Some love stories are meant to last forever. Miss Nepal 2009, Zenisha Moktan took the wedding vows with her longtime boyfriend Dikesh Malhotra on February 26, 2016 after dating him for a few years. In a candid conversation, Dikesh and Zenisha talk about

Whoever said it first, it is true that all true marriages are made in heaven, but celebrated on earth. It is often a dream of every inveterate romantic to get married and that too in a very pompous way. Wedding entails a lot of planning -- starting from wedding dresses, jewelries, venue and type of wedding invitation to be sent -- and the list goes quite long.  It marks the beginning of new innings in one’s life, and is celebrated in such a manner that it becomes a treasured moment for the wedding couple as well as their family and friends.

She is beautiful and elegant.  He is tall, dashing and handsome.  And when they come together, the first phrase that comes to mind is “picture perfect couple:   The definition of a big fat wedding got vindicated when Dikesh Malhotra tied the knot with his love Zenisha Moktan.

They met, they clicked and they complemented each other. The former Miss Nepal and the business tycoon spill the beans about their first encounter and how their friendship and romance kicked off.  Here is a flash back into the prem kahani and their larger than life wedding.

The first meeting:

Zenisha: We met each other for the first time during the wedding of a friend, who happened to be Dikesh’s cousin.  We were both very involved in that wedding. That is how we became friends and instantly struck a connection.

Dikesh: I was doing my bachelor’s in the U.S. and was in my vacation in Nepal when I first met her.  Then we started meeting regularly.

Confessing Love:

Zenisha: We never had an official proposal.  It was just a gradual process, and before we knew we were already in a relationship.

Dikesh: There wasn’t any great declaration or anything as such. We did not require formal proposal.  We did not need to tell each other anything.  It was understood and we took it forward.

Difficulty brought togetherness:

Zenisha: We were already dating each other so we planned for our Master’s degree together and went to the United Kingdom. Being in an entirely foreign country, and with hardly any family or friends, it was obviously difficult managing finances, time, and living on our own as student. He had me and I had him. We got through it together so that built on as strong base for our relationship.

Gradual friendship:

Zenisha: I never looked at him as a friend. For me, from the beginning he was a very boyfriend material.  But now we have grown to become good friends.  Being in a relationship and then getting married, now we have that connection.

Need to convince

Zenisha: There wasn’t the need to convince our parents. Both our families are accustomed to each other, and are friends with each other.

Culture was never an issue

Dikesh: Cultural differences were not at all an issue in my family since my family already is very diverse.  So Zenisha’s coming from a Tamang community was not a concern at all; it was just a part of the diversity already in the family.

Pre wedding celebrations

Bachelor party:

Dikesh: Usually in Nepal the bachelor party is just for guys.  Girls don’t celebrate bachelor’s party.  Guys who celebrate this, go out in a small group, have fun and do crazy stuffs.  But for me, that sort of thought never came in to mind.  I wanted to celebrate it with all my loved and dear ones.  Definitely not the elders, but yes with all my friends, both guys and girls.

Zenisha: We celebrated it at the Rox Bar. It was a celebration before we got into marital union. Our concept was to invite all our close ones who have been friend with us, supported our relationship, and seen us through difficult times and happy times.  It was a wonderful event, everyone had a lots of fun.  The most memorable moment was when we both danced on stage because normally Dikesh is not much of a dance person.

Mehendi and Sangeet:

Zenisha: We had separate mehendi ceremonies at our individual places, and sangeet was held at Dikesh’s place.  I was asking him since a year in advance to perform in our sangeet and he sang a song though he was covering his face the entire time.  I also danced for him and to his surprise I choreographed a performance with our international friends to the song ‘Pari tyo dandaa ma,’ which made him very happy.

The grand wedding:

Zenisha: We had already planned the wedding a year ahead.  Dikesh too took out time for our wedding.  No one in his office was in a working mood so he did not have much work.  Even though the wedding was huge the two of us hardly felt it because everyone made it so convenient for us.  The wedding ceremony was held at my home.  The entire wedding was so much fun.  We had three different types of wedding: Tamang, according to my culture; Newar, since Dikesh’s mom is Newar; and then Hindu ceremony wedding where we did the ‘Phera’.   It was vibrant. We had a lot of people who travelled a long distance to attend the wedding.

Cry baby cry:

Dikesh: She was one of the brides who did not cry.  It was my first experience seeing a bride not crying while leaving her house.  Neither did she nor her family members cried, so basically it was a happy event.

Zenisha: I am very much a cry baby in the sense that I cry even while watching movies.  I always thought that I would cry but at that moment I did not feel like crying since everyone was very happy.  But after a couple of days when we got our wedding video and I watched it, I felt like crying for no reason.

Post wedding bash:

Zenisha: We had four receptions in total and the guest list was very long.  One was held at the Shangri – La and the other three at the Hyatt Regency.  We had guests from political background, business background, and the media.  We had the Prime Minister, the Vice President, a lot of ex–prime ministers, lots of diplomats, celebrities, and a lot of our friends.  The reception was divided according to guests because of security concerns, since we had lot of guests going in and out.

Blissful Honeymoon:

Zenisha: We went to Italy for our honeymoon.  We visited three places in Italy-Sicily, Cagliari and Rome.  We even encountered with the ex–royals: the former king and the former queen along with their family, dinning at the same place where we were.

Post wedding adjustments:

Dikesh: There has not been any adjustment issues till now.  Even before marriage she used to come to my home, have lunch together, go together to the office, go together to the gym, have dinner, and I used to drop her at her house.  We would be together the entire day.  So for me it has been the same.

Zenisha: As I was accustomed to his family and home, it has not felt like much of a change.  The only difference is that while I was working before marriage and now I am not.  Everyone is very understanding and has helped us retain the life that we always had.

Childhood wedding fantasy:

Zenisha: I am a very filmy person, so obviously growing up I did imagine some ‘Raj Malhotra,’ well, I didn’t get Raj but I got Dikesh Malhotra.  Everything about him is very filmy: he comes from a nice family, studied in foreign country.  He is a good boy, very tall, quite handsome, just as I imagined in my fantasy.

What the couple has to say about each other:

Zenisha: There are lots of qualities in him that make him beyond “nice.”  He is very much family oriented, very hard working, all balanced and composed, has the right values in life and the best thing, is he doesn’t show all these and does not talk about himself. He is very down to earth.

Dikesh: One thing that I like about her is, that she does not do late nights, does not drink or smoke.  These are the qualities that are very difficult to find nowadays.  Not that I am saying someone who drinks or smokes is bad person, but her not doing it is something that attracted me. And the best thing that she has done for me is taking care of my family and getting along with them.

Planning a little one:

We are open and do not have any time limitations so whenever it will happen it will happen. Since we are quite loud in the social media everyone will know when it ensues.

Last words:

Dikesh: I would advise couples to have trust on each other and believe in each other.  Do not harbor too much doubts.  If you have second thoughts, you should wait and not jump into marriage.  If it is a cultural thing then the first priority should be you and your to-be spouse. Then the second process would be to convince your parents.  And if your family is on board than you need not think about what others think.

Zenisha: My advice would be to find balance and come to the common ground. Be a team with your spouse, stay strong and spread love.