A guide to wedding tips, trends and experiences. Marriage event reviews, Wedding venue reviews and ideas, honeymoon destination tips, photography, wedding decor and much more.

The big fat Indian wedding calls for celebrations of all kinds ranging from pre-wedding functions leading up to the actual wedding reception. With weddings comes a great deal of merry making with fancy drinks and signature wedding cocktails only adding to the merriment. Here are some refreshing ideas that you can incorporate into your pre-wedding parties with regards to the drinks served.

Cocktails

Cocktails are a good way to break the monotony of the usual whisky-on-the-rocks, vodka-and-tonic and rum-and-coke options. You can get really creative in this area by discussing various cocktail options with the head bartender who will be overseeing drinks made at your wedding. If you have settled on a signature wedding cocktail, make sure it’s something interesting and delicious at the same time. Or you could even have a cocktail menu with 4 or 5 different cocktails noted down for your guests to choose from. Get creative with names like Blushing Bride perhaps for a Vodka Cranberry-based cocktail, or Something Blue for a Blue Curacao-based drink.

A wedding in Goa or any other beach side destination definitely calls for cocktails with an island twist, complete with mini-umbrellas. Jamaican Passion for a rum-based cocktail or Mermaid Martinis are perfect for beach weddings! Not only do they sound like fun, but they are also bound to taste yummy.

You can do the same for mocktails so that those who steer clear from alcohol aren’t left out.

Personalized Touch

Adding a personal touch to small things can add a lot to your wedding function.  Personalized wine bottles have become the norm of the day. A lot of couples are now placing bottles of wine printed with the wedding theme on the guests’ tables. A personalized wedding wine bottle or a champagne bottle with a Thank You note is also an excellent wedding favor.

Coasters printed out using the wedding theme along with monograms of the couple are also a great idea.

Attention to Detail

You can also get creative when it comes to the smaller things which you think might go unnoticed. On the contrary, attention to detail with finer things can really add a wonderful touch to your wedding.

Ice cubes with rose petals add an elegant touch to the big fat Indian wedding. You can fill an ice bucket with ice cubes that contain tiny rose buds and place a bottle of wine or champagne on each table, creating a very sophisticated touch to your reception. There are a lot of ideas that a wedding planner can give you, so don\’t hesitate to ask them for more ideas.

Wedding drink stirrers are another way to add some fun into the reception. You can either have your monogram on the stirrers or perhaps even bride-and-groom-themed stirrers. A beach wedding could have palm tree stirrers or stirrers covered with sea shells.

Every Indian bride-to-be goes all out to look her best on her wedding day. The most typical wedding attire worn by an Indian bride is the sari. For those who aren’t in the know, a sari is a very long strip of cloth, whose length ranges from 4 to 9 meters in length. This is draped around the body in various styles depending on the religion and culture of the wedding couple. Sari draping is an art in itself and there are over a 100 ways that one can experiment with this versatile garment.

 Here, we look at the different ways to drape a sari so that you can look your best at your big fat Indian wedding!

The most common and basic method to drape a sari is to have the sari draped around the waist, with one end (known as the pallu) draped over the shoulder. The upper garment is known as the choli and it usually has short sleeves and is cropped, baring one’s midriff. You can read about it in the latter half of this article. Now for the many ways a bride can choose to drape her sari.

Maharashtrian

Ever seen the ubiquitous Indian men’s dhoti? Well, Maharashtrians usually drape their saris much like a dhoti, with the centre of the sari held lengthwise and placed at the centre back, and the ends are brought forward and tied securely, after which these two ends are wraped around the legs. You will most likely see this style worn by women in Maharashtra and Karnataka in colors like red or bottle green.

North Indian

 Women from North India especially Gujarat drape a sari in the usual way, just that the pallu is draped over the right shoulder instead of the left and more importantly, it is draped back-to-front rather than front-to-back.

Bengali

When draping a sari the Bengali way, one needs to leave 2 large pleats in the front. The pallu is wrapped twice around the top, which means that one needs to take the top border of the sari and place it on the left shoulder. Then, grasp the top border midway between the waist and shoulder and pull the sari out in front until there is enough length to wrap around till your mid back.

Mumtaz Drape

This is a very creative type of sari drape and a lot of women are opting for it today. For this type of drape, the sari is draped around the bride twice. This exudes a very slimming effect. However, it may be really hard to walk with this sari and you may end up feeling like a mermaid!

Tuck Drape

This too is quite a common style of draping. Basically, you drape the sari as you would a normal sari and keep the pallu from back to front like the Gujarati style of draping a sari. The only difference is that the edge of the pallu is then tucked in the front to give a wavy effect. It is perfect if there’s a nip in the air.

