Solah Shringar- Chura

Wedding is like a charm for every girl I think..! The sensation of wedding makes you happy, the makeover and accessories are hot craze for every girl. Specially wearing Chura is on top demand.With the initial thought of wedding in specially in North Indian tradition Chura is first accessory which comes in mind with your wedding dress selection. I have always been fascinated by them, just love the way they look.

Wearing a choora, after marriage, has become more like a fashion these days, irrespective of the prevalence of this custom in their religion or not. People have now-a-days started considering Choora bangles as a symbol of a married woman. Even with the changing times, where, women do not prefer wearing mangalsootra and sindur, after marriage, they take immense pride in showing off their choora. My muslim friend went against her family to adorn the chura for her nikah. She wore it for 40 days all because it looked pretty and stated her married status.

The bridal chura is worn to signify a woman’s newly married status. Some say that the bride doesn’t have to do housework while the bracelets are on, I have seen my maami and maasi’s being told not to work until mehendi and chura were removed how nice right? ( i hope my inlaws are reading )

Actually, the ritual of choora has its traditional roots in the Punjabi culture, where the maternal uncle of the bride, on the day of the marriage, performs this custom of making his niece wear the wedding choora. The choora or the wedding bangles is first washed in milk, and the bride cannot see her choora before wearing it. These days, the design of the choora is first selected by would- be bride, after which a different set of the same design is worn by her on the day of her wedding.


The traditional period of wearing a choora is the starting one year of her married life, but these days, girls wear them as long as they wish, due to their liking towards it. There are different set and designs available in the market, which vary in their colour, maroon and white being the base, and the count can vary from 21, 31 to 51, bangles in a set, as per the choice of the bride. Simple chura is now become the designer chura the simple red, maroon ad white bangle is now in new avatar with the spectacular stone work, latest trendy designs
While a simple chura would cost between 2000-4000 RS, a fancy chura with all the bling and swaroski would easily cost up 15-20,000 RS.

Kalire !

The sweet moments of wedding are not only unforgettable for the bride and the groom but also for the near and dear ones. One such moment is the chuda ceremony which is celebrated at bride’s place just a day before the wedding. Once the chuda has been worn, the bride’s friends and cousins tie Kalire to the chuda. Kaliras (or known as kalire) are ornaments worn on the hands of Punjabi brides. While this is traditionally a Punjabi wedding custom, most brides these days opt to wear them thanks to our bolly movies.

They hang like beautiful chandeliers and come in a range of colors to match any outfit.These are pieces of umbrella shaped gold or silver ornaments. These signify good wishes for the bride’s new life ahead and are also meant to remind her of her friends and cousins. It is said that the number of leaves on kalire are as many as bride’s friends. Kalire’s are encrusted with dried coconut and dried beetle nuts.



I absolutely love the way they look, needless to say the logo shows my love for kalira’s. There’s an interesting ritual associated with kalire. The bride shakes her hands over heads of all the unmarried girls in the family one by one and if a leaf or a part of kalira falls on anybody’s head, then it is believed that she will be the next one to get married.


So what happens to these post the wedding? Usually the couple visits the temple/gurudwara the morning after the wedding to take blessing this is where the bride leaves one of her kalira’s and the other is stored with the bride a momento. My mom still has her kalira’s and I plan to use it for my wedding, incorporate it in my phoolon ki chaadar how kool right? Here’s another way of storing them and keeping those wedding memories fresh

Where to buy these? while finding them in Dubai will be a task they are readily available in India. The best ones are offcourse from Amritsar, Gandhi Market in Mumbai is another great place to buy these from or infact buy anything typically Punjabi.

Having difficulties getting hold of some Kalira’s? contact us and we’ll have them shipped to you!

Solaah Shringar- Nath

Nath or Nathni is almost synonymous with bridal wear as generally it’s worn only on weddings these days! The word ‘Nath’ is derived from HindI word “Naath”, meaning husband or master.
As per old tradition on the wedding night the groom removes the ‘Nath’ to show a sign of the ending of virginity ‘Nath-Utarna’. In the past, it was said that a single, unmarried girls or widowed woman could not wear the Nath. But nowadays at any cultural function, wedding ceremony or religious festival, women of all ages can be seen with these nose dazzlers without regard of her marital status.

The Nath has become an essential part of trousseau of married women and women of different cultures adorn different styles of them.

