Rocky S.’s bridal collection at Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week Autumn Winter 2012 had something for every bride in a cascade of vibrant reds. If you’re looking to incorporate this classic sindoor color into your bridal ensemble, take cue from these gorgeous crimson model-brides!

Credit: Fashion Council of India

One of South Asia’s biggest fashion events, Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week’s 19th season took place February 15-19, 2012 and the runways saw some beautiful bridal and wedding trousseau looks! We’re bringing you some of our favorites and first up is the king of Bollywood-inspired fashion, Manish Malhotra!

Credit: Fashion Council of India

“My name is Neetu and I’m getting married in August (yay!). I live abroad and there’s a very limited selection for clothing. I don’t know when or if I’ll be able to travel to do my wedding shopping so it’s really scaring me that I’m going to get stuck in something…ugly (haha) or at least something I don’t love. So, I’ve been considering online shopping and I was just wondering if you’ve ever heard of Benzer World? The clothes look lovely online but you never know! If you know anything or have any other site suggestions, I’d really appreciate it!”

“Thanks so much and this goes without saying but I LOVE The Sari-Clad Bride—definitely a part of my daily routine…twice on Fridays.”

Hi Neetu,
First of all, congratulations on your upcoming wedding! Online shopping used to be a very scary thing but nowadays a lot of brides are depending on online stores with good reputations for their wedding needs! Here are some quick thoughts on our favorite (including Benzer World!) e-commerce wedding shops that ship world-wide.

BARGELLO
Bargello is one of our favorite sites for desi fashion simply because there is so much to choose from! They have everything from lehengas to salwar kameezes to saris to groom’s sherwanis to jewelry, etc—and the best part is that they have tons of color and style options! Bargello has customer reps all over the world including New York, Australia, U.K, etc. If you’re looking for North Indian, Punjabi, and Pakistani bridalwear, Bargello will definitely meet your needs. The website recommends ordering bridal items 25-50 days before your wedding event.

BENZER WORLD
Ahh, Benzer World—how we swoon over you. One of the oldest brands in India, their quality is pretty much guaranteed. Benzer World’s bridal collections are eagerly anticipated by the South Asian fashion world and they always produce outstanding designs every season. We would definitely recommend shopping here (If the price points meet your budget), since its street-store to online store reputation precedes itself!

ART KARAT
Our absolutely favorite place to oogle at bridal jewelry online. We recently got their catalogue via snail mail and wanted every.single.damn.piece. Kundans, pearls, emeralds, antique gold—you name it. They ship worldwide and offer a 100% money back guarantee if you’re not satisfied within the first 30 days of your purchase. Check out their bridal studio and don’t forget to sign up for their catalog for bridal look inspiration!

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Sonia and Deepak had a superbly elegant wedding, but before we move onto the main festivities, we wanted to showcase this gorrrrrgeous pre-wedding shoot Jin & Lirsa Photography did with the blushing bride-to-be. Yellow can be a tricky color to pull off but Sonia’s creamy yellow showstopper outfit complemented her skintone. She completed the look with an elegant mantika and some classy neck baubbles. Her side bride and face-framing tendrils completed this sophisticated look.

What an inspiring bride!

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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!