Inside: A Charming Wedding At A Historic Estate In Tuscany

From their paths crossing thanks to two engaged friends to their charming wedding in Tuscany. Haya Laham and Sunny Punjabi give us an inside look at their charming Italian wedding.

The story so far

Our paths kept crossing thanks to two engaged friends, one his, one mine. He was in medical school, I was finishing my engineering degree. In the beginning, we were often in the same rooms, at the same parties, dinners, orbiting each other for a while before anything began. The timing was never quite right, but the friendship stayed—studying, hanging out, doing everything but dating. And eventually, it turned into everything. The love was gentle and unassuming, the kind that felt like coming home. Sunny proposed on what I thought was a date night to celebrate the end of his residency and my exams. Instead, I walked into a candlelit studio, the floor draped in white petals and soft fabric, where he knelt with the most perfect ring. Timeless and chic. A round brilliant diamond set on a dainty platinum pavé band. It was classic and delicate, he’d spent months designing it. That same year, we photographed our engagement in Italy while scouting venues with Rome and Florence as our backdrop. And in a full-circle moment, five years after standing in their bridal party during our first year together, the friends who introduced us stood by us again. This time as part of our wedding in Italy, and as our witnesses for our courthouse ceremony back home.

Venue

We got married at La Foce, a historic estate in the heart of Tuscany’s Val d’Orcia, a UNESCO World Heritage site in southern Tuscany. We discovered La Foce only after we’d returned from our venue scouting trip to Italy. We found it by chance while researching from home. The vision of it lingered, and we booked it before ever seeing it in person. When we finally visited for a site tour closer to the wedding, stepping onto the grounds for the first time, we knew we’d made the right decision. The gardens, designed over decades by Iris Origo and Cecil Pinsent, carry a quiet romance in every path and olive tree. There was something poetic in choosing a venue shaped by years of intention and care, something that mirrored how our own relationship has grown. Fun fact: we later found out that La Foce had been used as a filming location for HBO’s Succession. The day before the wedding, we hosted a welcome party at La Foce’s Limonaia, poolside and playful—a full La Dolce Vita moment. Bold patterns, aperol spritz, a nostalgic mix of Italian classics and golden-era love songs, and a food lineup that felt like a love letter to the region: live hand-pulled fresh mozzarella, fresh pastas, gelato in custom flavours, and a station entirely dedicated to olives. The next morning, after the wedding, we gathered again for a slow recovery brunch at Rocca d’Orcia Villas & Suites. Set in a restored medieval Borgo, perched high above the valley. It was dreamy and breathtaking, the perfect place to wind down and take in the view of the countryside that had held us all weekend.

Fashion

Fashion has always been a shared language between us, an extension of who we are and how we move through the world. For both Sunny and me, it felt important that each look carried meaning. I never wanted to settle on just one traditional look; instead, I curated a series of pieces that reflected different facets of who I am. Some were soft and romantic, others bold and architectural, and each layered with details that felt personal. My something blue was the silk and lace slip from Third Form that I wore the morning of the wedding (one out of two of my ‘morning of’ outfits)—a limited edition piece in the softest baby blue. It was delicate and feminine, a small but meaningful part of a morning that felt sacred.

Jewellery

Jewellery was one of the most intentional parts of our styling process. We knew we wanted each piece to complement not just the outfits, but the feeling of each event, mixing metals, textures, and styles across the weekend. For the welcome party, I wore pearl and diamond earrings from Lola Knight that paired perfectly with my high-neck gown. For the welcome party, I wore pearl and crystal drop earrings by Lola Knight and skipped other accessories in favour of my Simone Rocha clutch, which wrapped around my wrist like a bracelet. The morning of the wedding, I wore delicate custom earrings by a Canadian Etsy designer. For the ceremony, my earrings were a labour of love. I had envisioned a two-stone piece, one square diamond above a round, set to complement my middle-parted low bun and the sculptural silhouette of my OUMA gown. After months of searching and coming up short, I decided to design them myself. The final pair was custom made, and they’ve since become one of my most cherished pieces—timeless, personal, and now destined to be passed down as an heirloom. They were the only jewelry I wore that morning, alongside my wedding stack, two bands I now wear every day. The first was a bold emerald-cut diamond band in platinum, made to juxtapose my dainty engagement ring. The second was a Cartier gold love ring, matching Sunny’s. Inside, we had them engraved with a line from a quote we love: ever thine, ever mine, ever ours. Sunny wore a classic vintage Rolex, Profuomo cufflinks, and Ray-Ban eyewear for the ceremony. For the afterparty, I leaned into something bolder—vintage-inspired pearl earrings and a triple-strand choker by Kitte Australia to offset the simplicity of my Katherine Tash gown. Sunny shifted his look too, swapping into a more fashion-forward street-style suit with layered jewelry by Casio, A.P.C., In Gold We Trust, and VEERT, all sourced from SSENSE. By the time we reached the recovery brunch, I wanted to wear something a little undone. I layered sculptural and irregular gold bangles from SHASHI and Ettika with oversized statement earrings from Heaven Mayhem.

