What do you think of these shoes?
Image from Zara website
Friday, 28 September 2012
QUIRKY FASHION: Embroidered Mirrored Heels by Zara
I like funky shoes, but I'm not sure how I feel about these embroidered and mirrored pair from Zara, I love the shape of them but I'm 50-50 about whether I could actually pull this off! I do like the funky style of this, and can imagine it being worn with a plain black dress, and it looks very sparkly, but I'm still undecided about whether I'd wear this out. It just reminds me of those old-style Pakistani waistcoats and bags (my sister used to own one of these types of bags when she was younger, makes me wonder whether the designers at Zara have been raiding her wardrobe) and I have no idea whether that's a good thing.
What do you think of these shoes?
What do you think of these shoes?
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
The Shaadi
There's plenty I could say about my sister's Big Day, but I think pictures will say it better (plus I was too busy running around at the time to take in the atmosphere properly!), but thankfully, it really was a beautiful day, we all had fun and there were plenty of beautiful outfits and pretty people to help us celebrate the wedding.
The Venue - the wedding was held at a wedding hall which is nearby where we live, and which gave us a great deal on the venue and catering. We matched the colours of the decor to the bride's dress, and tried to keep it simple and non-cluttered:
We were also lucky enough to get a good package deal with the venue, such as added features like a fruit table (with added fruit tree!), welcome drinks table and a studio set up in the corner of the room for guests to take professional pictures, photo-booth style.
We also set up a guest-book table for guests to sign, which proved really popular due to the baby pictures of the bride and groom!
The Cakes - The cakes, of course, were probably the highlight of the wedding - adored by all, and eaten very quickly once they were handed out! Not to mention the personalised, custom-made cake toppers ordered by the bride to go with the handmade cupcakes and main cake, which looked brilliant and makes for a good keepsake after the wedding.
The Bride - I can't show too many pictures of the bride due to her privacy reasons, but here's a few sneak peeks of the bride, looking beautifully sparkly in a very lovely gold and maroon lengha - I'll let these pictures show just how luxurious and well-made the dress was.
The Bouquet - Due to the main colour of my sister's lengha being gold, with accents of maroon, she kept the bouquet simple with ruby-red roses which complimented the outfit very well.
The Family - And now, the rest of us! First, the best-dressed couple out of all of us - my two nephews who absolutely rocked the evening with their beautifully tailored velvet sherwanis:
We all decided to keep a colour theme of navy blue, with splashes of deep red to compliment the bride's outfit, and this looked great on the day, the colours really came together. The bridesmaids (my niece and younger cousin) wore red to compliment the splashes of red on our clothes, and looked very elegant in their maxi dresses:
I decided to wear a heavily embellished long jacket, with a plain kameez underneath and wide trousers. My outfit turned out heavier than I expected, but this just added to the bling. I accessorised with matching bangles, and silver sandals and a sparkly clutch bag (the picture of my shoes is at a point when I had to take my shoes off to run around the hall quickly and didn't want to trip up!). And of course, I accessorised my hijab with a huge jhoomar pink which looked very glamorous, but kept falling off. Word of advice girls, keep your dangly jewellery well-pinned so it doesn't fly off at moments where you're being filmed!
My sisters, sister-in-law and mum also picked the same shade of blue as me, but chose different styles of outfits and different work to suit their own tastes. My eldest sister designed a lovely, flowy abayah with matching hijab, while my next sister chose a maxi dress which was cinched in at the waist to flatter her slim figure. My mum chose a simple salwar kameez design, and my sister-in-law opted for a lovely long kameez with wide, embellished trousers. I don't have many pictures of us (and none of us all together!), but here's a few pictures I did manage to snap - I do love how the outfits looked together though!
There were so many traditions, jokes and memories of the day, which I can't post as I don't have pictures of, but here's one that I liked - throwing petals on the 'baraat', or the groom's family, as they entered the hall. The girls of my family all lined up with baskets of petals, and greeted the guests as they arrived:
Our tiny-est (and possibly cutest) guest who also dressed up for the occasion:
And lastly, the day finished off with hand-made cookies made by the lovely girls in the groom's family, who welcomed the bride into her new home with home-made baked goodies!
