Kajal Aggarwal, Gautam Kitchlu hitched: Everything you need to know about their love story, wedding

South star Kajal Aggarwal tied the knot with entrepreneur Gautam Kitchlu in a private ceremony in Mumbai on October 31. The couple got married with their immediate families and close friends in attendance. The actress has been sharing pictures from her wedding festivities, including her Haldi and Mehendi and lastly her bridal look.

Kajal is a movie star. Gautam is a Mumbai-based businessman, and the founder of bespoke interior design firm Discern Living. So how did these two people from diverse cultures and background meet and enter into wedlock!

Let's take a look at how Kajal and Gautam's love story and their wedding festivity

How Kajal and Gautam became friends?

The duo first got acquainted through mutual friends over a decade ago and instantly hit it off.

Speaking to Vogue Kajal says, "Gautam and I dated for about three years, and then we were friends for seven. We have progressed in every stage of being friends and been very important in each other's lives. We used to meet all the time, whether it was at social gatherings or an important professional endeavour.

Distance made their heart grow fonder.

Kajal adds:

Amidst the lockdown, when we didn't see each other for a few weeks—at best, we would catch a glimpse behind a mask at a grocery store—we realised that we wanted to be together.

Gautam proposed Kajal for marriage.

Kajal says:

There was no proverbial getting down on one knee because Gautam is understated when it comes to romance. He's not the filmy sort, and I am grateful for it because I have enough of that in my films. So, it wasn't a proposal with all of the jazz, but it was an extremely heartfelt, emotional conversation between us. He was so authentic about his feelings and the way he expressed how he wanted to have a future with me; I couldn't be surer about spending my life with him!

How love marriage got arranged

In April 2020, Kitchlu went to meet the Kajal's parents. Two months in, the couple got engaged in an intimate ceremony at home.

Speaking about her engagement outfit, Kajal avers,

Manish Malhotra, was the first designer to open his store for me and asked his karigars to make my sari at a time when everything was shut.

The virtual wedding planning

Kajal says,

The original plan to host a destination wedding, the crowded dance floor on the sangeet night. "We toured all of Maharashtra; checked out hotels in Alibaug, Lonavla and even vineyards at Nashik. We finally decided to book The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai which is close to home.

The pre-wedding celebrations

Speaking to Vogue, Kajal says:

To start on an auspicious note, we had a Radha Krishna satsang in my house. The living room, the star was transformed using red and pink flowers and foliage to make it look like Vrindavan garden.

The bride's mehndi

Kajal says she wanted to enjoy the pre-wedding festivities.

I was pretty clear that I wanted to enjoy the main celebration when the others were getting henna applied. So, I got my mehandi applied a day prior with my girls around me.

The chunni ceremony

Chunni is a beautiful Punjabi tradition, where the bride's in-laws cover her head with a dupatta as a means of protection and as a sign of welcoming, as she leaves her home to set her own house up.

Speaking about the ceremony, Kajal says:

Gautam's brother and brother-in-law performed the ritual. My side of the family is typical Punjabi, and my husband is half-Punjabi, half-Kashmiri.

As Gautam is half Punjabi and half Kashmiri, Kajal incorporated both sides of the ritual 

Kajal says,

We wanted to make it very special and tried to incorporate both sides of our rituals and culture. During the ceremony, as an ode to the groom's background was the pusht puja that's done with flowers. I wanted to pay tribute by adopting this beautiful ritual that sees the bride and groom placing a beetle leaf laced with jaggery and fenugreek paste on each other's foreheads. Then, there was the decor with apples and bespoke backdrops to resemble Kani shawls, and the menu with dishes made using morels found in the Valley and staples like Yakhni pulao.

Bridal outfit of Kajal: The Kashmiri Resham work

With hundreds of guests watching via Zoom and their parents, siblings and friends in attendance, they were married. Kajal was a vision in red, dressed in a custom Anamika Khanna lehenga, as she walked down the mirror-lined aisle that created an illusion of Dal Lake in Srinagar.

Kajal says:

The Kashmiri resham work was so intricate that it look like I draped a shawl around me. I wore uncut diamond jewellery by Sunita Shekhawat and some heirloom pieces [matha patti and nath] from my mother and nani. My chooda came from Amritsar, and Mrinalini Chandra personalised my kalire with charms of swans, love locks and more. My makeup artist and hairstylist, Vishal Charan and Divya Naik, who have been with me for the past ten years, were behind my beauty look.

The after-party

Kajal's after-party outfit was rather modern and glamorous, speaking about the same she quips,

The celebrations came to a close with a fun after party that went on till the wee hours, where I changed into Falguni Shane Peacock. It was such a glamorous change to the traditional looks. 

Let's take a look at newlywed kajal and Gautam's wedding album.

The after-party look