BHLDN

I heard about BHLDN a few months ago via this blog but just looked at their stuff for the first time today. BHLDN is a bridal line created by Anthropologie, which I originally thought was all dresses and shoes but it turns out they also carry a variety of items for the big day. Here are some of my favorites (although I love just about everything on their website).

How pretty is this yellow dahlia as a hair-adornment for the mehndi (a 2nd option to real flowers):

The "For The One I Love" photo album:

A little overly-sentimental/mushy, but I like it.

I'm thinking about this garland as an accent for the mehndi stage backdrop:

I LOVE these "Bride" and "Groom" stamped forks. Cute picture, cute detail, cute cake-cutting. I'm 2 seconds from purchasing these...

One of many cute cake-toppers:

And I'm not having a white wedding, but their dresses are so simple and chic:

Most of their stuff is ridiculously overpriced for what it is ($600 for a cake-topper...) but really cute and vintage inspired. I just ordered the forks and I really want the "One I Love" album but can't justify the price. It's a pretty website to browse around and get wedding inspiration from though.

Hello Lover!

I love satin. Satin ribbon, satin fabric, satin shoes. The only thing better than satin, is blushy nude pink satin.

I came across these satin Prada sandals yesterday. I swear they were satin in store, but the ones online only show suede...so picture these in satin:

They were so unbelievably pretty, and I almost blew half my tax return on them. Further incentive: they would be perfect wedding shoes! Well, lucky for my wallet, they only had them in a half size too small, so I left empty handed. On the same note, I'm not sure I want to spend a crazy amount of money on wedding shoes-- mostly because they aren't going to show at all. So unless I get the itch to spend right before the wedding (which is highly possible) I'm tentatively wearing the shoes from my engagement party (that I still haven't had the opportunity to wear again) or something else from Badgley Mischka and most likely in blush satin :)

Brian Atwood

Badgley Mischka "Randi"

Badgley Mischka "Elia"

Badgley Mischka "Dreamy Flower". Not satin but they remind me too much of the first time Carrie name dropped Louboutin in Sex and the City at the end of season 4 (as far as I can remember) for her last Big date before he moved. I tried these Badgley Mischkas on last time I was at Bloomingdales-- they look prettier and less wild once they're on.

Thoughts/opinions/suggestions?

Stunning!

The Princess Bride, the Duchess of Cambridge, Her Royal Highness Catherine wowed millions across the globe this morning with an elegant, chic and timeless wedding dress. Designed by the creative director at Alexander McQueen, Sarah Burton, Kate's dress was reminiscent of Grace Kelly's royal wedding dress from 1956, and accompanied with a 9 foot train-- a humble homage to her late mother-in-law's 25 foot train.

Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco

Kate & her train

She accessorized the dress simply with a pair of diamond earrings (a gift from her parents) and a Cartier halo tiara. I'm normally opposed to wedding tiaras in any way, shape or form, but this is a rare instance where it is actually acceptable and appropriate, not to mention meaningful as the tiara was lent to Kate from the Queen herself.

I didn't know I cared that much about the Royal Wedding, but as soon as I woke up this morning, I found myself fast forwarding through my dvr'd recording of it to see the procession and ceremony, giddy through the entire thing. I honestly don't think Kate could've picked a better dress. The strong sleeves and shoulders and incredibly narrow waist were really flattering to her frame. The dress screamed "Princess" in a regal and elegant manner; not in the bedazzled, bejeweled, blinged out way that seems so common on Platinum Weddings. This was traditional and stylish all at once. Simply stunning!

Pick a Card, Any Card

So, I finally managed to compromise on invitations and have found a wonderful letterpress company, Bella Figura! After sifting through dozens of invitation companies via a google search, I came across Bella Figura and instantly fell in love with their designs (as well as their awesome flickr page full of detailed shots of each invitation suite). I ordered 6 samples after business hours that night and the following morning, I already had an email from one of their consultants answering all the questions in the order I submitted, as well as suggestions for other suites he thought might work with my wedding colors (information required on the order form).

This beautiful box of samples arrived today. Check out the presentation!

The main invite samples

Different ink samples

The reply cards

Here are the 2 samples my mom and I are in between, Cartoccio & Nantucket:

The pricing is as affordable as I can find for letterpress, but I really like their simple and chic designs as well as the great customer service (a huge must for pretty much anything we're investing in for the wedding, and shopping in general), so after I show the samples to a few other family members this weekend, we are definitely going to place an order with Bella Figura!

Tanishq

My mom is leaving for Pakistan next weekend, and hopefully she'll be able to get my wedding jewelry while there. I went to a few stores (locally) and the selection was a little outdated and dull. I came across Tanishq online the other day and am currently in a frenzy printing out photos for the inspiration book I'm making for my mom. My favorites are from the Wedding and Aleya Collections.

Photos taken from tanishq.co.in

Tanishq, by the way, is the designer responsible for Aishwarya Rai's Mughal Empress jewelry in the 2008 film Jodhaa Akbar.