All in all, it really was a lovely day and there were so many little details which really came together. The guests all looked beautiful, and the bride and groom had a very happy start to their marriage :)
The Venue - the wedding was held at a wedding hall which is nearby where we live, and which gave us a great deal on the venue and catering. We matched the colours of the decor to the bride's dress, and tried to keep it simple and non-cluttered:
We were also lucky enough to get a good package deal with the venue, such as added features like a fruit table (with added fruit tree!), welcome drinks table and a studio set up in the corner of the room for guests to take professional pictures, photo-booth style.
We also set up a guest-book table for guests to sign, which proved really popular due to the baby pictures of the bride and groom!
The Cakes - The cakes, of course, were probably the highlight of the wedding - adored by all, and eaten very quickly once they were handed out! Not to mention the personalised, custom-made cake toppers ordered by the bride to go with the handmade cupcakes and main cake, which looked brilliant and makes for a good keepsake after the wedding.
The Bride - I can't show too many pictures of the bride due to her privacy reasons, but here's a few sneak peeks of the bride, looking beautifully sparkly in a very lovely gold and maroon lengha - I'll let these pictures show just how luxurious and well-made the dress was.
The Bouquet - Due to the main colour of my sister's lengha being gold, with accents of maroon, she kept the bouquet simple with ruby-red roses which complimented the outfit very well.
The Family - And now, the rest of us! First, the best-dressed couple out of all of us - my two nephews who absolutely rocked the evening with their beautifully tailored velvet sherwanis:
We all decided to keep a colour theme of navy blue, with splashes of deep red to compliment the bride's outfit, and this looked great on the day, the colours really came together. The bridesmaids (my niece and younger cousin) wore red to compliment the splashes of red on our clothes, and looked very elegant in their maxi dresses:
I decided to wear a heavily embellished long jacket, with a plain kameez underneath and wide trousers. My outfit turned out heavier than I expected, but this just added to the bling. I accessorised with matching bangles, and silver sandals and a sparkly clutch bag (the picture of my shoes is at a point when I had to take my shoes off to run around the hall quickly and didn't want to trip up!). And of course, I accessorised my hijab with a huge jhoomar pink which looked very glamorous, but kept falling off. Word of advice girls, keep your dangly jewellery well-pinned so it doesn't fly off at moments where you're being filmed!
My sisters, sister-in-law and mum also picked the same shade of blue as me, but chose different styles of outfits and different work to suit their own tastes. My eldest sister designed a lovely, flowy abayah with matching hijab, while my next sister chose a maxi dress which was cinched in at the waist to flatter her slim figure. My mum chose a simple salwar kameez design, and my sister-in-law opted for a lovely long kameez with wide, embellished trousers. I don't have many pictures of us (and none of us all together!), but here's a few pictures I did manage to snap - I do love how the outfits looked together though!
There were so many traditions, jokes and memories of the day, which I can't post as I don't have pictures of, but here's one that I liked - throwing petals on the 'baraat', or the groom's family, as they entered the hall. The girls of my family all lined up with baskets of petals, and greeted the guests as they arrived:
Our tiny-est (and possibly cutest) guest who also dressed up for the occasion:
And lastly, the day finished off with hand-made cookies made by the lovely girls in the groom's family, who welcomed the bride into her new home with home-made baked goodies!
Pics also courtesy of my sister M's Eyesonly
All in all, it really was a lovely day and there were so many little details which really came together. The guests all looked beautiful, and the bride and groom had a very happy start to their marriage :)
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Princess Hafizah of Brunei's Sparkly Wedding Extravaganza
Now here's a Royal Wedding to , Princess Hafizah Sururul Bolkiah of Brunieh married last weekend in a lavish wedding, with beautiful outfits to suit the occasion - I really do think she makes such a sweet looking bride, and I love how modest she seems, and the fact that she really wears her hijab with style, right down to the tiaras and crowns!
The Princess began her wedding by wearing a pretty, feminine lilac dress to her pre-wedding ceremony called the Powdering Ceremony, which seems like the equivalent of our mehndi nights, where the her parents the King, Queen and her other family applied ceremonial paste to her hands. I love how feminine and pretty this look seemed, I'm not a fan of lilac (or pastel colours!) but here it looked really elegant and suited the bride's colouring really well.