In the Punjabi culture the Nath is gifted by the Maama of the bride along with her chhoda and kalire. Here’s a pic of my Nath umm yes I already have it, my Maama was kind enough to have gifted me this post graduation.

Nath for all the Marathi Mulgi’s
Styled in the shape of the number “9” and studded with translucent pearls, this symbol of old-world charm has long been an essential part of a bride’s trousseau, often being passed down as family heirloom.

Solaah Shringar- Maang Tikaa

Maang tika as the name suggests is a piece of jewellery worn for the forehead. It adds the perfect ethnic touch and completes solah shringar of the bride.This beautiful piece of jewellery hangs from the forehead and is worn to accentuate the bride’s beauty.

The types of maang tikkas vary from state to state in India. Maang tikka, according to the ancient Hindu culture is not just an adornment but it is a symbol of uniting the male and female for the rest of their life. A golden maang tikka consists of a beautifully designed pendent attached to a chain that has a hook at the other end. The chain and the hook,hold the tikka on the forehead, exactly at the place where it sits on the ‘AgyaChakra’ or the sixth chakra of the bride, that stands for preservation and control of emotions and concentration.

The styles of the maang tikka range from very simple to heavy ones, which may differ from each other due to different communities. While for a Hindu bride, the Maang tikka is in the form of a pendant, which dangles on the center of the forehead, on the other hand a Muslim bride, adorns her hair with a Jhoomer style maang tikka.

Another type of maang tikka is the “MatthaPatti” which is particularly designed to adorn a bride’s look. This heavy maang tikka consist two extra chains on each side, which completes the glittering look of a bride.

The Rajput women wore Bor or Borla, the traditional Rajasthani maang tikka, in the old times. Even today, it is very common to see a married Rajasthani woman wearing this on a regular day. This type of maang tikka is spherical which makes it tricky, to stay put.

Jhoomer or Paasa is a very important ornament worn by any Muslim bride. This is a fan shaped tikka, which is placed on the side of the hair unlike the other types of tikkas. Gold and pearls are mainly used to design this unusual style of Jhoomer.

The Shringar Patti is different from the Mattha Patti in the way that it has more than one side panel. This “Maang Tika” looks absolutely exquisite with several types of hair style, but the catch is that it needs extra help to be secured in place.

I’m simply a fan of the usual Maang tikka i feel the mattha patti makes a person look chubby as it accentuates your face and makes it look more round.Here’s a pic of the Maang tikka i chose for myself not really for the wedding probably for the Mehendi function or mata ki chowki.

Shikha & Sunny

Their Story
Sunny and I met through common friends and got married in Mumbai. My bridal wear was a blend of style and comfort along with tradition. Being a fashion designer myself I knew what I wanted, which made things easy as well as challenging too. “Some brides take a decision quickly, and some slowly- so I don’t really have a pointer on what should be bought when. It’s all a matter of luck and your personal choice.

Wedding Wardrobe !
Anamika Khanna lehenga for Mehndi
I wore a maroon Anamika Khanna lehenga for her mehndi. I wanted something light and nothing over the top for my mehndi. I loved this creation at Anamika’s store in Delhi because it was dressy but at the same time not gaudy or too elaborate. It had a short choli with small border at the sleeves and at the bottom. The lehenga had lots of kalis and 10 inch broad border at the bottom with the color combination of purple, green and blue that accentuated the entire outfit. The fabric was velvet giving it a very rich look. I teamed it up with a net mango color dupatta with the thick border as was on the lehenga.


I teamed it up with a pair of Chaand balis by Lista Jewels and kept her hair in soft curls. Vinod did my make-up for the day and kept the eyes very dramatic that summed up the whole look.


Tarun Tahiliani for Wedding & Reception

With only one and half month left before the wedding, I was still not getting what I wanted. I visited Tahiliani’s store and loved an anarkali there which formed the inspiration for my wedding outfit. We reworked the entire outfit. I liked the embroidery and the colors and used them as the base for my wedding lehenga. It had different shades of pink – bubblegum pink with a slightly darker shade in the lehenga and a shade going towards maroon in the border. It had beautiful traditional gotta work and the lehenga was embroidered from top to bottom with a thick border at the bottom.

I had two dupattas- the one on the head was a light net dupatta with light embroidery and the second dupatta was heavily embroidered, shaded and I had it wrapped in a saree style. I decide to dress it up with uncut diamonds for the pheras and my make-up was done by Kapil Bhalla.


