Philip Cannis still remember the 2013 Technowarehouse Party in Sydney, Australia.
“She stood out a lot in a sea of black t-shirts and black jeans,” he recalls. She wore an Army jacket over her shoulders, torn jeans with baggy and heeled boots.
There were two locked eyes and a brief conversation in the end. At the time, Canis was part of the group that organized the Sydney Underground Party.
For the next three months, they exchanged eye contact at these parties and had occasional conversations. One day they became Facebook friends.
There, the two planned a coffee date, but the day they were supposed to meet, Rahman cancelled. She felt cautious about Kanis – and, frankly, DJ in general. “He's probably talking to so many girls,” she recalls thinking.
Kanis said he felt that such stereotypes didn't apply to him, but he didn't blame her for her attention. At the time, he was trying to understand what career he wanted, so he quickly realized that throwing a party wasn't the case. “I cut the code, deleted Facebook, left the industry and disappeared from that scene very quickly,” he said.
The two didn't touch it. Both said they were focused on themselves and their careers and didn't date much. Kanis began working in finance at investment banking, and Rahman moved from Sydney to Los Angeles, pursuing an acting career, eventually becoming a content creator focused on fashion and beauty.
“Thank God we've never met for that coffee date,” Rahman said. “That wasn't the right time.”
Seven years later, in November 2020, she returned to Sydney. One day, while she was running errands, she bumped into him while he was walking his dog.
“I remember seeing her walking across the street, and it seemed like I remember her seven years ago,” he said. “Cute, adorable, stylish.”
It turns out that Canis lived only a few minutes apart, and he recently moved to the same neighborhood.
“I think we were really excited to meet someone in the past a long time ago,” she said. A lot of things happened at that time. They exchanged details and planned to have dinner at the Italian restaurant Damario a few days later.
Since then, the convenience of living a few blocks away from each other led them to join together in the activities of the quotidian. I went to the gym, walked my dog, and grabbed some ice cream after finishing my basketball. And when Rahman began delving deeper into her interest in fashion, Kanis became her plus event.
However, their relationship was largely platonic until January 2021 during the screening of “Lost Translation” at Sydney's intimate theatre Golden Age Cinema and Bar. Both film buffs, Kanis asked her if she had ever seen the film. He considers it to be his favorite film, so when she said no, he made a plan.
“It was like a test,” Kanis said. “If she liked this movie, I thought this was a good sign, and she absolutely loved it.”
He saw her face brightening during the film and realized that the woman he bumped into in the seven years since he found her at a warehouse party might be for him, so he squeezed her hands at some point.
They then went to a local Japanese bar – considering the film will take place in Tokyo, and combined beyond Sofia Coppola's cinematography and dreamy visuals.
“I felt that wasn't true,” Rahman said. That night, Kanis opened the car door for her and “it was romantic,” she said. Soon they became a couple.
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In July 2023, “Lost Translation” became the basis for his proposal. During his trip to Tokyo, Kaniss proposed at Park Hyatt Tokyo during the sunset. To celebrate, they enjoyed a drastic view of the city of New York Bar, where some of the “lost in translation” was filmed. The band played jazz music and dedicated songs to the couple: “Unforgettable” by Nat King Cole.
Kanis, 38, is a senior product manager at Amazon. He graduated from the University of Sydney with a bachelor's degree in physiology and a master's degree in finance.
Mr. Rahman, 32, graduated from Sydney Institute of Technology and received his Bachelor of Commerce degree. Both were raised in Sydney.
On January 15th, the two got married in a civil ceremony at the Pyrmont Wedding Registry in Sydney by Jasmine Diaz. They then had burgers to five guys.
The couple celebrated their wedding at three separate events. One was to celebrate Kanis' Greek heritage, the other was made up of Rahman's Bangladeshi roots and the other was mainly friends.
“We both wanted to do the right thing for each other in our culture,” Rahman said. His family wanted a Greek ceremony. “And let's not stuff all of that in a day,” she added. “Let's split it up. Everyone is happy, we are happy.”
The first was a Greek garden celebration with around 50 guests at Milton Park Country House Hotel and Spa in New South Wales on December 15th. During the event that Kanis' family jumped from northern Greece, the couple took part in Greek traditions where they wore a pearl crown called Stefana, connected by silk ribbons to symbolize their union.
On January 5th, they held an Italian-style ceremony at the same venue for around 50 friends and close family, during which they read their vows and held a “renaissance dinner party” with dozens of long stems.
And on January 6th, they also had a Muslim ceremony, Nika, in Milton Park. For the event, Rahman is paired with her maternal grandmother's Cream Silk Banarasisari and a gorgeous Bangladeshi gold necklace. Mr Kanis was wearing a silk sherwani that her family had bought for him in Dhaka.
“I used to be an independent, solitary person, but I'm still there,” Rahman said, reflecting on his relationship with Kanis. “But now I think I'm really grateful for the beautiful relationship with Phil. Life is so good to do that with your best friend.”
This day
January 15th, 2025
Pyrmont Wedding Registry, Sydney, Australia
Mishti's name, Mishti, is translated into “sweet” in Bengali, so it's fitting that she is a big dessert fan. Each celebration featured desserts from her favorite local dessert spot, Sugar House. At their Italian-style ceremony, they had pistachio dutch pancakes. (Pistachios are her favorite taste.) And during Nika they also served Bangladeshi sweets in Shapura sweets.
Woven five dresses throughout the intimate event, Rahman wore five dresses from designers she respected. At the civil ceremony, she wore a midi dress from a Bangkok boutique called Poetry. At the Greek garden ceremony, she wore a ball gown-style Mikado silk white dress by Australian designer Karen Willis Holmes.
In an Italian-style ceremony, she wore a Paolo Sebastian French lace dress that called her dream dress, paired it with a long veil that completely covered her. The dress was without panels, molded into her figure and felt true to her style, she said.
She then changed to a Michael Ro Soldo Hollywood style dress. Finally, her grandmother Sally, whom she wore in Nika, felt like a family heirloom.
The party brought home cotton candies and matchboxes, and boxes of drawings of the couple. The bride said she hopes the matchbox will “stimulate sweet memories of the night.”