Bridal party

We wanted our bridal party’s look to feel timeless, elegant, and deeply considered. The bridesmaids wore oyster silk pajamas from BISK the Label on the morning of, and walked down the aisle in sleek black strapless satin gowns by MISHA, each with a long sash designed to drape around the neck. Their jewellery, a pair of two-tier pearl drop earrings, was chosen to echo the design of my own ceremony earrings, but with a softer finish. Later in the evening, when I changed for the afterparty, so did they—each one reappearing in a gown of her own taste and style. It was one of my favourite moments seeing them shine individually after spending the day so beautifully coordinated. I wanted their gifts to feel personal, thoughtful, and useful: their pearl earrings, silk pajamas with matching slippers, face masks, heel stoppers for the garden ceremony, and travel-sized versions of their own signature perfumes to carry with them throughout the weekend. Sunny gifted his groomsmen everything they’d need for the day: embroidered bow ties, pocket squares, cufflinks custom-cast with their initials, Ralph Lauren socks, dress shirts, and a travel case for their watches and jewellery. For our parents, we knew we wanted to do something more lasting. Alongside a handwritten letter, we surprised them with a stay at Posta Marcucci—a place Sunny and I had come across the year before, tucked into the hills of the Tuscan countryside. It quickly became one of the most meaningful places we’ve ever been, and we knew we wanted to return with our families. We spent the three days leading up to the wedding there, sharing meals, soaking in the stillness, laughing, and getting ready for the weekend to come. It was our way of saying thank you—for shaping who we are, and for giving us the kind of love that made a life like this possible.

Tablescape

Our reception dinner was held al fresco in the villa’s courtyard, beneath a canopy of low-hanging twinkle lights, strung in sculptural arcs that gave the evening an almost celestial glow. The aesthetic was neutral, organic, and textural, with a hint of drama. We skipped the traditional head table and opted to sit with our guests, choosing family-style seating across two long tables dressed in soft, draping linen. With no table florals, just full arrangements at the base of each table and by the central fountain, allowing the lighting to take center stage. Dozens of candles in varying heights, shapes, and vessels lined the tables, creating a sense of intimacy and softness within the scale. Each place setting featured ceramic stoneware plates, gold-and-white matte cutlery, and hand-printed menus and name cards designed in Canada and flown in for the weekend. The menus were intentionally modern in layout—block-text, minimalistic, and visually balanced, designed to read like a poetic sequence rather than a formal list. It was important to us that the tables felt intimate but refined, with small personal details stitched into the design rather than layered on top of it. The effect was quietly immersive, elevated without feeling overdone.

Food & drinks

From the beginning, we agreed that food and drink would be at the heart of the wedding. We both come from cultures that take pride in hosting, and that shaped everything about the experience we wanted to create. We were incredibly intentional when choosing our caterer, landing on Galateo, who had just catered Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi’s wedding a month before ours. What they delivered nothing short of unforgettable. The evening began with a lavish aperitivo hour. Multiple food and drink stations were scattered across the gardens, serving everything from Aperol spritz, Prosecco, and fresh juices to small, sculptural bites: parmesan flakes with salty toasted almonds, mini courgette quiches, dill-dressed blinis with smoked salmon, beef tartare in waffle cones, sea bass tartare with lime, fried sage and zucchini flowers, rice balls with truffle and pecorino, a savoury crumble with burrata jelly and tomato caviar, and an entire cheese bar with more than eight kinds of cheese, fresh fruits, olives, and nuts. Dinner followed as a candlelit four-course meal beneath the stars, paired with carefully selected red and white wines that felt approachable to all palates. Every dish was rich and impossibly good. From the risotto with burrata foam, to the duck ragout pasta, sea bass crusted in Bronte pistachios, veal fillet with vinsanto sauce, truffle potato flan, and the millefoglie we assembled live with our caterers—it was, truly, the most memorable meal of our lives. And, as many of our guests told us, theirs too.