The reception was just after the wedding so though I stuck to the same outfit, I changed my make up and hairstyle.”Kapil had tied the bun in such a way that after the pheras it was easier to open it up and style the hair in a little glamorous style. I changed my jewelry and draped the dupatta in a different style. Kapil retouched the make-up and darkened it a bit to go with the mood of the party.”

Anju & Namit

Their Story- We had a love marriage. We met in Glasgow, United Kingdom during our Post Graduation. Namit and I became good friends within weeks of meeting each other. He was really easy to talk to and super fun to be with. We would talk for hours in a day. At a time when I most needed a friend, he was there by my side. And then somewhere down the lane, we realized there was something more to the friendship. One of our friends acted as a cupid and finally he asked me out on March 5, 2011; we had our roka in a year and got married after 2 years !

Wedding Tales-It was a lot of different cultures to deal with 😉 Ever since I was a kid I wanted a North Indian wedding, with loads and loads of dancing (I blame Karan Johar and Yash Chopra movies for that 😉 ). My parents were super chilled out and said that I could have a Punjabi wedding if that’s what I really want. So we had a Punjabi wedding and a Kerala style reception.

Trousseau Tales- For my Sagan & Ring Ceremony I wore a red and golden Dolly J lehenga. Namit’s mom and sister picked it up for me, from AZA for roughly under 2 Lakhs (though we got a 50% discount on it). For my Mehendi & Sangeet, I picked up a pinkish-peach Varun & Nidhika floor length anarkali, from AZA for around 40-50K . For the wedding, I wore a Rimple & Harpreet Narula lehenga, also from AZA.

I wore a magenta kancheepuram saree for my reception in Kerala, which I got from Jayalakshmi Silks, Kochi.

I had come down from Dubai for a week to do my shopping in Delhi. It was day 2 of lehenga hunting and I was already frustrated since I had so less time on hand. After visiting a lot of shops, we ended up in AZA The minute I saw this lehenga I knew I had found my wedding lehenga.. Red in color, with loads of gheras, antique work… It was exactly what I had in mind 😀

Fun times?
The most fun function was the sangeet. I loved seeing all my friends and family perform. The best performance was that of my mom and dad’s, along with my uncles and aunts. They performed on a fusion of old songs with the grand finale of ‘Oppa Gangnam style’ 😀 I performed a duet with my sister… and a musical with my cousins….the musical was based on our love story. Namit and I did a couple dance on ‘Pehla Nasha’, complete with loads and loads of lifts J

WHo did your makeup and who shot these beautiful pictures?
My makeup for Sagan & Sangeet was done in Vidya Tikari Studios at Lajpat Nagar..The makeup artists were fantastic.. I did not want very heavy make up for any of the functions. And they did a fantastic job in keeping the makeup light and natural.

My wedding makeup was done by Shalini Singh. She did an amazing job and she was super easy to work with. I did not want to be caked up with heavy makeup…and Shalini really got what I wanted and did a fantastic job..

The photographer we hired was from Dipak Studios. They did an amazing job in capturing all the candid moments.

The reception in Kerala was covered by SL Anand. He was really fun to work with; always coming up with innovative and fun shots. The makeup in Kerala was done by La Femme Salon, Thrissur. I wanted my look to be completely traditional, with jasmine flowers on my head and long braided hair. The makeup artists were really good and efficient and my makeup was done in an hour’s time !

Sonika & Sundeep

Their Story- Arranged!! We don’t have a romantic story as such, I had been talking to a lot of frogs till my parents found my Prince. Its funny how it happens, you think its going to be a fairy tale, the way its portrayed in movies, But its simple, like my mom always said you will just know that he’s the one. There is no better way to describe it then the truth….We might not have the most romantic story, we might not have seen each other across the room and fallen in love with each other at first sight, he might not have proclaimed his love to me in front of a million people. I may not be a princess stuck in a tower, and he may not have come on his white horse to rescue me…..Whatever it was, all I knew was that this was Right.


Trousseau tales- Wedding shopping was the most fun element I got most of my outfits from Mumbai. I’ve always wanted a Manish Malhotra Lehenga for my wedding so that was decided from day 1. I did my fair share of research prior to visiting Mumbai so I was well aware of the latest trends in Bridal lehenga’s.

