.
Photo: Francisco Bravo for Christian Oth Studio
“The energy was absolutely magical and no one wanted it to end — we finally had to call it a night after 4 or 5 a.m.,” Leily said of the 1001 Nuits party. “We brought a little bit of Persia to Cannes at the Majestic Hotel beach club.”
Photo: Francisco Bravo for Christian Oth Studio
Leily wore a custom dress made in Iran while Will wore a white linen suit from Emenegildo Zegna with a Ralph Lauren linen shirt.
Photo: Francisco Bravo for Christian Oth Studio
In order to have the lavish first party, Leily and her production team had to close down the beach early to set up and get permits from various French offices.
Photo: Francisco Bravo for Christian Oth Studio
On the last night, they skipped a Western-style ceremony for a traditional Persian one. Will and Leily sat together, facing the guests, and had a sofreh, where they give each other symbolic items. “One of my favorite traditions was that once we say our I-do’s, we each feed each their a little bit of honey with our pinky fingers. It was special to be able to share a symbolic and intimate moment during what can be an overwhelming ceremony,” Leily said.
Photo: Francisco Bravo for Christian Oth Studio
One of Leily’s mother’s friends helped her create the perfect custom veil. “She sourced artisans that were experts in sermeh embroidery — an old style of Persian embroidery that dates back to the Achaemenid dynasty (some 25 centuries ago) using real gold and silver threads.”