Entertainment

We wanted the ceremony to feel cinematic, gut-wrenching, and emotional in all the right ways. We hired a live band made up of a pianist, violinist, trumpet player, and vocalist, though the ceremony itself was entirely instrumental. Guests arrived to the orchestral build of Succession’s utterly dramatic theme song as they made their way into La Foce’s grand garden. Sunny and the groomsmen entered to the instrumental version of Kanye’s Runaway, followed by Clair de Lune for the bridesmaids. My entrance was set to Hallelujah—a moment we’ll never forget. After the vows, we walked back down the aisle to Here Comes the Sun, a deeply intentional choice. The two and a half years leading up to the wedding had been some of our hardest, and this marked the beginning of a lighter, more joyful chapter. During aperitivo hour, the live band returned—this time with the vocalist—serenading the garden with a mix of timeless and notable favourites: L-O-V-E, Volare, La Vie en Rose, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, That’s Amore, Dancing in the Moonlight. Think: a vintage vinyl collection curated by someone just a little in love. For the reception and afterparty, we flew out DJ Jalen from Edmonton, Sunny’s hometown, after randomly discovering him one night while eating at a cocktail bar called Foo’s Repair Shop. At one point, Sunny and I looked at each other and said in unison, “This DJ is playing straight bangers.” We went up to the booth, asked for his card, and contacted him the very next day. We knew we didn’t want a generic wedding playlist, we wanted something that reflected our actual taste, eclectic and unexpected, and Jalen delivered. We entered dinner to Bella Ciao, setting the tone for the night. Between courses, guests sang along to everything from Crazy in Love to This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)—it was joyful, effortless, and exactly the energy we wanted. For our first dance, we couldn’t decide between a slow song or something upbeat, so we did both. Jalen created a custom mashup that began with Godspeed by Frank Ocean and transitioned perfectly into Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, where we asked our guests to join us on the dance floor. Not to be dramatic, but it was iconic. The afterparty felt like stepping into our dream nightclub. From Mo Bamba to Dancing Queen, it was a little chaotic, a lot euphoric. The dance floor stayed full all night. Guests told us they couldn’t leave, even for the bathroom, because every song was just too good. We never left either. No one did. And when the night finally wound down, we ended on the most unhinged, all-out note: Love Story by Taylor Swift, with everyone (groom and groomsmen included) screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs.

Beauty regime & wellness

I’m nothing if not meticulous. My pre-wedding wellness and beauty regimen (and the one I lovingly inflicted on Sunny) was comprehensive. Six months out, I began alternating monthly between in-office microneedling and clinical-grade chemical peels. I got my final Botox and filler touch-ups two weeks before the wedding. None of it would have mattered without a consistent, medical grade skincare routine: tretinoin, vitamin C, exfoliating acids, and, most importantly, sunscreen. For hair, I got a keratin treatment to prep for the inevitable humidity of the Italian countryside, kept up with trims, and regularly toned and glossed to maintain shine. I also flew out two dear friends: hairstylist Ally Davis and makeup artist Niky Riley—both brilliant at what they do, and just as detail-obsessed as I am. We lost count of how many trials we did. Each look was tailored to the mood and styling of that event, and it made all the difference. Around the same time, I added hot Pilates to my usual strength training routine—and, naturally, made Sunny do it too. To his credit, he submitted fully. He had his own microneedling sessions, a couple of chemical peels, and he trialed multiple haircuts before landing on the right one.

Honeymoon

We couldn’t take a full honeymoon right away, I had to get back to school, so we opted for a mini moon and spent five magical days in Sicily. Staying at Belmond Grand Hotel Timeo, Taormina’s first and most luxurious hotel, easily ranks among the top ten experiences of our lives. We have plans for a full month-long honeymoon this fall, on our one-year anniversary. What was originally meant to be our graduation trip, canceled by Covid, will now be our honeymoon: Japan and South Korea. Both we’ve dreamed of visiting for years, drawn to the culture, the food, the design, and shocker, the shopping.

Advice

Figure out your priorities early – You can’t have everything and trying to will only burn you out. Decide what matters most, whether it’s food, venue, photography, design, and invest your energy (and budget) there. Everything else will fall into place around those anchors.

Don’t be afraid to do unconventional or non-traditional things, even if no one gets it at first – We exchanged our more vulnerable, private vows the morning of the wedding, just the two of us, then shared shorter, less raw, versions during the ceremony in front of our guests. Spent the night before (and morning of) together, then jumped into a pool fully clothed. Chose a millefoglie cake assembled live instead of a classic tiered one. Did a mashup of a slow song and an upbeat one for our first dance. And even coming from Arab and Indian families, just choosing to have a small destination wedding in the first place was enough to raise eyebrows. But every decision, especially the scrutinized ones, made the day feel more like us.

Romanticize the planning – It’s easy to lose sight of the joy when the to-do list is never-ending. There were months where our only real time together was spent planning the wedding, and it started to feel like a chore. So we turned it into something fun. Wedding planning became part of date night, wine and oysters while finalizing guest lists and decor. The night we chose our “must-play” songs, we ordered takeout and got tipsy. We used to say we couldn’t wait for it to be over. Now we miss it.

If you’re hiring a planner, make sure they see what you see – Find someone whose eye and taste align with yours, because they’ll be the one translating your vision into something real. We got lucky; our planners would’ve fought wars to bring our Pinterest board to life. That kind of alignment is everything.

Good taste ages well. Trends don’t – It’s easy to get pulled into what’s popular. But the choices we’re happiest with weren’t the trend-driven ones, they were the considered, well-designed, grounded-in-feeling ones. When in doubt, choose timeless over timely.