Sabyasachi - Bridal Designer...

When I decided to start this blog I wanted to reach out to as may brides to be as possible to help them in making decisions but also to help to introduce you guys to a variety of places to shop on your wedding journey. Here in the UK, information of the ins and out is scarce when brides head to India, and even if you know who and where you want to check out maybe from a snapshot you took of something you've seen on Pinterest or Instagram you still sometimes still feel confused as to where to even begin, so its ends up being completely inaccessible to so many! So hopefully through a serious of posts I will be introducing you to Indian Runway Designers who showcase bridal collections and the key places for you to be hitting when your on the search for your wedding outfit!

So we're going to start with a designer that I think deserves a slot on your shopping list. Now he is amongst the fashion elite in India, his talent is unquestionable and he sits alongside creative geniuses like Tarun Tahiliani, Anamika Khanna, Rohit Bal and JJ Valaya. He is fast growing a reputation for making many girls bridal dreams come true I am of course talking about Sabyasachi Mukherjee.

Sabyasachi is an infamous brand in India and his wedding collections are equally famous. He creates lehengas that are demurely stunning and timeless. Timelessness in a Bridal Lehenga/ Outfit is I think the one thing that should remain a priority when shopping for your lehenga, and I know you might be thinking - surely liking something then and there at that precise moment in time is how how you should decide you've found the one, but hear me out! 

You know when you go shopping, and you like something in the moment, its often a little daring and maybe not something you'd usually buy, its maybe a daring colour not usually in the spectrum you'd choose - but you do so anyway but when you get home and you look at it you think hmmmm.. your no longer if you like it sure so you keep in your wardrobe and lo and behold you end up not wearing it! You'll pull it out occasionally but now you just think what on earth was I thinking. That exact moment and that exact feeling should never be  felt when choosing your Wedding Jora, you should be able to pull it out in 5 or 10 years time and still be able to fall in love with it all over again, NOT think oh god what was I thinking or I wish I'd chosen something a little different! Sabya himself has feels that women when choosing their Lehenga fall into peer pressure of what is trendy at the time and forget to choose an outfit that is right for their body shape! 

Sabyasachi's designs favour classic work and styles, featuring work such as zardozi, resham, hand embroideries, thread work and appliqués he layers decedent fabrics such as rich royal velvets as his base leaving you wondering how on earth something so rich and opulent in design can look so understated in elegance and appearance. His work has an unquestionable old world charm that is both charming and refreshing in age where bridal fashion as become somewhat 'samey'. 

Now in terms of price, you have to be mindful of your budget, like most  designer brands there is a price tag attached to their work Sabya's designs range from £1,500+. Now if the budget you had mind was around this figure than Sabyasachi is a must see. This cost is defiantly relative, to what your buying, and you may even be thinking why on earth is it so high! But you have consider all of the  hand work that goes into these pieces, the hand looming and work that goes into these pieces they are not your 'off the shelve' pieces, each piece is carefully crafted and when you see his work close up you truly appreciate the depth of work gone into each and every piece! 

Even if his work is out of your budget, it still worth while taking a trip down to one of his stores to seek some wedding wisdom, you'll see a ton of different creations and ideas and you'll definitely take some inspiration with you! 

If your interested in hunting down  a Sabyasachi in India there's a short list below and some shots of his pieces and some pictures of 'real brides' who have donned Sabyasachi creations for their big day... 

Mumbai - Portfolio 52, 56, Dr. V.B. Gandhi Marg KalaGhoda Mumbai- 400023 Ph: (022) 22623335 Mobile: 9322263359 Email:sabyasachi.mumbai@gmail.com	Kolkata - Bridal Store 80/ 1 & 2 Topsia Road Kolkata – 700046 Ph: (033) 22852381 Mobile: 9830881375, 9836043953 Email: sabyasachibridalkol@gmail.com
Sabyasachi by Sabyasachi 3rd Floor, Upadrastha House, 48, Dr V.B. Gandhi Marg Kalaghoda Fort Mumbai- 400023 Ph: (022)22623365             Mobile: 9323263359 Email: sabyasachibysabyasachi@gmail.com	New Delhi - Carma H-5/11, Mehrauli Road, New Delhi- 110030 Ph: (011) 26644352 Mobile: 9810311155  Email:sabyasachi.carma@gmail.com

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Mehndi Hai Rachenwali - Your Mehndi Ceremony...

