Hair Ornaments : Are the North Indian Brides under doing them?!

I believe I did not do enough justice to hair ornaments when I wrote about the Solah Singar here , that was probably because I did not understand their importance back then. Now I am 2 months older and wiser and it is by sheer chance that I now understand how important is a decorative hair ornament.

North Indian Brides have always been jealous of the south Indian brides unique hair jewelry as they have been of our huge lehenga's.
 (ok I am not sure how true that statement is but I have certainly been jealous :P )

But that does not mean we cant decorate our buns with jeweled pieces of our own.

One might argue that when you add that huge dupatta on top you cant see anything, true, true that what I thought, after all South Indian Brides do not have a dupatta on the head and their beutiful hair jewelry can easily be seen.

But here's a picture of the bride getting ready: her head without and with a dupatta

See you do get glimpses of it. Specially with most of us opting for a net dupatta our hairstyles are open for the world (ahem, guest I mean) to see

Even For a minimalist bride these tiny ornaments which can be used even later are available 

Our Christian counter parts make sure that the back of the dress, their hairstyle and everything is perfect, sole reason : during the ceremony their back is towards the guest, thats the only part they see.

 Where as for us, turning our back towards the guest is a sign of dis-respect and hence the back was never really thought about.

 But now if you think about it, during pooja and phera's its only our back that a lot of our guest will see, plus what with  candid photoghraphy as the 'in' thing we need to be 360 degree perfect!

So let your hair have a little jewel of its own!

and ofcourse don't forget the flowers!

As for the fact what got me thinking so deeply about hair jewelry : I was out looking for packaging stuff when I stumbled on this shop 'Om Sons' in Lajpat Nagar and absolutely loved the hair jewelry they had.

I do not personally like artificial jewelry, but if you do this shop is a MUST check out. They have everything with good prices. Plus they can customize the jewelry for you. Make you your own personal one of a kind jewelry set or the full head to toe bridal set. Its like a one stop shop.

You can see their facebook page at : http://www.facebook.com/pages/OM-Sons-The-Womens-Pride/196427837081113
 Do visit them!

See their fb page or contact me for the address.

Disclaimer : All pictures have been taken off the internet and I do not have or claim any copyright on them. Incase anyone has a problem please contact me I shall remove the picture immediately. 

 The shop was visited by me on my own, I wasn't paid for it (sadly :P )and its my own personal review.

Modern Bride's 16 Singar

We have all heard of Solah Singar (specially thru old bollywood movies and mythological TV serials), but for the uninitiated Solah Singar are/were an ancient Indian beauty tradition (treatments) to get the bride ready for her marriage.

Ofcourse times have changed and so have the 16 Singars, In random order I give you what a bride needs today : 

1. Mang Tika/Jumar/Maata pati

Mang Tikka

Real or artificial you will defiantly get a lot of variety in it!
Just make sure you buy something that's appropriate for your face, I have seen people wear really big ones just cause they look good on the showroom windows but do nothing for them.

Jumar (the thing on the side of the head)

Made super popular a few years back, but is totally out of fashion right now.
 (although it sure looks pretty! )

Matta Pati

Sorry about the picture, she is probably about to cry hence the expression.
If you want inspiration for Matta-patti see pictures of 'sati in devo key dev mahadev' , honestly she carries it of better than anyone else I have seen.
I wanted one too, but it doesn't suit my face :( and the one that I found that looked super great on me didn't match with my set plus I had just got my mang tikka a day before :(

2. Hair Ornaments/flowers

Hair ornaments

Most of us would have our head covered but if the chunni is  transparent enough or if you plan to make a choti (like on the right) Hair ornaments look extremely pretty!
PS : If not on the wedding day, these are great for sangeet/engagement/mehendi practically anything and everything.

Gajra

You have a chunni on your head (North indian bride) or off your head (south Indian Bride) Gajra's or any other flowers are almost a must for the wedding. No MUA or Mom will let you leave the green room without flowers in your hair.
and no, you do not get an opinion on this. (you can probably choose the flower though)

And how about both?!

3. Bindi

They now come in all shape, size and design. Most bride's today just want to keep it simple and have one tiny dot on the head.

 I however, want the whole old style of decorating the full above eyebrow area, despite my MUA telling me not to. But then she told me no bindi at all for engagement, but I got her to put a tiny crystal one and it looked great. So will probably not listen to her, plus you get to be a bride once lets just do it in full glory.

No, I am not going to get this for my wedding :P
This is a look for a bengali bride.

Will probably have something like this, or  like how they use to do it earlier, paint it by hand similar to this.
 (Note to self : Must study mom's wedding pictures)

The hand painted thing I was talking about.
Although don't like the orange thing and above that she has in the center

SImple Bindi style is what most brides are going for.

4. Nose Ring

I love nose rings, love love them. Love them so much that despite the fact I hate needles (and pain of any kinds) I still went and got my nose pieced right after my engagement so I could wear a proper nose ring on the wedding day. Ofcourse you now also get great clip-on options at all stores (real and artificial).

