The first big step!

I thought this warranted its own post since I bought my bridal outfit yesterday! I wasn't planning on doing so - we went to visit this designer, Bhavana, at the Indian store near my house. Bhavana has made bridal outfits for a few of our family friends and custom designs all her pieces. We got to the store and I just got so inspired by this one beautiful lengha and things just sort of fell into place/spiraled into a fit of excitement and giggles. I don't want to get into the details too much because I know he checks this and I want to surprise him but I LOVE what we designed. It will be an ivory color, the design features the paisley shape (that sort of tear drop)with lots of swarovski crystal work, beading and general bling. It will take until the end of January to get a swatch back of the work/color. From there we make changes, approve the swatch and it goes into production. So I have until end of Jan/beginning of February to try and loose as much weight as possible because that's when we design the blouse as well. That's all I really want to reveal on here but I was just too excited to keep it in!

We also designed a going away/reception outfit that is modern, unique and also gorgeous but since Bhavana requires up front payment and since we are going to India/Sri Lanka in December we held off. I have this feeling though that I won't find anything in India that will beat what I designed, and if I do I can always have Bhavana change the design for the reception outfit. I'm working on convincing my mom to just get it - I have a really good feeling about it and most of the time I think you make the best decisions on gut instinct.

Bridal Jewelry

I found some great stuff at various far too expensive websites but I want to recreate one for less money either in Sri Lanka/India or through a family friend.

Our favorite is this first necklace from Jacob the Jeweler. If I got this one made, we couldn't do the giant rocks of diamonds and instead would do a cluster of smaller ones. It didn't have a matching earring but we think we can design something to go along with it. Cartier Necklace and earrings are also beautiful


Random necklace I saw somewhere but I tend to like this teardrop shape. Only thing is that I don't think I'd want a colored stone and I think thats sort of what makes this style necklace work.

Bridal Outfits

Singhalese brides generally wear white or cream (taken from the British) to the wedding and wear a red outfit when they are leaving the wedding. Indian brides often wear red, although it differs depending on the region. We are still trying to decide if we should combine the ceremonies (so I'd only wear one outfit - the Singhalese sari) or do them seperately.

I am inspired by these lace wedding gowns by Monique Lhuillier. I'd really love to do a cream lace sari with embellished bead work and a scalloped lace cap sleeve blouse to sort of mimick my mom's sari on her wedding day.

I'm not sure if I'll get something designed from scratch or buy off the rack when I go to India and Sri Lanka in December. Here are some designers I like and am thinking about visiting in India:

Maria B:

Manish Malhotra:

Satya Paul:

Tarun Tahilani

Moodboards

I found these moodboards which are a collection of images/inspirations that can set the theme and tone of your wedding. Some I liked the colors and others I just liked individual images. I am collecting the ones I like and hopefully I'll create my own moodboard sometime soon.

Potential Place Cards and random cute knickknacks

I really love some of these trinkets for placecards or some other sort of design element. They are from the website French General. They are random, but I think they are cute inspiration pieces for something during the wedding.