One of my all time favourite Bollywood songs is aptly named for today's post: Mehndi Hai Rachenwali from the all time classic Hindi movie Zubeidaa, when I find myself daydreaming of my future wedding and my Mehndi Ceremony it often plays out like a scene from some sort of Bollywood movie, you know how it goes ladies and this iconic mehndi song plays as the backing track to my seriously over active imagination! Now don't you girls leave me hanging, I KNOW I'm not alone here (okay if I am, lie and make me feel better!) But back to today actual post!  Your Mehndi Ceremony is hands down one of the biggest milestones in your wedding journey, to me it marks the moment when you start pieces together the parts for you transformation into a stunning bride for your  Big Day! 

For your Mehndi there are number of really important decisions that need to be made for your mendhi, and were not just talking clothes here were talking mehndi designs and most importantly how much is the right amount to wear? Honestly there's no right or wrong answer,  its however much you feel comfortable and happy wearing! 

A lot of brides I've spoken to and helped in deciding, get a little stuck because they either love mehndi or really dislike it, and if you dislike it then its gets a little hard because then your asking yourself, well how much do I have to wear to still look 'bridal '? To those brides try:

Wrist to Forearm Length

• Limit the amount to either a full hand  or forearm back and front is a nice compromise if your not keen on Mehndi. 
• When my cousin was getting married she had the same dilemma, she didn't like Mehndi because of how it looked when it started to fade, when it goes from that rich brown to that light orange colour, and so we started searching various designs and spoke to her mehndi artist and we settled on a fairly simple design that covered all the inside of her hands and just passed her wrists, and on the topside of her hands she had a a fancy line design, I wasn't sure at first it was enough but once it dried and hours upon hours worth of nimbu had been applied it looked elegant in the simplest of ways...

If however your pro-mehndi the hard choice is nailing down a length that you love, you've choice upon choice here, personally I think go all out, its your wedding for crying out loud! I've always said there's maybe only a one or two chances in your life to get away with wearing mehndi upto or past your elbows without looking OTT! But if you still can't decide for sure maybe consider these factors:

Blouse Arm Length

• If your blouse has half sleeves (so longer than a cap sleeve and shorter than 3/4 length) your going to want to choose a length of mehndi that stops below the elbow, that way your mehndi isn't competing with your blouse! 
• If your blouse is has cap sleeves then consider going all out and have your mendhi go above your elbow! Persoanlly I'm torn, the only dislike I have for mehndi above the elbow is that it can sometimes look a little streched and clumsy, but having said that I have a friend who recently got married and she decided to go all the way above the elbow and it looked so traditional and the design was so delicate it showed such artistry.

Accessories

• Accessories, if your think of wearing a Baju Bandh (armlet) then you don't want your jewellery to get lost in the mehndi so I would definitely say go below the elbow

Design wise it unto you whether you prefer a Khulli design or Dense pattern, both look beautiful and give very distinguished looks. If your a bit confused let me explain:

Khulli Design

• This means that the pattern you choose or the artist creates will have alot of spacing in between the design so there will be peeks of you skin through the mehndi. This can look great with really delicate work. If your going for a long length of mehndi so elbow or above length but your worried about it looking too much go for a khulli design its a great compromise to get the length and design

 

Dense Design

• Basically the opposite of a Khulli design, the work you choose will be close together and will literally cover your arm, if you choose this type of  design it leaves a really regal look, its a masterpiece that takes hours to create, and again with fine design work looks magnificent (as you can tell I'm really a fan of fine work!) 

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Your Wedding Journey....

Now that you've found 'The One', the question is what's the next step?

Well now the fun really begins! This is where you enter the world of wedding mayhem, and of course Indian weddings are anything but the exception! Indian weddings are long and lavish and we all know from experience how mad they can be! I've always found that even though you do nothing at a wedding as a guest aside from getting ready for the numerous ceremonies  (which of course is a very tiresome and laborious experience :P) that you end the wedding week feeling like you've just run a marathon! Now if I end up feeling like this after attending a wedding as a guest, I seriously wonder what a bride or groom must feel like after the wedding week!

As soon as the wedding planning starts so does the long and never ending lists! But as the saying every cloud has a silver lining and holding true to that your silver lining here is the endless amounts of shopping! Now for some of you ladies this sounds extremely terrifying! But fear not!! (Seriously I'm here to help with all those details)

Indian Weddings are packed with tradition upon tradition starting from the Roka (or thaka) to the Mayian, Mendhi, Sangeet, Choora ceremony (for the bride) and then finally the Wedding Day and the Reception to follow!! Its sounds like a lot I know, but with time and careful planning and wise choices the planning process is easy... 

Vogue India's stylish take on wedding mayhem...

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