Tamil Pinkosu

 Pinkosu means “Pleats at the back”. Now this type of sari can be seen in places like Tamil Nadu. One does not need to wear a petticoat, making this style a cool way to beat the heat. You begin draping the material one and a half times around the body, and the open spot on the left hip can be hidden with the pleat or even the pallu draped across the front and into the back of the waist. This type of sari draping is also known as the Dravidian style of draping.

Karnataka

In Karnataka, the sari is gathered at the woman’s waistline, while the pallu is held on the left shoulder. In Coorg especially, the sari is draped with pleats held at the backside, while the front section is puckered around the waistline. The remaining length of the sari is then draped around the breast which is then held on the right shoulder.

Kerala

In Kerala, a sari is usually seen in a light cream color with a delicate gold Zari border. The choli is usually in green or red. This style of a sari is different in the sense that it consists of 2 pieces of cream cloth, one of which is draped around the waistline, while the other is draped on the shoulder.

Cholis

 The choli of a sari can be half sleeves, short sleeves, sleeveless or even full sleeves. Nowadays, cap sleeves and puffed sleeves are quite a trend. Or, if you want you could go in for a corset-style choli, an open back choli or even an off shoulders variety. A sari is indeed very basic attire worn by a majority of Indian woman on a daily basis. These are mostly seen in cotton due to the heat and humidity of India. It is such an eternal form of attire that it can also be worn on a night out and is customary at weddings in materials such as silk, Kanjeevaram and crepe. So go on and get as creative as you can with your wedding sari.

Your wedding planner will be able to assist you in choosing the best wedding oufits that suit your style & personality.

You can checkout this Sunday’s matrimonial secion in the Times of India – Check mate.

Here’s this weeks question – How to strike the right balance and have an economical & enjoyable wedding celebration?

You are ready to pack for one of the most important phase of your life –  \’honeymoon.\’ It is the time you want to enjoy life to the fullest and not feel guilty of the \’extra\’ pack you took or you didn\’t.

Packing needs careful pre-planning to ensure you are carrying all that is necessary for both you and your spouse. If you are going to a place with a cool temperature, pack clothes and accessories that will keep you warm. If you are going for a beach holiday, you need clothes and other accessories that will suit the occasion. It could be much different if you are going for a mountain holiday. In other words, the place you are going to spend your holiday also places a key role when you pack. 

Here, we share general tips on how you can pack for your honeymoon –

1. Count on your bags and suitcases. Less baggage makes travel easy. That said, it is also essential to carry all that you need to prevent running around in between your holiday to buy something you forgot to pack.
2. Prepare a list as soon as your holiday is confirmed. Do not go for last minute charting – you are likely to forget even the essentials. Check off the items, as they find space inside your bag. Also, you and your spouse can go through the list together to make sure you have listed everything you require for the holiday.
3. Confirm you have all valid travel and hotel booking documents including passport, air/train/bus tickets,  identity cards, driving license, traveler’s check and credit/debit cards.
4. Select bags or suitcases that are easy to carry. Remember to tag them with your name and address.
5. It is safe to keep valuable jewelery to the minimum. Instead, try to wear artificial jewelery.
6. As you pack your clothes, plan well on what you will need once you are at the destination. If you are going to a high-altitude location, you may find it difficult to dry clothes on washing. In that case, it would be wiser to carry more clothes than you would to a warmer region.
7. Pack your camera and its accessories. If you are using a digital camera, carry battery charger, extra memory stick (if available), CD/DVD and card reader (to transfer the pictures to your CD/DVD). Otherwise, carry extra camera films. You can\’t miss out shooting the best moments of your life.
8. Ensure to pack the essential toiletries like toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, sunscreen, soap, razor, shampoo, bath oil, tissues, comb and perfume. It is advisable to put them in extra cover; especially items like bath oil and shampoo to avoid leakage.
9. Carry contact information of people you know in and around the place you visit. In case of an emergency, you can take their help.
10. Pack map of the country/city and a journal to note down the wonderful moments of your life.
11. Keep a medical kit consisting of band-aids, cotton, antibacterial cream and medicines for fever, headache, throat pain or diarrhea, ready.
12. Other than those listed above, you may note on carrying laptop, mobile charger, binoculars, sunglasses, umbrella, make-up set, hair accessories, insect repellent (like those for mosquitoes), torch, candles etc …

Stay tuned for more on honeymoon ideas from Marry Me – Wedding Planning creative team!

Checkout this Sunday\’s Hindustan times for Marry Me\’s Eco Friendly wedding tips – http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/Web/HTMumbai/Article/2010/05/30/545/30_05_2010_545_002.jpg?

You can checkout this Sunday\’s matrimonial secion in the Times of India – Check mate.

Here\’s this weeks question – What all does a wedding planner do? Can I choose their level of involvement?

