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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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

By Sreesha Vaman, co-founder of Sari Closet

In high school, 16 years ago, I spent a summer as a hockey camp counselor.  One of my campers was a six-year-old Chinese-American whirlwind-on-skates named Sean. One day, one of the Caucasian-American dads came up to me and asked about how Sean was doing. I thought it was very rude that he was asking me about another camper, and told him as much.

Turns out he was Sean’s father.

Waiter, may I please have some pepper with that foot?

Interracial couples are fast becoming commonplace here in America, as the melting pot of cultures integrates even further.  According to the Pew Research Center, 14.6% of all new marriages are of interracial couples – a rate that has doubled since 1980. Further, over 60% of people surveyed by Pew said that they would approve of a family member who wanted to marry someone outside of their race. At Sari Closet, the online sari rental service that I co-founded earlier this year, we are seeing similar trends amongst our customers.  And as more South Asians marry more non-South Asians, the demand for blended cultural experiences has grown exponentially.

But what is the best way to hold an interracial wedding? One way is to cheat, like I did: we held separate events for my (Muslim) wife’s community and my (Hindu) community. But the last event was really not fun, which is the “writing of costly cheques” ceremony.

Interracial weddings — like interracial marriages — are most successful when both cultures are equally represented.  The best man at my wedding, who was from Germany, married a lovely woman from Japan. Not only did both cultures get well represented in the decorations and food, but both fathers downed ceremonial pints of a blend of Loewenbraeu and Kirin Ichiban.

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To get away from this brutally hot summer, we’ve mentally traveled to a winter wonderland full of crisp snow and cool breezes. To echo that sentiment, we decided to show you this breathtaking photoshoot by House of Talent studios and Singhar by Ayesha. For all our brides planning an engagement shoot in the winter, take cue!

Ayesha (Stylist)

“It was in February on a Monday and it wasn’t suppose to snow but it did and we weren’t sure if we were gonna do the shoot. But we went for it and it came out amazing!”
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