Kolkata–the “it” place to shop in India– has been a wedding shopping destination for years.  Brides from all over the Western world and South Asia go to Kolkata to do their wedding shopping.

Here are the Sari-Clad Bride’s top shopping destinations in Kolkata;

Park Street courtesy of India Mike

Courtesy of James Nichloas Sears

• Park Street: For major wedding sari shopping for the bride, mother of the bride, sisters, and close family that you need to gift saris, you can rely on Park Street for a one-stop shopping experience.  On the Sari-Clad Bride’s recently Kolkata shopping spree, Park Street was her favorite destination. In two days on Park Street, we bought over 30+ beautiful saris from stores such as Sarovar, Savera, Rangoli,  and several other stores.  Additionally, you will find stores for designers kameezes along Park Street. Just a simple stroll down Park Street will cover all your bases for wedding sari shopping! Read more

courtesy of Manish Mavani

Who are you?
Manish Mavani
photographybymanish.com
718-454-5182

What do you do?
I am an artist who loves drawing, painting, meditation, music and photography.I love to travel around the world and I am doing different photo projects from my travels around the world. I travel only in winter. In summer I shoot models on weekdays and weddings on weekends. Read more

One of our favorite beauty bloggers and makeup artists, i♥makeup, has provided The Sari-Clad Bride with a few tips on packing up your beauty and skincare products for your honeymoon. Enjoy!

Okay ladies, the big day’s over, and now you’re ready to jet off on your honeymoon with your hubby dearest. Most of us tend to give our clothes, shoes and accessories too much importance and forget skin/hair care essentials. Here’s a quick list of what you should definitely have ready.

Make-up Bag Essentials:

1. Foundation/Concealer/Powder: Since you’re going to be relaxing more, don’t worry about full-coverage foundation. Instead opt for a tinted moisturizer like Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer–it gives you the right amount of coverage, gives your skin that extra boost of moisture, and includes SPF 20.

lauramercier.com

If you feel you absolutely need concealer, my favorite one that goes on flawlessly is Benefit Erase Paste. It’s strong enough to cover anything, from pimple scars to undereye circles; Benefit’s got you covered. Go over the tinted moisturizer to finish off your look with Make Up For Ever Duo Mat Powder Foundation. It goes on like a dream, stays on the whole day, and also gives you that extra bit of coverage. Now, I know there are some of you who love their foundation and aren’t willing to let go that easily. To you ladies, I bring Revlon Custom Creations Foundation. I know you’re probably wondering why am I recommending this one. Well for starters, this has 5 shade settings in every bottle, which range from light to dark within each color family. It’s a perfect honeymoon essential because your skin will change in tone if you’re out in the sun all the time, and instead of cursing at your skin for not matching your foundation anymore, you have up to 5 shades to play around with to match you perfectly. Finish off with powder after.

2. Eyebrows: Us desi women tend to think that we don’t need to fill in our eyebrows. That is the biggest myth around town. Some are blessed with dark eyebrows, but some of us have to rely on eyebrow fillers. I love using brown eye shadow to give my arches a natural look. I would recommend M.A.C Espresso Eyeshadow. Now, the great thing about Espresso is that it triples as a great crease color, and it makes a gorgeous eye liner when you lined with a damp eye liner brush. Even if you decide you want to go the au naturel route make sure you fill in your eyebrows, they give your eyes so much more depth and instantly make them bright. Read more

The Daughter-In-Law Rules

http://www.thedilrules.com

Sally Shields, Speaker, Radio Personality, and the Author of The Daughter-In-Law Rules, an Amazon #1 best seller provides the The Sari-Clad Bride with the following tips for daughter-in-laws:

So, you’ve just stepped off the bus–do not delay! For the newlywed daughter-in-law, here are five simple techniques that anyone can use to get immediate results towards a peaceful and loving relationship with your husband – and his mother! It is always important to remember one of the greatest spiritual laws of success: the quickest way to get what you want is to help others get what they want. Be a loving, kind, generous, openhearted sensitive person and the world will reflect that back to you, even in the form of your Mother-in-law! Let’s begin.

1. Send Your MIL Cards and Flowers on her 3 Special Days

Mark down the three biggies – her b-day, her anniversary (if she has one) and Mother’s Day in your date book. But here’s the secret –– get your husband to pen the card or Mom might get the impression that her son has forgotten her special days (he probably has)! So consider yourself a great ghostwriter and have him sign it from the both of you.

