With so many of my cousins (girls) getting married thought of jotting down my views on bridal shopping to ease shopping experience and few basic tips for south Indian brides. Of course these suggestions are also useful for girls who are planning to attend the wedding.
Which girl doesn’t want that fairy princess look on their dreamy day? With today’s endless choices it can be quite challenging to be with in your estimated budget. Here I am with few suggestions that are both budget friendly and few designer boutiques where you can find Classic and Outstanding outfits. To set the expectations, My suggestions doesn’t include bridal wear guru Sabyasachi or high end designers like Sanjay Garg’s raw mango or It doesn’t include all minute details that a bride needs. Well its not that we buy expensive designer wears in our daily events so you might consider those high end designers as well.
Hmm where should I start from? Lets talk about ‘time’ first. Make sure you have at least two months of time for your wedding day so that you have enough time for shopping as well as getting designer blouses. It is no jest that it takes at least 15 days to stitch a designer blouse. With the number of ceremonies a south Indian wedding has you should make sure you finalize your sarees at least a month before so that you will have good amount of time to fix the blouses.
Pre shopping:
- List out the rituals and number of sarees you need for each ritual.
- Decide which events you will wear sarees and other outfits like lehenga or long frocks.
- Make up your mind whether you go with the traditional colors or unique colors. For example most of the families will have a custom that bride have to wear Red or Green color for the actual event followed by cream color saree.
- At a high level choose colors that you want to wear for each ritual so that you won’t repeat colors in your wedding ceremonies.
- Have a picture in mind about what kind of Jeweler you are going to wear and make sure it will go with your outfits.
- Invest two hours of time scrolling social media like Facebook, Instagram,Pinterest to see the pictures of brides and to get an idea about latest trends, color coordination etc. Here are few pages that I can suggest Wedmegood, WeddingSutra , bridesOfIndia , SouthIndianbrides, pellikuthuru. Start with one and these sites are intelligent enough to suggest other pages 😛
- Do you want to go with designer wears or shop in a retail shop? of course without compromising on your preferences.
- Look out for bridal shows that happen in city, some times you will get some good designer pieces for affordable prices.
Shopping scenes:
- Don’t be in a hurry to finish the shopping in first go.
- If you have enough time , go check out few shops casually to see what different shops offer.
- Do shopping during day time when there is natural light. The light inside store can be deceiving sometimes so, few double shade sarees might require checking them outside as well.
- Do not forget your comfort zone as you have to wear those outfits for long hours.
- Choose outfits based on the time of the event as few colors look good during day time and few at night.
- Try out the saree before buying to make sure it suits you perfectly.
- Take loads of pictures to have an idea how it looks. Sarees should look bright in pictures even if you choose light colors.
- Look for rare color combinations and designs. Some combinations I can think of are Red and Orange, Violet and Yellow, Brown and Pink, Green and Purple, Grey and Violet , Orange and pink. I think sarees should be Subtle and Elegant.
- A part from different colors choose different variety for each event like Kancheevaram, Uppdaa, Ikkat, Banarasi etc.
- Coming to shops selection and designer boutiques there are plenty in Hyderabad that you can choose from and it can be over whelming as well. There is a saying “beauty lies in the eye of the beholder” in the same way I feel that every shop will have some thing unique to offer . choose the best based on your preference and comfort.
Stores:
Here are the list of shops that I can suggest. Please note that this is not the list that I came out after extensive search. These are the shops which I usually go and few from sources and online shops that have unique collection (thanks to social Media)
- My all time go to shop Chennai Shopping Mall , Secundrabad . They have huge section for pattu (silk) sarees. (Similar shops RK bros, Kalamandir, South India Shopping mall, Kalanjali).
- Vara Mahalaxmi , Kukatpally Hyderabad.
- Nalli Silks
- Facebook pages Teja Sarees, HandloomsKalpavrush, My Yukta
- Lehengas less than 10k you can try out this https://www.6ycollective.com
- Check out this page for Hyderabad lehenga designers https://frugal2fab.com/2017/04/25/amazing-hyderabad-bridal-designer/
- You can also find some budget lehengas in Taruni , Balaji and Rithika retail shops which are located in general bazaar, Kukatpally and Koti
- Some other sites which I came across in Hyderabad are weavingthreaddesignerstudio,geethikakanumilli_official,Yaksideepthireddy
Blouse:
While we might think Kanjeevram Sarees remain same , it’s the blouse design that makes the complete outfit stand out. Again leaf through social media pages to know latest blouse patterns. Here are few I usually go and they offer amazing designs as well as perfect stitching
- My Yuktha Facebook page.
- Sony Fashions and My Feelings boutique Bowenpally, Secunderabad.
Every corner in Hyderabad will have a boutique that can stitch designer blouses at least if you show them blouse designs. Ask around to find out the blouse stitching boutiques.
Don’t go for elbow length sleeves for all the events. Even though short sleeves are out of trend you can go with them to have some variation. Create your own trends based on your preferences.
Jewelry:
Jewelry is one of the important things for South Indian brides and few think its also a good investment . I don’t have much say when it comes to Jewelry shopping. Choose the ones that makes you look Elegant. Here are the shops that I usually shop. Buy few pieces that you can always switch around in different ways.
- Chennai Shopping mall for gold
- Mor in Somajiguda for stones and diamonds
- Facebook page Mortantra, manognyaraojalagamofficial,Shritha’s jewelry made of copper and silver coated alloy and finished by gold coating.
For some events try pairing contrast long beads chain and chokers for a different look.
Make up:
Make up has become a routine in almost every girl now a days and essential for bride to enhance their looks so, I want to include that as well. I don’t have a personal experience in this, but heard below are few good options. Search on Facebook for their contacts. Good thing is they can travel anywhere in south India.
- Prahaswa’s beauty box
- Siro make up artist
- Edward Make-Up Artist
Common Tips:
- Try out make up and hair styles at least once before the actual events. If possible saree style as well.
- Get one blouse stitched first and make sure it fits you perfectly before getting all other blouses stitched (well of course all the boutiques are doing a good job now a days but still..).
- Don’t try new food diets or make up products at least 3 weeks before.
- Make sure you wear lots of bangles , around 24 bangles on each hand
- Choose inexpensive products not products that look cheap.
Hope this blog helps you to be that quintessential bride. Bye until next time.