Shama Sikander and longtime boyfriend James Milliron tied the knot in a dreamy white wedding at a sea-facing resort in Vagator, North Goa on Monday evening. The wedding festivities that commenced on Sunday saw close friends and family get together to be a part of the “huge celebration.”

Interestingly, unlike most Indian weddings focused around traditions and rituals, Shama went for a fresh and unique approach. “We are very spiritual and love is our priority. There’s a lot of stress involved in many weddings due to the rituals and traditions, a lot of which they don’t even understand. I wanted a very chilled out, fun celebration. We believe in getting together with good energies and celebrating, without being bound by traditions,” says Shama, about her ‘white wedding’ which saw the nuptials take place on Monday evening and was followed by the reception.

Though Goa isn’t a place Shama frequents, she says, “It is one of the best destinations in India for a beach wedding, and I always wanted to have a beach wedding. We had finalised Turkey for our wedding two years back, and we wanted to travel with our friends for the wedding. But due to the pandemic, we couldn’t do it, though it gave us a chance to explore our country. I happened to be in Goa last month and realised it’s very close to the destination I had in mind for my wedding. I wanted a dreamy, white wedding, and the venue seemed perfect. I got what I really wanted.”

The wedding included a lunch, sangeet, pool party, the wedding and reception. Talking about planning the shaadi in a short time, she says, “It’s been very emotional and fun at the same time. Some days were quite overwhelming for us. Some of our international guests couldn’t make it due to visa issues, I got bitten by a big dog just a few weeks back... there was a lot happening, but just because there was so much love, I could pull it off. If you desire for something truly, it happens.”

The pandemic has taught her to be spontaneous. “I wanted to go ahead with this ceremony, with just the closest friends and family. It’s very intimate and precious for me,” she says, pointing that the guest list is capped at 60 people. Not just the nuptials, complete with a white gown, the wedding did have Goan elements in the food, too. “There’s so much Goan food, since there are some foreign guests. They’re loving the curries and poie,” she adds.

Ask her what she is looking forward to post the wedding, she says, “I hope to explore Goa after the wedding. We have lived a great life for eight years together, and now, we hope to do more great things together, and focus on work once the celebrations are over,” concludes Shama.