Nowadays, the Gayer Holud (Haldi) is the piece de resistance of a Bengali wedding. Traditionally, the gayer holud was a day where the bride dressed simply in a traditional sari in either red, yellow, or green. and wore flower jewelry (the real bling was saved for the wedding and reception). But the modern-day holud is a whole different event, altogether. Today’s Bengali bride goes beyond the traditional holud colors to incorporate a color palette full of drama!

Check out these rainbow-colored gayer holud bridal ensembles for inspiration!

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By Neha Mahajan, Founder & Consultation, RANI by Neha Mahajan

If you are a serious South Asian bride, you know that your bridal accessories are just as important as your outfit. You need the right mix of traditional and fun pieces that you love to complete your fabulous bridal looks. I love to get my brides matching traditional juthis and bags to complement their bridal outfits. These are made-to-order in the same fabric as the outfits and are ideal for the bride who wants every detail to be coordinated to perfection. Some brides even get their invitations and favors coordinated with their outfits.

Here are some other fun ways to coordinate your blingy accessories to coordinate with your bridal ensemble:

• Mix and match your colourful bangles with karas (thick bangles) studded with swaroskis in floral motifs! Read more

Anyone that knows The Sari-Clad Bride team knows that we’re suckers for beauty products (especially since one of us is a former beauty editor!) so when we learned about Birchbox a couple of months ago, we felt as if we had stumbled into heaven. Birchbox is a monthly subscription service in which for $10 every month, you get anywhere from 4-6 samples of amazing and usually pricey beauty products. Most of the time, the sample sizes are pretty substantial so you can try out a product for a couple of days or weeks and then decide if you like it. It’s a way better process than wasting money on products that don’t really work.

Birchbox decided to take it a step further by putting together a bridal package chock-full of goodies tailored for a bride to use on her Big Day.

The Limited Edition: Here Comes the Bride includes:

• Automatic Apparel Roll-up Ballet Flats in Gold
• Ban.do Mini Pom Pom Set
• Benefit Finding Mr. Bright
• Dr. Hauschka Radiant You
• Eboost Natural Orange Tablets
• Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray
• Tiny Prints Thank You Cards

While we absolutely love the idea of this package, we think it’s better suited as a bridesmaid gift than for a Desi bride. South Asian bridal makeup is often colorful and intricate and this kit doesn’t really include much to keep that in balance. However, many of the contents of the package could be extremely useful to bridesmaids!

For example, the roll-up flats are perfect when bridesmaids are running around completing tasks or when they’re ready to hit the dance floor after a long day of servicing the bride and groom. Benefit’s Finding Mr. Bright’ contains four illumining products that can brighten up your makeup and keep bridesmaids’ looking fresh. The gals will also appreciate Dr. Hauschka’s ‘Radiant You’ clarifying skincare set, which they could use the night before and keep for after-wedding use. The Oribe texturizing spray is great for fixing updo’s and can be a handy member of the Maid of Honor’s bridal arsenal to use on the bride. The mini pom-pom set is sort of useless as are the tiny prints thank-you cards (a bride will most likely need more than the few included in the kit). The eboost Natural Orange Tablets is self-explanatory and can be useful.

We really adore at least five out of the seven of the products, so we’re definitely sold on this idea. For $55, Birchbox’s ‘Here Comes the Bride’ package makes a great bridesmaid gift or a pretty kit to include in the bride’s beauty arsenal!

We’re so, so excited to show you our bride of the day! Kanchana’s traditional Telugu bridal avatar totally blew us away, especially her floral headpiece. We’re such suckers for old-school beauty and Kanchana definitely made one gorgeous Telugu bride.

Make sure to come back to see this fantastically traditional wedding from Australia!

No matter how old we are, when it comes to hunting for the outfit for the big day, we become giddy in anticipation. To add to the excitement of choosing the perfect bridal ensemble (or ensembles), we present you a fantastic find for Desi brides all over the globe: Angarkh.com! Angarkh.com features breathtaking lehengas, saris, salwar suits, etc. and glamorous jewelry pieces. Angarkh provides a seamless online shopping experience, with shipping available world-wide and custom-tailoring provisions. But we’ll stop talking now and let you see for yourself—don’t forget to check out the special discount code at the bottom!

Angarkh’s Exquisite New Bridal Collection!

Angarkh’s awe-inspiring bridal collection will make you look like a maharani! Pair a stunning kundan and polki set with an drool-worthy lehenga and look like the dulhan you’ve always dreamed of being. Take your pick of trendy or traditional lehengas, sarees, salwar suits, and shararas (a trending favorite at the moment), along with charming jewelry pieces set in semi-precious stones and uncut diamonds, and be prepared to play the part of royalty!

Custom-fitting at your disposal
Angarkh.com specializes in producing custom-fit clothing, per your requirements, with shipping worldwide and free shiping for orders over $500 to US, UK, Canada and Australia! If you’re looking for a sherwani for your groom, bridesmaids outfits, or custom-outfits for other members of your bridal party, Angarkh is the place to shop! They offer
special discounts to wedding families, with discounts starting at 20% for orders over $2,000.

A SPECIAL TREAT FOR THE SARI-CLAD BRIDE READERS!
Enter SARICLADBRIDE at checkout and receive 10% off your purchase. What are you waiting for? Get that coveted lehenga or salwar suit at Angarkh.com today!

Sponsored by Angarkh.com

When we were flipping through photos of an engagement shoot Syed of SY Photography sent over, we couldn’t get over the doe-eyed bride to be! So we decided to do a feature exclusively on this stunning bengali beauty. Maisha’s expressive eyes and shy demeanor won us over completely, so we can imagine how smitten her groom is. She reminds us of yesteryear Bengali actress, Jaya Bachchan, with her serene eyes and timid smile and there can’t be a bigger compliment than that! Read more

by Nida at Khanology.blogspot.com

Most South Asians celebrate weddings with a “Boom, Blast and Bhangra!” as most Desi weddings are known to be loud and colorful. So while researching this guest post for The Sari-Clad Bride, I was inspired by a soft, crisp, and pure ‘WHITE’ palette. In many cultures and religions around the world, brides are adorned in white, including South Asia.

Here is some inspiration, if you decide to go with the “less is more” theme.

Glamming up a White Theme

From top left:

• Aishwarya Rai Bachchan at Cannes Film Festival: Fresh and pink make-up. This look goes with all types and colors of bridal outfits.
• Lara Dutta on her day:  Simple look coupled with her handsome man and a lace gown. Picture Perfect.
• Simple cake with a peacock tail = classy yet Desi.
• Make-Up: Dramatic eyes is a given for the Desi bride. I recommend cleaner dramatic make-up with this winged eye line, pouty pale lips, structured brows, and mile-long lashes. As a fashion blogger, I recommend make-up that enhances your features and your look rather than a victim of war paint. Your man loves you for you and want to see “YOU”.
• Neutral themed reception with bright hued flowers is a pretty pick-me-up for a wedding.
• Bridal Outfit:  Most brides wear lehengas for the wedding.  Some choose to wear a sari for the religious ceremony and then change into a formal lengha or sharara.  A veil or head piece, mostly worn in the Christian ceremony, could be used by any bride who wants to feel special.

Real-Life Inspiration

Yamina & Omar at their beautiful reception an art gallery in Laguna Beach.

My ultimate white-wedding inspiration!

My mother, my No. 1 inspiration for a white wedding.  She wore a Banarsi white sari with a gold border.  Chic and classic!

Check out my blog at khanology.blogspot.com
Follow me at @khanology101