After this came the actual wedding day itself, where the couple, dressed in golds and creams attended a ceremony ahead of their wedding. I thought this dress was really flattering on the bride, and the bouquet was simple yet accompanied the outfit beautifully. The style of the dress seemed to be a maxi skirt with a fitted jacket and a beautifully long veil, which still covered her hair but allowed for her to wear some beautiful jewellery. I also really liked the fact that she also had pinky-red lips to glam up for the occasion, and the fact that her outfit looked like a South Asian wedding lengha. Her bouquet was a pretty, sparkly gold one which looked a bit like a brooch bouquet and again, her long veil acted as her hijab which was accessorised with a crown.
I also loved what the newly-weds wore to a banquet held in their honour just two days ago - the bride wore a beautiful grey dress with diamond and emerald jewellery, making a beautiful colour combination. Again, the dress looked very similar to a lengha, accessorised with pretty make-up and an elegant looking clutch bag.
I think this Royal Wedding was a really sweet one, the couple looked really modest and happy, and I love the fact that the Princess was a hijabi bride, complete with tiara and all! My favourite outfit is probably the grey one with the emerald jewellery, simply because I love the colour combination and it looks so sparkly, but the bride looked beautiful throughout!
The Princess began her wedding by wearing a pretty, feminine lilac dress to her pre-wedding ceremony called the Powdering Ceremony, which seems like the equivalent of our mehndi nights, where the her parents the King, Queen and her other family applied ceremonial paste to her hands. I love how feminine and pretty this look seemed, I'm not a fan of lilac (or pastel colours!) but here it looked really elegant and suited the bride's colouring really well.
After this came the actual wedding day itself, where the couple, dressed in golds and creams attended a ceremony ahead of their wedding. I thought this dress was really flattering on the bride, and the bouquet was simple yet accompanied the outfit beautifully. The style of the dress seemed to be a maxi skirt with a fitted jacket and a beautifully long veil, which still covered her hair but allowed for her to wear some beautiful jewellery. I also really liked the fact that she also had pinky-red lips to glam up for the occasion, and the fact that her outfit looked like a South Asian wedding lengha. Her bouquet was a pretty, sparkly gold one which looked a bit like a brooch bouquet and again, her long veil acted as her hijab which was accessorised with a crown.
I also loved what the newly-weds wore to a banquet held in their honour just two days ago - the bride wore a beautiful grey dress with diamond and emerald jewellery, making a beautiful colour combination. Again, the dress looked very similar to a lengha, accessorised with pretty make-up and an elegant looking clutch bag.
I think this Royal Wedding was a really sweet one, the couple looked really modest and happy, and I love the fact that the Princess was a hijabi bride, complete with tiara and all! My favourite outfit is probably the grey one with the emerald jewellery, simply because I love the colour combination and it looks so sparkly, but the bride looked beautiful throughout!
Friday, 21 September 2012
Wedding Preps!
There wasn't as much running around to do for my sister's wedding day, compared to how much we had to do for the mehndi night, mainly because most of the things had been organised and finalised months before.
We mostly spent the night before the wedding with family, joking around together, as well as just making final checks on things like the favour boxes (which we filled with personalised Love Heart sweets, pink and white heart shaped jelly sweets and various nuts and sugared treats), and putting together the guest book (with a baby picture of both bride and groom!) We also spent the evening pampering (or trying to!) and doing last-minute things like putting on nail varnishes and arranging our bangles - and not getting a lot of sleep! :)
We mostly spent the night before the wedding with family, joking around together, as well as just making final checks on things like the favour boxes (which we filled with personalised Love Heart sweets, pink and white heart shaped jelly sweets and various nuts and sugared treats), and putting together the guest book (with a baby picture of both bride and groom!) We also spent the evening pampering (or trying to!) and doing last-minute things like putting on nail varnishes and arranging our bangles - and not getting a lot of sleep! :)
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
Nilofer Shahid's Mehndi Editorial Photoshoot
Thought I'd take a quick break from the family wedding related stuff with a quick post about some of Pakistani designer Nilofer Shahid's beautiful designs, which would be perfect inspiration for mehndi outfits. I love this photo-shoot of a luxurious mehndi event, and the beautiful rich colours - my favourite outfit probably has to be the lovely green and orange striped dress (and I'm not a fan of orange or stripes, but here it looks lovely!), although there's several others which have caught my eye!
Which one do you like most?
Which one do you like most?
Images via South Asian Bride Magazine via Brides and You Magazine, Pakistan
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