After months of will they, won't they, the wedding ceremonies of Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh finally got underway in Italy's scenic Lake Como on Wednesday but Bollywood's A-couple kept things fiercely private leaving the celebrity media breathlessly waiting for any information at all. In the best tradition of a celebrity wedding - think George and Amal Clooney maybe - the stars and their guests were ensconced in resorts tucked high above the lake ringed by snow-capped mountains while the paparazzi was stationed at a safe distance, hoping to catch a glimpse of the festivities. Though the couple declared the wedding dates on social media in October after months of speculation, Deepika and Ranveer made sure the wedding itself was cloaked in secrecy.
As television channels and social media kept the wedding chatter going with distant shots of the villas, stray tweets and old photographs from their films together, reports came in that the wedding would stretch over two days and the main ceremony would be in Konkani tradition followed by Sindhi rituals. While Deepika is Konkani, Ranveer is a Sindhi.
Unlike Bollywood's two earlier weddings - Sonam Kapoor-Anand Ahuja in Mumbai and Anushka Sharma-Virat Kohli in Italy - this couple gave the media no space to broadcast their love story IRL, in real time.
"Such a stunning, gorgeous and beautiful couple. Nazar utar lo. Badhai ho. Love you both. Here is to a lifetime of love and joy," filmmaker Karan Johar said tagging the two stars.
Such a stunning gorgeous and beautiful couple!!!! Nazar utar lo! @deepikapadukone and @RanveerOfficial !! Badhai ho !!! Love you both!!! Here's to a lifetime of love and joy
— Karan Johar (@karanjohar) November 14, 2018
Twinning in white, the actors, who have worked together in Ram Leela, Bajirao Mastani and "Padmaavati", were photographed at the Mumbai airport leaving for Italy on November 10 in a blaze of camera flashes.
According to reports, only 40 people, including Shah Rukh Khan, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Farah Khan, have been invited for the wedding.
With no guests allowed to post any photographs without the couple approving it, the media was left grasping at straws to feed a fandom thirsting for fly-on-the-wall accounts - and, in the absence of that, any titbit of information.
On November 10, Ranveer's stylist Nitasha Gaurav posted teasers of the pre-wedding rituals on Twitter.
"No pictures but it was love personified to see them together today. Couldn't stop my tears, but these were tears of happiness and so I hope they never do. #DeepVeerKiShaadi #ranveerkishaadi #foreverlove," she wrote on the microblogging site.
No pictures but it was love personified to see them together today. Couldn't stop my tears, but these were tears of happiness and so I hope they never do. #DeepVeerKiShaadi #ranveerkishaadi #foreverlove
— Nitasha (@Nitasha22) November 12, 2018
Singer Harshdeep Kaur, who reportedly performed at the sangeet ceremony Tuesday, had to take down a picture from social media, that showed her standing near the lake with her husband. But a screenshot of the now deleted photo is already viral on social media.
During the engagement ceremony, which also reportedly took place Tuesday, Ranveer went down on his knees asking for Deepika's hand. After they exchanged rings, he gave a speech that made her emotional, according to one website. There was a small dinner followed by a dance session, which had the father of the groom, Jagjit Singh Bhavnani, shaking a leg.
Reports also said the bride was in tears throughout the henna ceremony. Earlier this month, Deepika's stylist Shaleen Nathani alerted social media by sharing pre-wedding festivities of 'Nandi Puja' on Instagram.
"To new beginnings @deepikapadukone," Shaleena Nathani wrote alongside a photograph of the actor dressed in traditional attire.
The same day, Ranveer and close friend and casting director Shanoo Sharman were spotted from his balcony at a haldi ceremony. The couple, who confirmed their relationship only recently, will have a reception each in Bengaluru and Mumbai on November 21 and 28, respectively.
Going by Deepika's admission on season six premiere of Koffee With Karan, they have been in dating each other for the past six years.
After portmanteaus Brangelina, Saifeena and Virushka went viral, fans of the duo are having a field day on social media with hashtags such as #DeepVeerKiShaadi and #DeepVeer till the time the actors make things internet official.
Before the #DeepVeerKiShaadi fever wanes, there's another celebrity wedding in the offing. Actor Priyanka Chopra and American singer Nick Jonas are reportedly set to get married in December.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)