Real Weddings: Haris and Gital

Gital Gosai, a 31-year-old lawyer, and Haris Nedaee, a 32-year-old lounge owner, first met in high school in Mississauga. Despite their respective Hindu and Muslim backgrounds, they secretly became a couple at 17, navigating cultural differences and family expectations for years. They moved in together in 2022 and got engaged at Haris’s restaurant, Celio, in 2023.

In the summer of 2025, the couple celebrated with a series of interfaith wedding events that honoured both of their cultures: a colourful Hindu ceremony in Gital’s sister’s backyard, complete with a hand-built mandap and garba dancing; a heartfelt nikkah at the Windsor Arms Hotel; and a reception at their apartment building in the Junction. From the soulful qawwali night with live Sufi music to the Afghan attan dances at the nikkah, every detail blended their faiths, families and traditions. Here’s how it all came together.

Gital: Haris and I first met in high school in Mississauga, and our friendship quickly turned into a secret teenage romance. He’s an Afghan Muslim, and I’m a Hindu Indian, and for years, our families never wanted us to date at all, let alone someone of a different culture or religion. We had to sneak around just to hang out—climbing over rooftops and tiptoeing through windows. We survived a fair few ladder mishaps along the way.

Haris: I was besotted by Gital. From our very first date at a Vietnamese restaurant near our high school when we were 16, I knew I wanted to marry her. She’s headstrong, studious, compassionate and fiercely independent—everything I admire and still aspire to be myself.

Gital: From the start, we had serious conversations about our interfaith backgrounds. On our first date, I told him that I’d never give my religion or cultural background up for anyone. They were just too important to me.  Having that honesty early on helped us understand each other and strengthened our bond, even as we navigated the challenges of keeping our relationship a secret.

Haris: I waited some time to tell my mom I was dating someone. She always says a man isn’t fully developed until 25, so when I told her I was dating at 17, she didn’t take it too seriously—though she probably suspected something. I introduced Gital as someone who shared my mom’s love of Hindi movies. The first time they met, we watched Barfi together, and that’s when they started bonding. It wasn’t until we were both in our 20s that my mom started taking our relationship seriously.

Gital: Though Haris’s family had a sense of what was happening, my parents had no clue. Everyone assumed I’d marry a Hindu South Asian boy—my dad is a junior priest at the Hindu Heritage Centre, and his role meant our family was always in the community spotlight. When I was 18, my mom discovered messages from Haris on my phone. I felt like my privacy had been invaded and even seriously considered ending things with him. It wasn’t just about me—I worried that continuing the relationship could create conflict at home, damage my family’s reputation and go against everything I had been taught about marrying within our faith. But Haris was my anchor. We committed to supporting each other, building trust and finding ways to stay together safely—despite our families’ expectations.

Haris: After high school, we stayed committed even though we didn’t attend university together. Gital pursued law, and I finished my degree in human resources. By 2019, I had started my own merchant services company, and Gital had just started law school. Those years were full of growth. We learned how to support each other while pursuing ambitious paths and being long-distance.

Gital: In 2022, after I finished law school, we moved in together. It wasn’t easy—our lives had shifted in so many ways since our teenage years. I was just starting to navigate the pressures of building a career in law, with long hours and high expectations. Haris was growing his merchant services business and expanding into other ventures. Suddenly, we weren’t just teenagers sneaking around—we were adults with demanding schedules, new responsibilities and very different routines.

Haris: That period tested us in ways our younger selves could never have imagined. Living together full time highlighted our differences—how we handled stress, finances and even day-to-day decisions. We loved each other, but the transition from dating to living together while pursuing such different life paths brought challenges we hadn’t fully prepared for.

Gital: We even broke up for eight months. It was hard, but during that time we reflected on what we truly wanted, worked on ourselves individually and realized how much we valued our partnership. That distance helped us appreciate each other more.

Haris: During that time, I took a solo trip to England and Turkey to reflect. The distance gave me clarity—I realized I wanted a life with Gital. I reached out to her, and when she agreed, I booked the first flight back to Toronto.

Gital: When Haris returned, we committed to work on ourselves before taking any steps toward engagement or marriage. We did therapy, started communicating better and made sure we were showing up for each other fully.

Haris: In 2023, we got engaged. It wasn’t the typical surprise proposal. Gital and I had talked about marriage for a long time, and we both knew that once she finished law school and passed the bar exam, we’d take that next step. After years of keeping our relationship private, we wanted something traditional and meaningful. I asked her family for her hand in marriage, and we had a small engagement ceremony at her brother’s house on Shaw Street with just our immediate families. We considered it our shirini khori—an Afghan engagement ceremony that includes a ring exchange. Later, we celebrated with our friends and extended family at my newly opened restaurant and lounge in Mississauga, Celio.

Gital: Planning the wedding was a journey in itself. At first, we imagined a small, intimate celebration. But, as we started thinking through the many traditions in both Hindu and Afghan weddings, we realized we couldn’t skip any of them without losing the meaning behind our union. We even explored having a destination wedding in Italy. We had booked a beautiful villa and started imagining our celebrations there, but we soon realized that the logistics would be impossible to manage. Afghan and Indian weddings both come with long guest lists, and we didn’t want to leave anyone out or upset our families.