Jodhaa Akbar pictures taken from fansite: aishwarya-rai-in-jodha-akbar.blogspot.com

Makeup

I'm not a fan of the matchy-matchy makeup a lot of South Asian brides go for. Your lengha is pink and purple? No, your eyelids do not need to be contoured in pink and purple. I feel the same about red lipstick. I love a red lip, but it's almost a rite of passage..like to some overbearing aunties, you aren't even a considered a bride without the signature red lip. NOT EVERYONE LOOKS GOOD IN RED LIPSTICK.

With that said, here's a picture of Lydia Hearst. I love, and much prefer, her style of makeup (and hair too!) to the aforementioned peel-n-seal eyeshadow.

Nails Done, Hair Done, Everything Did

My sister sent me this picture a few days ago and I am obsessing over this model's hairstyle.

There's something very traditional but chic to it. Not to mention her tika and jhoomar (jewelry on her forehead and the side of her head) are beautiful, though I don't think I'd opt for a jhoomar. Too much hardware going on for my comfort. Her jewelry set in general is extremely heavy.

Right now it's logged as #1 for my wedding day hairstyle, jumping ahead of Kim Kardashian's beehive from the recent Critics Choice Awards.

True Colors

The Dress. Probably the biggest concern of every bride-to-be. You have your general style, shape, and cut. Then there's length, sleeves, veil, fabric, etc etc etc. For South Asian brides, I'm pretty sure the first question to answer is "What color?" For the traditional white wedding, there's white, ivory, and if you're feeling daring, champagne. I've seen SA brides in just about every shade of the rainbow, but the traditional go-to is red, and has been for just about all of time. Most brides wear red, and somehow, it usually seems to look good on them. Red is actually my favorite color. When given the chance, I will almost always choose it, especially that deep blood shade. So I always thought my wedding dress would be red. That was until I was browsing around bargello.com awhile back and saw this:

**Buyer beware: I'm pretty sure Bargello is all fakes

The reason I fell in love with this lengha was because of the colors. I love antique gold, and prefer it to yellow gold any day. Not to mention, makeup in earth tones just tends to suit my features better. So after seeing this, I was sold on choosing a neutral color for my wedding dress. I sent for a swatch to get a better idea of the colors and beadwork, and the white was too white; not as ivory as it looked in the picture. After weeks of google searches, all I knew was that I wanted something classically decadent with antiqued beading, in a neutral earthy color, and in the style of a longer top and subtly flared skirt. Now, if I were going to Pakistan to get my wedding dress made, that teeny list of notes would have been sufficient. I could've picked any fabric, had it dyed any color, beadwork of my choice, custom tailoring...a true one-of-a-kind lengha in my style. But given the ongoing political turmoil in Pakistan, I decided to forego my annual trip and just go shopping here (Artesia is great for Southern Californian-South Asian brides...Mirage in particular is my favorite store and where I've already done an absurd amount of wedding shopping). About a thousand trips back to google images and here were my main sources of inspiration:

HSY Bridal

A design from Samar Mehdi (probably my favorite Pakistani designer)

Hassan Sheheryar Yasin and his models (2009 I think, my main color inspiration)

So how do you describe that color? It's kind of brown, kind of gold, kind of dusty grey...but that doesn't really translate. I decided to take my pictures in, refer to it as champagne, and call it a day.

I went wedding dress shopping last week (at Mirage) and was able to find the shade I wanted in their swatch book (fingers crossed it comes out close to what I'm picturing) and placed an order based off of a few different dresses I tried on that day. I stuck to a longer top (longer than I thought I would choose) that opens into the skirt, which has a train. It should be here in about 3 months and I'm already aching with anticipation...

Style Points

Love the style, colors, and long side braid

Vintage

Like I said, I want to go classic all the way with my styling. It started with the engagement party my parents threw us. Us is myself and Ata. Like the info on my blog says, we're Pakistani, so all of our parties are extremely traditional; no white wedding here. Our engagement party was fairly small (just family) and my parents decided to tent our backyard for the occasion. My style inspiration for the night was old Bollywood actress Sharmila Tagore:

via sulekha.com

the beautiful outfit my mother-in-law brought for me

iPhone shot of a polaroid taken at our party

Bride Style

I guess the first thing you're supposed to choose when planning your wedding is what style of a bride you are. In the Super-bride wedding planner I bought, these are the 5 options:

• Classic
• Natural
• Modern
• Playful
• Romantic

I was immediately inclined to Classic & Romantic. but upon further thought, realized I don't really fit into the whole Princess thing. Here's what Gartner Studios (the makers of my planner) has to say about Classic Style:

"Your style exudes quality, distinction and timelessness. Ever bit a lady, you take your cue from Jackie O, Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly. Your fashion sense is tasteful and traditional. Timeless, elegant, sophisticated, polished, graceful, ladylike."

While I feel that my style in day-to-day life is a little more playful and sometimes unconventional, for my wedding day, classic and timeless are definitely the way I want to go.