Little piece of advice for Delhi girls who are super scared of needles and still want piercing done go to Silofers in GK 1, M block. Trust me didn't hurt at all! ( says the girl who was held down by 9 people when she was forced to get her ear's pierced )

Huge nose rings, so big its difficult to eat, *sigh* how much I used to love them.
Read 'used to', dont any more cause they didn't look good on me.

Thats a clip-on naath.
See you can see the screw thing.

See normal sized nose rings also look pretty
(This one is just to console me)
PS: Does her makeup look a little bit too-much photoshopped to you as well??

Imagine if you had to wear one like this?!
How heavy is this, my nose would have fallen off!!

or this!
Poor girl, she looks happy though, hmmm...

5. Earring
Would probably be a part of your set. See below for some inspiration :

Love the ones that cover the whole ear!
Want one like this!
MOM!!! when are we going shopping??

Why do all indian things look so pretty on her?!

These are so pretty!

real or artificial which one will you go for?

6. Necklace

If you want artificial jewelry on your wedding, then you would have probably had a fight with your mom on it by now :P
Me, I am a gold supporter all out.

Say NO to Bappi Lahari Style.
Even if your brother says its the 'unique' thing to do.
In fact don't really listen to your brother on most bridal things

Dear Diamonds, why are you so expensive.

And then you have this...
Its probably the most commonly copied style for artificial jewelry.
But please-please don't buy it, untill and unless you actually look like Aishwarya.
Have seen many brides wear it, but havn't seen a single bride actually look good in it.
Takes the focus away from your face, we don't want that, do we..

7. Armband/Bajuband

I can't seem seem to find a perfect one for me :( . 
Unfortunately, the only one I liked they had only one piece in it. I want to wear it on both arms.
Ofcourse go all out artificial on this one. 

haha, I cant help sneaking in a real one :P

Floral one for cocktail maybe??

8. Mehendi

Since I could open my tiny hands I have loved mehendi, ok maybe not technically since then, probably from the time I had mehendi put on my hands for the first time.
My search for the perfect mehendi person actually took more than time than the search for my lehenga! 
*Fingers crossed, hope the search was worth it!*

Please paint your nails for mehendi, (if you dont want a color then paint them transparent)
 If the mehendi comes on your nails it takes a looong time to go away.
My last spot on my nails from my engagement mehendi will go now after 5 months! 

9. Bangles

So many variety, let us educate you :

Glass Bangles
Comes in all colors possible!!

Lac Bangles
Famous from  Gujarat & Rajasthan

Gold Bangles
These are probably the only thing Gold that I wasn't interested in, and is the only thing my Mom and MIL totally want me to have. Got vetoed over.

Kundan/crystal work Bangles
Totally the 'new' thing in bangle-wear. (If that even makes sense)

Chuda ( or is it Chura..will someone please tell me!)
This is probably the most recognized symbol of an Indian Bride. Almost like a uniform now.
No, I am not going to wear one, agree I am a North-Indian Bride but I am not Punjabi!

10. Rings

Agree, you have got your engagement ring now. How about a couple of more to compliment it. Maybe on the other hand?

Arsi
Its a Kundan ring with a mirror in the middle.
It was worn by the bride in older times so she could check on her makeup at any point.
( 50% sure of that fact, but I would like to think that was the reason :P )
Really want this! Any idea where I can get it in Delhi??

11.Haatphool

you don't see these 5 fingers one any more

12. Kamarband

That thing on the waist is the kamarband

Don't look at the dress, I said don't.
You looked didn't you.
Anyways Sonakshi Sinha made these casual ones (right) pretty famous, with her 'chinta-ta chitta-ta chitta' song.
 (if your not Indian don't even try to understand the above song, doesnt make sense to us and will most certainly make no sense to you)

haha, love this picture

As for me, mine got made when I was 4-5yrs old. It was my 1st piece of bridal jewelry.

13.Payal

Its either silver or artificial. Gold is too holy to wear on the feet.

Jhanger
Love these! found one as well but was too big for me!

14. Bichiya/toe rings

Well, usually a girl is not suppose to wear them till after the phera's but if its not the case with your family then do get some!!

How about ones that are connected with the payal?!
Can someone tell me where I can find this!!!

Or tattoo one on, maybe?!
PS : If you end up actually doing so please don't tell your mom you got the idea from here

15. Perfume 

Do I really need to tell you why...

Please try out a few before the wedding day, you don't want to end up surprising  your own self.
And even if people (read blogger like me or Aunty's and million friends) advise you on one DON'T blindly follow any advise. TRY it out first! Perfumes smell different on different people.

16. MUA

She is like the fairy god mother for most of us. 
The only advantage we have is of choosing who we want her to be.

Please choose wisely!


Read all about the wedding events!http://www.crazyindianwedding.com/2013/06/wedding-files.html

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If, like me, you love everything to do with tradition see this article I found on the original Solah Singar  http://kalpita-raj.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/02/solah-singar-16-ways-of-beautifying-body.htm