Food and lots of gifts, diamonds and glamour, rituals and ceremonies, dance, music & lots of masti. It might be a \’seasonal\’ industry, thriving only during the auspicious months of the year but with so much to prepare for, wedding shopping starts well in advance.

But organising a wedding is only getting tougher as the couple is spoilt for choice for just about everything today. Starting with the selection of the wedding card, trousseau, venue bookings, transport, food menu, gifts, guest list, music, arranging for the relatives’ stay… the “to do” list is staggering.

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Don’t we all just love to read or hear about celebrities and their grand weddings? At sometime or the other such famed weddings never cease to fascinate, whether you wish to draw inspiration from them or take down notes for your own wedding, or perhaps even to gasp at the opulence of these weddings. Let’s take a look at some of the high profile Indian weddings that represent the glitz, glam and extravaganza that are associated with them! Here are the top 3 high profile Indian weddings that have been drool-worthy enough to make it to our list.

When daughter of billionaire steel king Lakshmi Mittal got married, the entire world, not just India expected the wedding bash of a life time. And indeed it was! Hosted by her father L.N. Mittal, the wedding party of Vanisha with Amit Bhatia was touted as the grandest wedding of the century! Right from the 20-page invitations well packaged in silver boxes to air tickets for over 1,000 guests from all over the world, the Mittal’s went all out to make their daughter feel like a true princess. The festivities were spread over 5 days and took place in France at many enchanting locations including a famous chateau! Performances at the event included Kylie Minogue and Bollywood’s Shah Rukh Khan who enthralled the lucky invitees. It is said that over 5000 bottles of the decadent Mouton Rothschild were opened! Top chefs were flown in from Calcutta to prepare the best Indian food. And, the bridal attire was designed by top Indian designers Tarun Tahiliani and Suneet Varma. The amount spent summed up to a whopping $55 million, far outscoring billionaire Donald Trump’s son’s wedding.

We think the next big fat Indian wedding that truly represented grandeur and sheer opulence has got to be the wedding of hotelier Vikram Chatwal with Priya Sachdev in February 2006. The week-long Chatwal wedding festivities took place across the three Indian cities including Udaipur. In fact amongst the Chatwal’s ten Indian wedding functions, one of the pre-wedding parties  took place at Udaipur’s grand Shri Niwas Palace. Yet another party, the Fantasia Masquerade Island Party, albeit more fun than the rest, was held on Jagmandir Island, while the Mehndi function took place at a farmhouse owned by the Chatwals in an undisclosed location! So much grandiosity already and the actual wedding party had not even arrived! Well, quite obviously the wedding party was one than can only be described as ‘larger than life.’ Flowers like tulips and lilies were flown in from abroad, along with the best cognac and cigars. The famous and highly versatile dancer Shiamak Davar got the crowd in the mood. Invitees to the Chatwal wedding included corporate big-wigs like Lakshmi Mittal and SP Hinduja, prime minister Manmohan Singh, celebrities like Naomi Campbell , Shah Rukh Khan, Arjun Nayar and Preity Zinta, as well as Bill Clinton and Deepak Chopra! Private jets, the most expensive decorations and high profile invitees are just some of the aspects that can be used to describe this elaborate wedding.

Next up on our list of Indian high profile weddings is the Arun Nayar-Liz Hurley wedding. Although, the couple were said to have secretly tied the knot in a civil ceremony in England, they made sure to throw a lavish bash when they came down to India. Interestingly, Elton John, Hurley’s good friend, walked her down the aisle at their English wedding. But the Big Fat Indian Wedding is what really awed the world. The event took place over six days in Mumbai and Rajasthan. The wedding celebrations at Jodhpur’s Umaid Bhawan Palace had the works- right from white horses, walkways lined with millions of red chili peppers and thousands of pretty flower petals. Other parties included a poolside lunch at the picturesque 17^th-century Balsamand Lake Palace, that was followed by party at the Nagaur Fort. An army of celebrities in the form of Elle Macpherson, Donatella Versace, Tom Ford, Velentino, Kate Moss and Elton John. Liz donned a Tarun Tahiliani-designed pink sari that set her back around $7,500. And, the couple spent their wedding night at a Jodhpur Palace-turned-hotel, the suite of which costed around $10,000!

If extravagance is the price people (read: celebrities) must pay to prove their love, then so be it!

Check out this Sunday’s Matrimonial Section on the Times Of India – Checkmate.

Here’s this weeks question :- I\’m getting married in October and I want to know the popular themes for mehendi and sangeet parties or coctail nights this season?

Get more creative ideas for sangeet function here!

Luxe bohemian cuff – Kenneth Jay Lane 22-karat gold-plated Swarovski crystal cuff

Exquisitely embellished raspberry asymmetric cocktail gown – Temperley London Diabolo beaded drape gown

Elegant suede and crystal embroidered sandals – Jimmy Choo \’Quinze\’ Bootie