Tips and tricks for that flawless dream wedding!
This wedding season let India’s top couturiers be your personal stylist!
The Big Fat Indian wedding doubles as a festival. There’s feasting, music and dressing up to make your wedding day the most memorable (or should we say Instagrammable) day of your life? However behind the festivities goes on a lot of planning, often for months and years. And with the paucity of time, it’s always better to keep things as simple and practical as possible.
Here are a few rules to keep for making your wedding a smooth affair
Stay true to tradition
Brides are experimenting and going contemporary, but a majority of them still want to dress in traditional wear on the actual wedding day, keeping the experiments for functions like cocktail sangeet and mehendi.
Here’s how you can rock traditional wear on your wedding day!
By Anju Modi, Fashion Designer
1. The wedding destination or venue plays a huge role in deciding the look for the bride and the groom. If you are getting married in Udaipur, then brocade lehengas with velvet blouses and dupattas work well. But if you are in a place like Goa, then go for something light like a blush pink tulle lehenga with a sheer dupatta.
2. If you are wearing a sari and dressing it up with another dupatta on the head, make sure that the entire look is not so overpowering that the jewellery gets overshadowed.
3. When wearing a lehenga remember it’s always nice to have a sheer tulle veil on the head as it highlights the hairstyle and the flowers or jewellery used to dress up the hair.
4. Make sure not to have a mish-mash of too many colours in the outfit.
What works: The rani pink colour is quite in trend currently and shararas can make the bride look even younger.
What doesn’t: When the outfit is quite heavy, the dupatta should be in a lighter fabric as to not hide the jewellery.
Keep in mind: Wear something comfortable and light weight to have ease of movement and the jewellery must be minimal. The focus should remain on the bride’s smile and everything else should just complement that!
Get the accents right
Jewellery doesn’t just accentuate features, it can help conceal your flaws too! It’s possible to blend traditional with contemporary by simply including an innovative cocktail ring or a stand-out cuff with the heritage pieces.
Here are five rules of thumb to stick by when donning your precious jewels on D-day
By Alpana Gujaral, Jewellery Designer and Rishi Raj, Celebrity Stylist
1. Earrings of the right length can help elongate your neck and certain necklaces can give a slimmer appearance. For example, cascading chokers and necklaces give a slimmer appearance and long, thin earrings create an illusion of a long face.
2. Don’t get carried away with jewellery and overdo it. Instead pick one statement piece, it always works wonders.
3.Chokers do not suit high-neck wedding wear. When wearing a low neck, brides must opt for a neckpiece which will cover the bare neckline.
4.Don’t be afraid of colour. Stones like emeralds add a nice pop of colour to the outfit.
5. Be practical and buy jewellery that you can wear again so that it’s not just sitting in the safe after the wedding.
What works: The bride’s ivory and gold is classically beautiful and the combination of jewellery with fresh flowers makes for an interesting visual.
What doesn’t: With a beautifully embroidered neckline a choker is best avoided.
Keep in mind: Fresh flowers tend to stain the fabric. So, choose colours that don’t start looking dirty very easily.
Party like a rock-star
The functions leading up to the wedding are crucial. While it is the time to sparkle and shine, you definitely don’t have to overdo it!
Here’s how you can get the look for cocktail-sangeet and mehendi right
By Amy Billimoria and Rishi Raj
Celebrity Stylists
1. Go for statement jewellery pieces that don’t have too many baubles and tassels that keep getting caught in the pallu or the hair.
2. For a cocktail sangeet by the beach team up a sexy choli blouse with a summer skirt. For a mehendi in the garden don’t wear pencil heels that sink into the ground and spoil your dance.
3. The ceremonies beyond the main pheras allow for a lot of experimentation in terms of accessories. These could be floral, made with blown glass, wood or even thread.
What works: The bride in a fusion gown with Indian embroidery, which looks very classy and modern at the same time.
What doesn’t: Very glamorous eye make-up with a lot of shimmer would enhance this look and flowers in the hair must be avoided.
Keep in mind: Don’t cover the chest area with a big necklace. Instead, go for a pair of classy earrings.
Strike an attitude
Weddings are no longer about the coy bride and the macho groom. Here’s a look at how there’s a paradigm shift in attitudes at modern day weddings
By Amy Billimoria and Rishi Raj
Celebrity Stylists
1. As both the bride and the groom are actively taking part in planning and finalising every detail related to the wedding, both of them need to be in sync rather than one of them taking the lead.
2. The new age bride needs to be more of a companion to her groom rather than being the shy bride of yesteryear.
3. The new age bride prefers to have a more fun, destination wedding rather than the lavish traditional looks that we had earlier on.
4. So, both should be at the same level for every decision, be it clothes, décor or destination.
What works: The deep, rich textures broken beautifully with a pop of colour creates visual interest.
What doesn’t: The groom can avoid the neck piece as it creates unnecessary distraction. Instead go for a brooch or a pin to streamline the look.
Keep in mind: When opting for a short kurti, proportion should be the key. So, a fitted churidar with a short top or kurta can make the legs look spindly.
Go high on hues
Even though Indian weddings are characterised by colours, avoid too many colours in the wedding outfit. Also, the colour of the trousseau should be chosen to complement the skin tone, the destination and the theme of the wedding.
Here are four ways to make the most of hues on your wedding day
By Rahul Mishra and Gautam Gupta
Fashion Designers
1. There’s a renewed interest in traditional colours like red and ombre these days especially after Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra Jonas chose their trousseaus in these.
2. Monotones always make a statement. Embrace monotone wedding wear when you want to play safe.
3. The colours of the groom’s outfit should ideally coordinate with that of the bride otherwise it would look jarring.
4. Lilacs, dull gold, sea green and powder pink are the new vocabulary for the brides having a destination wedding.
What works: The joy on the bride and groom’s face that synchronises with the happy hues of their outfits!
What doesn’t work: Jewellery should be smaller in size to keep the focus on the garment and complement the look better.
Keep in mind: Either keep the outfit lightly embellished and wear more jewellery or vice versa for the wedding look to be more balanced. Do not pair heavy earrings with a heavy neckpiece.
Also read: Seven deadly sins to avoid at weddings!
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From HT Brunch, December 8, 2019
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