An Indo-French wedding where the bride had Raja Ravi Varma works on her mood board

When the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic, New York-based designer and founder of Gundi Studios, Natasha Sumant, and Paris-based architect and founder of Mattera-Matang, Lucien Dumas, found themselves locked down in Mumbai. What had begun casually after a random meet-cute in Bonobo in January 2020 soon turned into spending every day together until international borders reopened. “The French embassy called to inform me that the last flight to Paris was leaving soon, but I decided to stay back,” recounts Dumas. Over the next few months, the two creatives bonded over their shared love of craft, which was what brought them to India the previous year.

The couple moved to Paris soon after, following which Sumant returned to New York, and thus ensued three years of transatlantic dating. In 2023, the designer and architect got married in an intimate court wedding in Paris. The celebrations continued as they cruised down the Seine on a tourist boat with a DJ on board and partied in front of the Eiffel Tower.

In December 2025, the Franco-Indian couple flew down to Kerala in a warm homecoming with an expanded guest list for a two-day wedding celebration against the backdrop of the Kumarakom backwaters. One early Paris morning, the bride and groom joined me on Zoom to take me through their dinner-in-the-desert proposal, Raja Ravi Varma-inspired outfits and decor, the female priestess who officiated the rituals, and a ceremonial send-off in a fisherman’s canoe.

A (surprisingly) grand proposal

Lucien: I wanted to propose to Natasha at this new hotel up in the Himalayas. But we ended up fighting because it was January and she was coming to India to escape the cold. I cancelled that and found Suryagarh Jaisalmer. I had planned a dinner in the desert, but when we arrived they told me they were fully booked. I spoke to the manager about the proposal, and he requested all the hotel guests if they could have dinner early, and everyone agreed.

Natasha: The staff were constantly staring at us and whispering amongst themselves. I knew there was something weird happening. Later, we were at the front of the hotel when a man in complete Rajasthani attire started beating the drum as we began walking. A light came on, and there was a singer in the background, and a beautiful dinner set up with candles all around. The proposal was a culture shock for Lucien because he thought it was going to be a chill dinner. But the hotel went all out—it was so grand, even he was surprised.

Lucien: Six staff members were watching us, waiting for me to go down on one knee, but it’s not French tradition to do that, so we just sat together and I proposed.

Natasha: I was never really a marriage girl, so I had never envisioned a ring. But Lucien got me a honeycomb ring from Hermès. It feels more punk, which is more my vibe. It’s also a French tradition for the family to gift the daughter-in-law a ring; mine is a Mughal-inspired one currently in the making.

Backwaters, houseboats, and an old house by the lake

Natasha: As children, we went to Kumarakom in the winters. I have fond memories of swimming in the canals and going fishing with my dad. I wanted to return to that.

Lucien: We chose Kumarakom Lake Resort because of its traditional Kerala-style architecture, which I’m obsessed with. We preferred to work with something already beautiful instead of building structures and decorating them heavily. All my friends are architects, and they really appreciated the venue.

Natasha: We had the mehendi, the sangeet, the sadya, and the reception at the resort. From a design perspective, we took inspiration from old Kerala weddings, including my grandmother’s, and also referred to Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings, especially with the colours and flowers, to create a style that wasn’t too influenced by Bollywood.

For the wedding ceremony, we took a houseboat across the lake to the old Vembanad House. All my grandmothers before me were married at an old house we used to have. The family property was sold in the ’80s, but I wanted to recreate that. It felt more intimate and reminded me of my grandma’s home.

Anybody can dance

Natasha: I really loved our sangeet. All our friends put in so much effort. My parents performed a very cute dance to Chris Norman and Suzi Quatro’s ‘Stumblin’ In’ and Lucien’s entire extended family—all 35 of them—danced to ‘Bole Chudiyan’ and they killed it! His friends also did a weird architectural interpretative dance; it was so strange but so funny. It was really nice to watch everyone on the French side let their guards down and just dance.

Breaking conventions, secularising traditions

Natasha: For the mehendi, we had a sitar and a tabla player. For the ceremony, Priya Purushothaman, a well-known Hindustani classical vocalist, composed several pieces that she sang in between the shlokas, including an invocation to Ganesh and one to Bhadrakali, our ancestral goddess. I wanted it to be a secular Vedic ceremony. My work has always centred around female empowerment and questioning and subverting our culture in whatever ways I can, so it was important for me to have a female priest officiate the wedding, which left my grandmother bewildered.

Nails, hair, hips, heels

Lucien: I stuck to Divyam Mehta for most of the events. For the wedding ceremony I wore another Divyam Mehta kurta and a traditional white silk mundu from Nalli. The groom is usually shirtless during the ceremony, but we thought maybe not! For the sadya and reception, I wore a custom black Raw Mango suit and mundu set.

Natasha: For the mehendi, I asked the Raw Mango team to turn a lovely pink kurta into a mini dress. It had a peacock motif, which felt apt because I also have a peacock tattoo. I styled it with gold Prada shoes, payal, glass bangles, and a gold ghungroo as a choker.

For the wedding ceremony, I wore a white-and-gold Raw Mango Benarasi brocade sari. Sanjay [Garg] customised a green fall to match my jewellery, which I kept minimal—a mala, coin necklace, and heirloom bangles, along with earrings from Estaa Gems. Borrowing from Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings, we worked with pearls, emeralds, and rubies, and added a few pieces from C Krishniah Chetty & Sons.

For the sangeet, I chose a one-of-a-kind Anita Dongre lehenga and slipped into a white Gundi Studios dress from my spring/summer 2026 collection for the sadya and dinner—and both looks had pockets! I paired the dress with white Maison Margiela tabis and pinned calla lilies, ixoras, and amaranthus into my hair. My friend Umang [Thapa, hair and makeup artist] created several hairdos inspired by my grandmother’s wedding photographs and Raja Ravi Varma paintings—from a long braid laced entirely with jasmine to pintucked waves at the front to frame my face, which felt slightly more Western.

Vive les mariés!

Lucien: One thing I love about French weddings is that when leaving the venue, the couple drive away with everyone cheering “Vive les mariés!” (“Long live the newlyweds!”), and each couple chooses their own kind of vehicle that represents them—it could be a sports car, a vintage car, or even a horse-drawn carriage. We decided to take a small fisherman’s canoe out into the lake.

Natasha: For us, a boat was an obvious choice. I love diving, Lucien loves fishing, and every summer you’ll find us swimming in the South of France. After the ceremony, we got on the canoe and Lucien paddled us out as our families showered us with flowers. I thought it was going to be cheesy, but it was a really cute moment.

Lucien: This was our way of going into life together. This was my favourite moment—it was very beautiful to watch everyone in a single frame from afar. But we had to return to shore!