Photos, makeup, and invitation - details and decisions

Somehow, the last few months have flown by and now my wedding website countdown clock is reminding me that it’s less than two months away from the big day. Yikes! Perhaps it snuck up on me because I am fortunate to have my family handling most of heavy lifting. But now all of the decisions regarding the details are coming out of the woodwork. I thought it might be helpful to recount a few things that are going on at this stage.

Engagement photos – we took them about a couple of weeks ago in San Francisco. Overall, I was very pleased with the photos but did learn some useful things regarding hair and makeup which I had professionally done for the shoot. It’s good to have a very specific idea about what look you are going for. In retrospect, I would have asked the makeup artist (at the MAC counter) for more natural eye makeup with a focus on having a flawless face. Also, for any Bay Area locals out there, make note that it can be extremely windy in lots of prime SF locations so my hair was whipping around. We took photos in two different outfits at The Marina (super windy, fun beach shots), Presidio (cool, stylish backdrop), and downtown (classy, urban) to get a good variety.

Photography by: Elle Jae Weddings

Skincare – I’ve been listening to these great podcasts on iTunes called You Look Marvelous. The podcasts are not terribly recent but they are still really helpful. Each one features a different beauty expert giving advice for the wedding day (e.g. use a highlighter, waterproof mascara, blotting papers) and more importantly, getting your face ready the weeks and months leading up to the wedding (e.g. get regular facials, do trials). Celeb makeup artist Shalini Vedhera of Global Goddess Beauty gave some wonderful tips from her global travels on one particularly informative podcast. I’m curious to check out her book Passport to Beauty.

Invitations – Yes, that’s right. It’s less than two months from the wedding and we still don’t have our invitations! One of the biggest learning experiences from this whole process is that you don’t screw around with Save the Dates or Invitations. I completely underestimated how important it is to have all of the guest information organized in one place. Also, you can’t finalize your invitations until you have your schedule of events locked down. But probably the silliest issue I ran into is that my parents really wanted to put “No boxed gifts” on the invitation. Apparently some people in their social circle feel it’s ok to regift. After much assuaging, I think we finally convinced them that it would be tacky. Whew.

Next up is finalizing our first song, scheduling a dance lesson, and buying my bridal shoes. I’m considering splurging for a pair of Louboutins. My lehenga is super long and heavy so I’m worried I will trip and fall during the first dance if I don’t have a pair of sturdy high heels. And hey, it’s the one day when you want to be absolutely fabulous right? On that note, here’s a crazy cute pair that would be a knockout.

Source: www.christianlouboutinbridal.com

It Takes Tulle: An Elegant Touch for the Lehenga

I've been searching for a modern design element for my bridal lehenga dress. Well I found it! Tulle is such a fun unique idea for Indian formal wear and I personally haven't seen it on anyone yet. It's looking simply gorgeous in these photos. The key is to have it peek out from underneath the skirt for a subtle effect while it provides hidden poofiness for a dramatic flair. Once again, Posh is on the cutting edge of fashion. The entire photo shoot from Our Blog of Love is a must-see because the bride is adorable.

Source: Marigolds & Mithai

Source: Our Blog of Love

Source: Our Blog of Love

Source: Our Blog of Love

(oooh fun peep toe shoes too)

Source: Victoria Beckham in Tarun Tahiliani for Vogue India

Platinum Weddings on WEtv features a decadent Socal Indian wedding

My Tivo is now filled with an array of wedding shows, much to my delight (and to the fiance's chagrin). I stumbled upon Platinum Weddings recently which is a show on WEtv. A recent episode featured a lavish - and I mean lavish - Indian wedding. It's a hotel wedding overlooking the beach in Santa Monica and let me tell you, no expense was spared. The show tells you what each major item costs so you can see and be astounded. The total budget was (gulp) $425,000! Makes me feel less guilty about my budget.

The style isn't quite what we are going for because our wedding will be at a winery (think rustic elegance), but I took special note of a few unique touches. One of the bride's outfits featured a unique peacock design on the back and on the bottom of the lehenga. The turquoise blue color scheme makes a huge impact. The mandap was made out of acrylic and was filled with flowers and had crystals. Check out more pics here.

The search for the bridal dress

In actuality, there may be more than one dress – but let’s start with one. I will freely admit that I am not the mostup-to-speed on Indian weddings. Frankly, I haven’t been to that many and so I’m not really sure about a lot of protocols. One thing I have discovered in talking to friends and looking at photographer blogs is that it seems like most Indian American brides wear one outfit for the ceremony and then change into a completely different outfit for the reception. I’m totally down for two different outfits!

There are a couple of reasons why this works on a practical level. My ceremony is probably going to be fairly conservative and therefore I want to be covered up to be more respectful. On the other hand, for the reception I expect to be bee-bopping around and, of course, dancing(!) so I want something more fun and easy to move around in. I’m pretty sure I want a lehenga for the reception and for the ceremony either a lehenga or a sari. As a sari novice, I don’t think I could boogie down in it – I would constantly be stiff and worrying about it unraveling.

Here are some pretty options I found.