Reader's Question : How to decide on a bridal outfit?

"Hi, I love your blog. I am currently doing wedding planning and desperately looking for guidance.  I like research and don't feel comfortable making decision without knowledge. I learned first one needs to decide if they want a lehanga or saree.  After seeing few pictures I realized which look I want.  Then with lehanga I need to decide which color, which cut (what is fishcut & pannel cut?), then decide on material (I never knew silk vs. Georgette can make huge difference in look) and finally pay attention to decoration (antique vs. stone). Can you please do a post!"

The first advice I give to any reader or friend is to pick an actress whose style you like, who in your eye has impeccable taste.

Look at her Indian wear pictures, chances are either she played a role where she dressed as a bride or has had her wedding.

Don't get influenced, just inspired. Just get a feel of the things you like. Its to get your subconscious working and to make it aware of what you like.

While I am not a big fan of their acting I did fall in love with their wedding looks! That made me realize that yes I love traditional brides, I love the drama of the big bling red lehenga with flowers in your hair and gold jewelry, the Whole 16 Shingar (!). But that didn't mean that I would go out and get a copy of one of their lehenga, it just meant when I go shopping I would tell the sales person I want a traditional red lehenga.

Don't fixate on a lehenga, even we as designers never know exactly what a garment will look like once its on the bride, till its actually on the bride. So don't be stubborn and say you wont look at anything else. Try other styles too, even if you do end up buying the lehenga you were so fixed on, its better to not regret not trying other things out.

I cant find the source for this picture :(

Don't follow fad, fad is fashion that changes very quickly. Your wedding pictures remain with you through out your life, if you have always been a 'bling' girl then be a 'bling' bride, even if that is not 'in' fashion right now. It doesn't mean that your wedding pictures will look 'unfashionable' 10 years from now. Infact whatever we may or may not do our wedding pictures will probably be outdated in sense of 'fashion' 10 years from now, but STYLE my dear friend never goes out of fashion. 

Style is what YOU are and Fashion is what the society tells you to be. If you wear a wedding lehenga which spells out YOU, it is probably the best choice for you. Be who you are, and/or who you want to be on your wedding day. 

I didn't want to look like me on my wedding day, I wanted to look exactly how my mother looked on her wedding day.

I (hope I) achieved that, even though that excludes me from all the modern bride looks and articles on what the brides of today are looking like, it doesn't matter to me. My wedding lehenga was kept in the very end of the shop racks because nobody was buying fully gota-zari embroidered red-green lehenga; my MUA told me that the look I wanted (traditional typical Indian bride) was out-of-fashion and everyone was going almost-nude, natural makeup. 

But I wanted what I wanted, and in my eyes I had never looked more beautiful. End of the day when you look into the mirror on your wedding day, the only thing that matters is, you look into that mirror and say 'wow'.

Don't listen to bloggers, wedding websites, and any other experts, only you and you alone know what will look good on you and what you want. 

Err...I told them not to listen to you...
*inner voice runs away*

If I had listened to what a lot of people were saying online and in wedding magazine then I would have worn a pink or orange lehenga on my wedding day with almost no makeup and a Jodha-Akbar style artificial jewelry (yucky), I am sure I would have looked beautiful but I would have still regretted for my entire life that I wasn't a red, gold jeweled traditional, bronze bride. 

Those are my views and mine alone. Be who you want to be on your wedding day! Don't let the world tell you what you have to wear!

Educate yourself on the different styles of lehenga, what works for what kind of body shape and still try on every shape to ensure if it looks good on you or not. People say horizontal strips make you look fat, I wear horizontal strips all the time and while they have no slimming (or fattening) effect on me, I find they look better on me than vertical strips do.
(PS: Thanks Suchi Subramaniam for telling me the difference between insure and ensure, I hope I used the correct one this time, I am working towards improvement! )

When you go wedding shopping the only thing on your mind should be when you buy THE lehenga or THE saree, that it should make you want to dance, cry and jump in joy at the same time. (Your mom crying in the background also helps ;P )

As for fish-cut, Pannel-cut, etc. I will try and do a post on different silhouettes of a lehenga, but I would still strongly suggest you try all styles before you pick a specific one.

Yes Silk Vs Georgette is very different. A georgette lehenga drapes very well, whereas a silk lehenga looks very rich. What works better, depends a lot of on what kind of lehenga you are looking at, what kind of embroidery does it have, etc. etc. 

Decorations or Embroideries : See the below Embroidery Guide for a basic view on things, I will try educating you in following posts on the kind of embroideries found on lehenga's. I can try telling the embroidery history as well (if you are interested in the history let me know by commenting below).

If you are a Bride-to-be, which I assume you are, then I would suggest you to get off the computer and go look at bridal shops. Try things out, don't go too much into fabric and embroidery details, or what would look good or not depending on your size, skin, summer, winter, etc. etc. 

Walk into a bridal store with an open mind and just give them a budget (that is something you should decide before hand!) they will show you all variety of lehenga's. in every style, embroidery and fabric. Giving them clues like if you want a traditional lehenga or a contemporary lehenga, a red lehenga or a non-red lehenga helps but going into more specifications than that is not really required. 

I will try my very best to cover topics like lehenga styles, embroideries, colors, history, etc. in order to make you a more informed customer, but for you I want you to relax and enjoy the shopping part of the wedding. As long as you are happy with what you picked, you would have picked the perfect lehenga.