Meet Giulia Raffaello & Shreyans Jain: The Indian-Italian couple making waves on social media

Giulia Raffaello and Shreyans Jain

The Internet is successful in making things possible no one could think of. Connecting cultures and hearts is one of them and that is exactly the story of Giulia and Shrey.

Giulia Raffaello, who goes by the name of Only One Giulia on Social Media, is an Italian vlogger married to Shrey, her Indian husband. Their story is as intriguing as the success they've had on social media. Both moved to Berlin around the same time in 2015, but only met each other in 2016. Their journey started with a swipe on a dating app. It was Shrey's profile picture that caught Giulia's eyes, which was right next to her hometown, Padua.

Shrey was intrigued by Giulia's profile too, after all, she had mentioned that she was a vegetarian (Shrey has been a lifelong vegetarian) and in fact, his first message was actually about how he never expected this from an Italian. This conversation then led to a six-hour-long first date, resulting in a new chapter in their books of true love and both began their journey to explore the beauty and challenges of an inter-cultural relationship.

"People usually ask me how we make our intercultural relationship work - but the similarities in our cultures have made this relationship so much more special," says Giulia. "After Shrey and I started dating, we were both pleasantly surprised by how similar our respective cultures were. Both Indian and Italian cultures place an importance on family, food and friends."

Giulia credits her journey of exploring Indian culture to Shrey. Together they make quirky content on her YouTube channel Only One Giulia that has more than 300k subscribers and on her Instagram profile that has more than 70k followers. She began making content about two years ago and has been able to captivate and entertain audiences during this time span all over the world.

Her content revolves around the interesting and funnier aspects of their intercultural relationship, and it has struck a strong chord among intercultural couples around the world. "Almost every day I get messages from people in intercultural relationships telling me that the content I make is so relatable to them," says Giulia. "I never expected our story to have such a big appeal, and I am still surprised to this day that it has such a broad appeal.

I have even got comments from other girls who tell me that my story keeps them motivated to continue their relationship despite all the cultural, social, and bureaucratic obstacles that intercultural relationships can throw at couples." Shrey and Giulia courted each other for almost 5 years before deciding to get married. During this time they moved in together, met each other's family several times, and also traveled to each other's countries. "We placed a big importance on making sure we felt comfortable and didn't rush the important step of marriage", says Giulia.

The couple moved to Berlin around the same time in 2015, but only met each other in 2016

"I feel extremely lucky when I look at how quickly and wholeheartedly both our families accepted us. We were initially a bit concerned about how our families would receive us since we were both from different cultures, spoke different languages, and had different nationalities. However, as soon as her parents met Shrey, they immediately accepted him which was a big relief for both of us! In fact, the very first thing that her mom did when she saw Shrey for the first time was to give him a really tight hug, so much so that Shrey's eyeglasses almost broke!"

Giulia too had a similar experience. "Shrey's parents accepted me whole-heartedly, and they treat me like their own daughter," says Giulia. Shrey proposed to Giulia during the lockdown and they both preferred it that way. Shrey cooked her favourite dish, parmigiana di melanzane, and created a photo book that had their entire story in chronological order and Giulia found it to be really sweet. He kept it discrete and intimate and proposed to her in their apartment.

However, Shrey knows that Giulia also likes a nice celebration so to make her feel special, he organized a grander proposal. This was at the JW Marriott in Delhi - where Shrey booked a luxury staycation for them. And finally, both had their moment of a classical proposal and began their journey of happily ever after.