2. Call Your MIL Regularly

This seems like something that would be best left to your sense of spontaneity, but do not take this lightly. Pick a day of the week (such as Sunday) to call your new Mom– preferably when your husband is not around. If you are super busy, you can aim for getting her machine like when you know she’s at Bingo, but leave a message saying that you just called to say hi and to ask how she is feeling!

3. Ask Your MIL for Her Advice – Frequently!

But if you prefer, keep your matters on the inconsequential side such as what color to change the shower curtain to in the guest bathroom. But then actually do it, so that when she comes over, she’ll be proud that you followed through!

4. Tell Your MIL What a Great Job She Did as Mother

This is a proactive strategy that works like a charm. It will most likely bring her to tears and that is great! Just remember that someday you too will perhaps raise a son and can you think of a more wonderful compliment that that? Surely not! So, speaking of compliments …

5. Comp liment Your MIL’s Looks–Often!

Remember, your MIL can be just as self-conscious as you are. So take the time to notice how pretty, thin, healthy and young she looks, occasionally asking her if you can borrow a certain item of clothing, such as a scarf or a purse. She’ll feel just great that you like her style!

Honeymooning in Hawaii!

After two years of being married, my husband and I were able to finally pencil in a honeymoon with our busy schedules!  With both of us graduating from college, moving around the globe, and settling into our new lives together, it was virtually impossible to take a honeymoon when we had just gotten married.  Regardless, our belated honeymoon in Hawaii was nothing short of perfect.

When I first decided on Hawaii, I did not know where to start–there were so many options, so many different islands, so much to see!  I did need something that would have a packaged flight and hotel together and on a time crunch, thus I opted to use Priceline.  I have been using Priceline.com for years for my flights, but this was the first time I had purchased a package deal, and was very much pleased.

My hubby and I landed in Oahu on a Friday afternoon and were whisked away to our hotel on Waikiki Beach by VIP Transportation.  (If you travel to Oahu, I would definitely recommend using this transportation service–they’re reliable, and very nice!)  We checked into our hotel and headed straight to the balcony, and the view was absolutely stunning.  While I have grown up on the beaches of California, Hawaii was just absolutely breathtaking and at that point California beaches did not even phase me the slightest bit. Read more

Photo credit: weddingsec.co.za

The first step to any wedding is setting the date, which often is the hardest part of all! Our lives are fuller than ever and you want to make sure you pick a relaxing and convenient time. Here are some quick tips to picking the perfect day to say your ‘Kabuls’.

Figure out how long you want to be engaged.
Planning a wedding requires lots of time and energy and depending on what’s going on in your life; you might not have a lot of either. You might be still be in school or going through a hectic time at work. . Figure out a time frame that works best for you.

Pick your favorite season.
I’ve always imagined myself as an autumn bride, but maybe you prefer to have a beach wedding in August. Or perhaps you want to add a bit of holiday magic to your big day, which could only happen in the wintertime. The time of year you get married has a huge impact on the type of event you’ll be planning, so make sure you pick a season that goes along with your wedding theme.

Read more

Courtesy of goldzeit.eu

We all know that it is very important that a desi bride be well-versed in the matters of gold jewelry.  So here are some facts that every bride or bride-to-be should know before shopping for gold:

The “karat” of gold refers to the percentage of fine gold versus the percentage of other metals.  Since gold is too soft to be used in its purest form, it is usually mixed with other metals, also known as alloy, in order to harden and strengthen gold jewelry. The more gold is in the combination, the larger the karat. This can be easily detected by the color of the jewelry – more yellow in color as well. However, even in the same karat category, the color of the gold can vary depending on what other types of metal or alloy are in the combination. For example, mixing darker metals such as copper can give the jewelry a more reddish tone. On the other hand if a more yellow or white colored metal is used, the gold jewelry will have a brighter yellow look. When it comes to desi jewelry, this is often defined by where the gold jewelry was made. For example Rajasthani 22 karat gold tends to be a little more bright yellow in color whereas Jaipuri 22 karat gold tends to have a darker tone on the average. This should not be confused with the finish of the gold jewelry, which is basically the paint or coating on the surface of the jewelry, to enhance the look. An example of this is the antique look which is done with paint or a colored coating on top of the 22 karat gold jewelry. Below is a breakdown of what percentage of fine gold is present in the different types of karatage:

Karatage     Percentage of fine gold
8                     33.75

9                     37.8

10                   42

12                    50.25

14                    58.5

18                     75

22                     91.75

24                     100

Source of table: Rovin, Jeff, Laws of Order, p.32.