If the pandemic hadn’t played spoilsport, Shama Sikander would have been married for two years now. However, she had to put her plans of exchanging vows in a destination wedding in September 2020 with fiancé James Milliron, indefinitely on hold owing to the Coronavirus outbreak. Now, we have learnt that Shama and James are all set to tie the knot on March 14 in Goa.

A host of pre-wedding rituals will take place the day prior. Shama tells us, “James and I have waited for two years for this day. We will have a white wedding and it will be a two-day affair. We are keeping it more international because many of our relatives are settled abroad.”

Shama, who got engaged to James in January 2015, reveals why they planned to tie the knot in Goa. She says, “I am a spontaneous person and organised at the same time. However, I don’t believe in planning ahead. I am more into living in the moment. Even now, owing to the pandemic, there are a lot of travel restrictions and I didn’t want my guests to go through the stress. So, we zeroed in on Goa.”

Shama says, “I wasn’t too keen on Goa initially, but my wedding planner insisted that I see the venue she had in mind for me. I fell in love with the place. Since the climate will change in a couple of months, we decided to get married next month.”

The idea was to have an intimate wedding with just their families and close ones in attendance. She shares, “We have invited around 60 people. I wanted to keep my wedding intimate from the word go. A wedding can very well be grand even with just a close circle of friends attending it. It all depends on how you design it, make it come to life and the memories you create.”

While the couple is busy preparing for their big day, it is still unsure whether James’ parents will be able to make it. Shama says, “They don’t even have their passports. They were trying to make it but the pandemic struck. We are hoping that they make it to the wedding provided their passports are made on time. Unfortunately, a lot of James’ relatives can’t travel to India on such short notice. The Americans plan one year in advance. Hum Indians ko toh abhi bolo hum chal chalenge. Sab dekh lenge ho jaata hai yahaan par. After agreeing to tie the knot in a month’s time, I realised that I wasn’t prepared at all. Mere toh kapde bhi final nahi hain (laughs!).”