Haris: In the end, we decided to cancel the villa and focus on creating something meaningful at home in the GTA, where we could fully honour both of our cultures. But that meant transforming Gital’s sister’s backyard from a normal residential space into a full wedding venue. There was a pool, uneven ground and lots of bushes—we had to revamp the layout completely. With Gital’s brother’s help, we cleared and levelled areas and built a platform about a foot off the ground that covered the entire area, including the pool. We also created pathways and hung twinkling lights and flowers from the trees. It was magical—like stepping into a dream world.

Gital: The first major event of our wedding weekend was the mehndi, a traditional South Asian pre-wedding celebration, which we held in my sister’s backyard on August 13. Mehndi celebrations are usually colourful and lively, with the bride’s hands and feet decorated in intricate henna designs to symbolize love and good fortune. I themed the decor off the Indian luxury wedding company Rani Pink Love, so everything from drapes to table settings were shades of bright, bold pink. I had even gone to India earlier in 2025 to collect decorations, garlands and other details to bring the vision to life.

Both of our families danced the garba, a traditional folk dance from Gujarat, and the evening also featured qawwali, a soulful Sufi musical tradition that blends poetry, rhythm and devotional music. Qawwali uses live instruments like the harmonium and tabla, and its lyrics express love, devotion and longing. It was a beautiful way to express our love for classical music and dance. Seeing everyone—Afghans and Indians alike—singing, clapping and swaying under the canopy of pink lights and fragrant garlands was an unforgettable moment, a perfect fusion of our two worlds.

Haris: The Hindu ceremony followed on August 15, still in the backyard. We built a mandap, a decorated canopy that serves as the sacred space for Hindu wedding rituals. Our event designer wrapped jasmine garlands and moli ribbons around the tree trunks to add fragrance and colour. I got emotional watching Gital’s parents say goodbye to her during the ceremony.

Gital: Then came the nikkah on August 21 at the Windsor Arms Hotel, officiated by Dr. Siddiqui. The nikkah is the Islamic wedding ceremony where vows are exchanged. It was deeply meaningful to include our faith traditions side by side, with both of our families together in the same space.

Haris: That evening featured another qawwali performance, and we also danced the attan, Afghanistan’s national dance, which is performed in a circle to energetic drumbeats. Watching both of our families join in, laughing, dancing and cheering together, was one of the most emotional and joyful moments of the entire weekend. It was incredible to see our worlds come together so fully and to witness the love and excitement shared across generations.

Haris: Our wedding weekend concluded with a reception on August 23 at our apartment building in the Junction, which has a rooftop terrace overlooking the city. We had a champagne bar in the courtyard and a traditional cocktail bar on the rooftop. Instead of a formal sit-down dinner, we had the party catered by Tutto Panino, our favourite Italian sandwich spot in the city, which provided a grazing table with a shrimp tower, cheeses, breads and dips. We got to celebrate our love right where our life together was about to begin: our home.

Gital: Indian weddings are long and tiring, so after everything ended, we had a little staycation to rest and recharge. We’re planning our honeymoon to Italy next year, but in that moment we just wanted to savour being married.

Haris: Married life feels different in the best way. For most of our relationship, we had to hide so much. Now we truly feel like one unit.

Gital: Married life has been beautiful so far. We celebrated Diwali together for the first time as a married couple—Haris woke me up with our favourite Hindi classics and mithai, and we attended a puja with my family. At home, we honour both of our religions, celebrating Diwali and Eid with equal love and excitement.

Haris: Looking back, everything unfolded perfectly. The wedding turned out even better than we’d imagined, and we got to celebrate with all the people we love.

Cheat Sheet

Nikkah ceremony: August 21, 2025 Nikkah ceremony venue: Windsor Arms Hotel Hindu ceremony: August 15, 2025 Hindu ceremony venue: Gital’s sister’s backyard Hindu ceremony pandit: Acharya Surender Sharma Shastri Reception: August 23, 2025 Photography: Val Sankhara and Ever After Cinematics Videography: Video Art Productions Day-of coordinator and planner: Opulent Event Designs and Coordination Reception: Gital and Haris’s apartment in the Junction Nikkah ceremony imam: Dr. Siddiqui Gital’s nikkah ceremony outfit: Hosna Kohestani Gital’s Hindu ceremony outfit: Chandan Heritage Gital’s reception outfit: Kalki Haris’s nikkah ceremony outfit: Custom-made in Afghanistan Haris’s Hindu ceremony outfit: Manyavar, Ahmedabad, India Haris’s reception outfit: Moores Gital’s hair and makeup: Yasmine Lashkari and Sabrina Wassel Gital’s jewellery: Custom ordered in Afghanistan and Ahmedabad, India Florals and decor: Opulent Event Designs Cake and desserts: Numra (Princess Bakes on Instagram), Strawberry Shortcake Catering: Gujarati Foods (Hindu ceremony), Faryab (nikkah ceremony), Tutto Panino (reception) Music and entertainment: DJ Brisky and Baseer Sarosh