Welcome back, brides! If you’re on MWP, chances are you are getting married within a year. Also, since you’re on our blog, we are certain you are a meticulous and organized bride 😉 You love wedding planning blogs, you devour pinterest for inspiration, you overwhelm yourself with too many options (it’s true isn’t it? :)) and you crave to be unique. But any bride who has planned her wedding just as sincerely as you are right now will tell you that you can never fully anticipate the wedding day. Planning a wedding takes a great amount of time, money and resources, and things can get little out of control sometimes.
Over the last 3 years, our team of wedding planners have supported brides with professional guidance and knowledge on many matters. We have learnt a lot from our brides and their wedding experiences; but I’ve kept our share of stories for another day.
In the last few months, we have featured more than 20 gorgeous brides on MWP. We asked all of them to share their wedding planning experiences and planning tips with us to help future to-be MWP brides. In today’s post we look forward to sharing some of these wonderful tips from real MWP brides with all of you.
We have compiled some of the best tips and advices from our MWP brides, and passed them on to you with love…
ON TROUSSEAU SHOPPING
Prachi’s wedding took place in Umed Bhawan Palace in Kota. Her wedding was a royal affair, with guests from Mumbai, Delhi and New Zealand.
She says “Try having a mix of designer and non-designer garments in your trousseau and invest in sarees and lehengas that you can wear again. Many local shops replicate the work of top designers in the country and most of them won’t let you down. So if you don’t have the budget to buy an expensive designer lehenga, don’t worry! You can still have a designer looking lehenga for less. I got my lehenga from Anarkali in Delhi and they did such a fabulous job in executing my vision.
Another advice I would like to give brides is to wear something timeless, and not give in to latest fads. Stone encrusted lehengas with heavy Swarovski work and other Blingy- shiny lehengas that were in style a year ago are now completely out of style(such an eye sore!). Instead, invest in rich and luxurious fabrics like georgette or silk with outstanding embroidery work in zardozi or gota patti. You can even experiment with unusual embroidery like Mukesh work or antique Pita work.”
Read more about her wedding here: http://goo.gl/1JFDnG
Prashi, our beautiful MWP bride from Kathmandu wore a stunning Sabyasachi lehenga for her wedding day. She steered clear from the usual red and green Sabya lehenga and typical traditional embroidery and was successful in finding a simple, elegant lehenga with very unusual work. The lehenga was a youthful and bright hot pink shade with a mango yellow dupatta, which reflected Prashi’s effervescent and childlike personality.
Prashi says, “If you are not a fan of bling, don’t wear it! Just because you’re the bride doesn’t mean you have to outshine all your guests (quite literally!) I went simple with my hair, make-up and jewellery as I didn’t want to look ‘made up’ on my wedding day. On my sangeet, in spite of several sittings with my makeup artist, I felt she over did the foundation and kajal. So on my wedding day, I made sure she uses light matte shades of lipstick and blush, and the result was great!
I was surely an off-beat bride. I didn’t want a traditional red or green lehenga. My advice to brides will be to experiment with new age colours like blush pink and light pastels. Also sorbet colours like pista green and citrusy shades like lemon and orange are very trendy. Designers like Sabyasachi are now experimenting with colours like turquoise and mint!!! I think these colors are sure to make a grand statement. If not for your main wedding day, then maybe you can wear such shades on your sangeet or mehendi. These shades are absolutely hot this season!”
Read more about Prashi’s wedding here: http://goo.gl/QhilXL
Our sweet Tamilian bride Preeti married her Punjabi boyfriend of seven years in a heart-warming north-south fusion wedding in Mumbai.
She says, “Shop for clothes that you will be comfortable in. For my sangeet, we had prepared several dances with family and friends. I wanted to make sure I can dance the night away. Since I’m not comfortable in sarees (and I was wearing a lehenga for my reception) I decided to wear an Anarkali that was a light fabric with heavy embroidery. This way it looked dressy but I could still be comfortable while dancing with my guests.
Another advice I would like to give brides is to not waste money on going overboard and buying many sarees to add to your trousseau. We tend to buy a lot of things while shopping for our wedding that will never see the light of day. I regretted that later. Styles and fashion sensibilities keep changing, and you can always by sarees and suits at a later time as well!
ON JEWELRY
MWP bride Rishika says, “Go by the simple thumb rule when jewellery shopping: Traditional and conventional Indian jewelry always looks timeless and elegant. If you’re a North Indian bride, I highly recommend you to opt for kundan, polki or jadau jewels. If you’re a South Indian bride, stick to temple jewellery and heirloom gold jewellery.
ON BUDGETING
Prashi says, “Make a realistic budget and try staying within your budget. There will always be an urge to spend lavishly on everything-be it decor, food, jewelry or clothes. So it’s important that you prioritize. There will always be temptations — whether it’s jewelry or clothes. Choose the few things that are really important to you, like the wedding venue or photographer and then go from there.
You may assume that hiring a wedding planner adds to the cost. I thought so too. But now that I know better, I can’t tell you enough how important it is to hire a wedding planner so that you can enjoy your wedding day without any hassle. If you have planned all the details of the wedding by yourself, you could consider day-of-wedding coordinator to take care of your guests and to manage the event as a whole as you will be tied up in getting ready for your functions.
Editor’s note: What I appreciated most when I got talking to the brides we featured was that all of them represented the modern Indian bride. Brides who want the finest, but not in an overt and in-your face way. Brides who are unapologetic about their choices, and are not here to please everyone. Most importantly, brides who respect our age-old Indian wedding traditions, but still love contemporary details!!! Hope you enjoyed their bridal musings, which they lovingly shared on my request.