I got my wedding lehenga from Sabyasachi and a champagne colour gown for the reception from Anjalee Arjun Kapoor. For my ring ceremony I had my heart set on Manish Malhotra’s designs and no questions asked I went and got myself one, it did require a few changes as it was collared and I didn’t want a collared dress as I wanted to wear jewellery. The only dress left was the one for Sangeet,so we headed to our local designer Private Collection (next to Cadbury’s House Malaxmi).The designer made a custom designed lehenga and there I had all my wedding shopping done in just 2 days.

Fun times at the wedding? the most fun was the Rain Dance.. My husband did a surprise dance with his cousin’s for me, which was super cute, I changed and got in the foam and rain. Everyone had fun. Also the reception was fun, because we didn’t have to wake up super early to get ready so we went crazy danced till 7 in the morning, decided to grab some breakfast and got to our rooms by 10.

Make up Artist- Bharat & Dorris

Wedding Photography- Pooja Studio Dubai & WedRed Mumbai.

Pink Lehenga’s !

Don’t we girls love all things pink so why not include some in your wedding trousseau..while brides tend to stick to deep and darker pinks i love how designers these days are incorporating pastels and baby/light pinks in their bridal collection.

Classic Red Lehenga’s !

Neetu and Abhishek

Their Story- Neetu and Abishek met almost 15 years ago in Dubai. He was a good friend of her sister, who introduced the two. Over the years Neetu and Abhishek bonded over kick boxing, pop concerts and their love for travel. But it came as a complete shock for them when they actually realized what they really felt for each other. After that, it didn’t take them long to get engaged and then married.

Wedding Venue-The Leela in Kovalam, Kerala
They got married in the beautiful beach city of Kovalam at The Leela. Since Neetu always wanted a destination wedding and Abi always wanted to get married in Kerala it worked out just perfectly for them. Apart from being a stunning property on a cliff surrounded by ocean view and 5 star amenities, it has lot of character and local flavor. It has many venues within the property and for us, it was large enough to accommodate all the out of town guests.

Wedding Events
Neetu says, “For the Mehendi our venue was a typical Kerala hall where I wanted the amalgamation of tradition with youthfulness. We used gold, orange and pink to bring alive the atmosphere. The entire hall was draped with gold fabric and the traditional Indian elements gave it the ‘wedding’ feel which was all important – marigolds everywhere, a bridal swing, bells at the entrance, rangoli, diyas, colorful cushions, bangle and bindi stalls. ” She wore a beautiful yellow, coral and bright pink lehenga by EYSH and Abishek wore a blue and pink kurta.

Sangeet
Neetu went for a subdued color theme of cream, silver and lavender for the Sangeet to balance out the DJ lights. She says, “The sangeet was held in the banquet hall. There were candles throughout the venue and the entrance was decorated with large trees and baskets full of white and lavender roses. Towering centerpieces had roses, candles, mirrors and crystals on silver linens. The stage had cream fabric and fairy lights.She wore ivory and turquoise blue lehenga by Neeta Lulla, jewelry by Ghana Singh and shoes by Gina and Abishek wore a black and silver Sherwani by Kachins, Dubai.

Pheras
The venue for the pheras was a beautiful park overlooking the sea and had goddess statues and lush trees all around. Neetu says, “I chose traditional white, red, gold with hints of pink for the decor because the setting was too beautiful to be overpowered by bright colors.Everything from the horse Abi rode on to the paper fans distributed was in line with the color theme. The aisle leading up to the mandap was filled with white and red rose petals and the mandap was decorated with strings of gold beads, petals and fabric. The venue was actually not big enough for all the guests so we had put cushions on the steps as well.For the pheras, she wore a coral pink and gold lehenga again by Neeta Lulla, jewelry by Ghana Singh and Abishek wore a white and gold sherwani by Kachins, Dubai.

Reception on the Beach
Neetu says, “My favorite venue and event was the cocktail/reception on the beach and here we really went crazy with lighting – string of lights crisscrossed near the entrance, fairy lights around the coconut trees, paper lanterns in pink and cream on beach shacks. Sparklers were lit by our close friends when we entered and fire crackers lighted the entire stage during our first dance. The best was the wish lanterns that our guests lit – heart shaped lanterns against the night sky on the beach was really magical! Champagne linens, and fuchsia and light pink flowers contrasted well with the lights and the effect was very romantic. ”