Trousseau shopping

Alright… probably the most interesting part of the wedding preparations… trousseau shopping! List- wedding outfits, sarees, salwar-kameez, footwear, makeup...

Sarees

Well, to be fair, I did not want truckloads of sarees… not that I do not like wearing sarees, I love them (when all I need to do is wear them and sit like a doll). I am not used to running around and doing chores in sarees(dancing in a ‘Baraat’ excluded). Well, like most Indian girls, I was excited at the prospect of buying new sarees for myself! Not knowing much about Bhopal, we opted to go to Vadodara for saree shopping. Why Vadodara of all places in India??? The reason is that my brother is a fashion designer (he designs under his brand... Abstract) and lives in Vadodara…nothing better than having a fashion designer by your side when you do your bridal shopping!

I picked up 5 sarees from Vadodara from Sia Sarees. I chose safe colour options that I can wear even later- Fuschia, Red, Beige, Persian Green and a cream & pink combination and materials were pure chiffon, bhagalpuri silk and pure crepe. I later bought a maroon kanjivaram from Radhika Sarees in Bhopal and also picked up a yellow with olive thread work and a blue with gold thread work cotton-silk banarasi from the Silk Fab in Bhopal. I also bought a few sarees from Jashn in Mumbai. So, these along with my existing collection was enough for my saree quota! I did not like the collection at Kala Niketan or any other saree stores in Bhopal. I have earlier purchased sarees from Kala Niketan in Mumbai. I do not know if the Bhopal store is a franchisee of the same store, but I found the collection in Bhopal quite old fashioned yet expensive. Mrignayani in New Market has an excellent collection; I especially loved their Kota Check and Chanderi sarees. However, I had already purchased my quota of sarees by the time I visited this store. Mrignayani has a website too but the collection on the website is not even 1% of what you can find in store!

Salwar Kameez

You can find the latest fashion in Salwar Kameez in New Market. So, this was an easy bet. If not new market, DB city has many stores that you can go to. I picked up a few sets from Fida as well as Shoppers Stop & Pantaloon. For bargain deals, some of the stores in Bairagarhmarket (wholesale stores of the retailers in Bhopal) stock the latest fashion at a much cheaper price.

Wedding Outfits

We had a bit of difficulty finding the lehenga for me. After losing hope in many stores in Vadodara and Bhopal, I visited some stores in Bairagarh taking someone’s suggestion. And surprise surprise….I got both my lehengas from this market and at really low prices. I picked up a wine colour velvet lehenga with stone work in kalis from Maya Sarees. I know net has been in fashion for a while in bridal lehengasbut I did not want net for my wedding. The sales boy almost gave up on me when I kept rejecting everything he brought out to show me. However, considering the wedding was in winters, velvet proved to be the perfect choice and it definitely looked very good.

For the reception I chose a red shimmer crepe lehenga with embroidery and glass work all over that I bought from Dulhan Sarees again in Bairagarh. This was a perfect fit for the reception as all of the groom’s side was there to see the bride for the first time, a traditional colour there suited the occasion perfectly.

I wore a yellow and orange front open anarkali with cigarette pants for the Sangeet. This was specially designed for the occasion by my designer brother… yes, that’s how he came to be known among my friends when they saw his creations. He also designed a matching kurta for my younger brother for the same occasion. I feel proud to say that this design has also been published in the Femina magazine!! ;)

Footwear

I bought most of my footwear from the bridal collection of BHS in UK. However, Inc 5 at DB Mall has good collection for regular footwear while Metro has a good party wear collection.

Makeup

L’Oreal Paris is a trusted makeup brand for me. I stuck to it for the bridal makeup kit. I picked up the Lumi range for foundation and the true match range for the concealer and face powder. In my opinion, the true match range actually creates magic! I also picked up 2 blush shades and the metallic eye shadow palette. For eyeliners, I picked up 2 from the super liner range – there are 3 options depending on how thick you want your liner to be. Mascara is the most important part of the eye makeup – I picked 2, false lash flutter (gives density to lashes) and volume million lashes (for length). I got a few lip shades from L’Oreal as well however; MAC is the go-to brand for lipsticks. MAC shades that I would recommend not to miss are – impassioned (suits all skin tones), Ruby Woo (a red is a must to have in your makeup palette) and Vegas Volt (for fair skin). I got these three shades and they are perfect with all attires… Indian or western.