Things I've been doing: May Edition

May is always a busy month, and this year it was busier than usual! My weekends have been pretty packed this month, and I've been pre-ocuppied with either preps for events or attending them! Having said that, May is one of my favourite months (not just because it's my birthday month!) and I love that summer is arriving and giving us a chance to shed the coats and wear our floral dresses.

Holiday to Norway
Hubster and I went to beautiful Norway a couple of weeks ago, and it was unlike any other holiday we've been to before - plenty of beautiful natural scenery, pretty towns and breathtaking views of mountains, seas, forests and snow. I'm still blogging about my adventures here, so keep an eye out for more posts!

Attended a bridal shower for a close friend
Most of my close friends are married now (and got married before me!) but there's a couple who aren't, so when one of them got married this month we made the most of it to make it special for her. I'll post about this soon, but here's a peek at the gorgeous decor!

Went to a mehndi & wedding event
This was for the same friend as the bridal shower, and it was amazing to see how beautiful the bride and all the guests looked, as well, as the decor details. I'll be posting about these too, soon!

Muslim Lifestyle Show
My sister and I attended the Muslim Lifestyle Show at the beginning of May, which was really fun because of the variety of goods for sale, and since it gave us a chance to find a lot of new brands and meet vendors - more about this soon!

A day out to the farm with family
My sister invited everyone to her end for a day out to the farm, with all of the nieces and nephews along with family, which ended up being a really fun day. There were plenty of animals to see and an entertainment section at the end for the kids (we played crazy golf!) as well as a restaurant for the kids to eat and the adults to relax. It was a really nice way to spend the bank holiday weekend, and the family ended the day with a barbequeue and cake at my sister's house!

My birthday
Like I said, May babies are the best! One of the reasons we went to Norway was partly for my birthday, but on the day I was lucky enough to get wined (the non-alcoholic variety!) and dined by the hubster!

Afternoon tea with friends
I've posted about this here, a really fun afternoon tea with some friends this week (for a long lunch!) which involved yummy sandwiches, scones, cakes and brownies. I loved the atmosphere of this tea room, and the beautiful fresh flowers and vintage floral print crockery which made a lovely, girly afternoon for us.

I'm looking forward to June, as it will be the start of a quieter month and also a time to reflect during Ramadan, which always goes by too quickly. I'll be sure to keep posting through the month, and perhaps some food ideas, so watch this space!

My Shaadi

It's finally here, the final post (well, there's still a few more after this, but this is the Big One). I'm still waiting for some more professional photographs from my photographers (we had two professional photographers, one from my side and one from my husband), but we are still waiting for half of the pictures so I'll post the ones I have for now!

My wedding day was a pretty emotional day, but it was also a very surreal one - both me and my husband later both agreed that the whole day was like a strange dream.  I'll be posting fuller posts about details of my outfit, my jewellery, make-up and lots of other stuff soon with my mehndi outfit, but here's the main stuff!

While I was getting ready in the early afternoon (the wedding was an evening function), my make-up artist was helping me get dressed, doing my hair and make-up and also my jewellery and dupatta setting, whcih she did an amazing job of! My photographer also turned up when I was nearly odne to take photographs of me getting ready and of all of my jewellery and outfit. Here's a few of the details - I was really happy with everything I had and the way it all came together. There's also a sneaky peek of my eye-makeup as well!

We took some shots before I left the house, I dont have a lot of full length shots but there are a couple, I'm hoping that there's more from the other professional photographers as well though. I loved how traditional and Pakistani my outfit looked, which was the style I was going for. I decided not to have a bouquet for the day because it would have gottten lost in the detail of my outfit, but I did get a beautiful clutch bag custom-made from India (more about this soon!) which I loved.

Here's a shot of my lengha below, I went for a very deep red (without going maroon, which was tempting but would have looked too dark in my photos) with a petrol blue and olive/lime green accent running through the scarf and skirt to add a splash of colour. My jewellery is a mix of real gold from my parents, pearl and polki/kundan jewellery and also some beautiful bangles from Bees which I got mixed (very last minute!). There's also a shot of my henna, which I was happy with because it was nice and deep red.

This is the venue that I got married in, the hall itself is on the left of this lobbey but this was the main bit that my husband and I took photographs in. You also can't see it, but what I loved was the huged black and white chequered floor when you enter which looked nice and dramatic! I kept the decor pretty simple, and went for mainly white and gold, with some accents of red (typical I know, but it was easy to be consistent with it!) and tried to keep the overall look very simple and striking.

One of the more amazing things from the day was the beautiful cake - the whole thing was made by my sister after months of planning. One of my closest friends also made some beautiful buttercream cupcakes to match which was also an amazing gesture, and really added a personal touch to the day.

Here's is the groom's entrance with his party, I was busy hiding in a separate room but I heard some of the noise when he came in! And below that is my immediate family as the welcome party, waiting to throw petals at the baraat or the groom's side. I loved what they all wore, soft colours like peaches and corals, and the babies all had matching, flouncy bridesmaid dresses that made them look like floating clouds.

Soon after this was the religious ceremony itself - this is me signing my nikah (the signing of the papers itself and the consent which is given, which is the main part of the wedding), which was a huge moment (although I wish I had a nicer pen, my sister had a lovely Swarovski one for me in her purse but didn't get a chance to pull it out!)

After this, the groom did his part of the nikah and we were married - which was time for me to finally come out. This is me being walked in by my brother, who looked amazing in a tux and bow-tie (he didn't want to wear it but did for me, bless him!) I was incredibly nervous at this point, and feeling a little dazed, with my brother telling me "don't be nervous!" over and over again!

And yes, I had a little cheesy moment here, the minute I walked in and saw all the guests, and also saw my husband on stage, I relaxed and the nervousness melted away. I also couldn't stop grinning, which makes me laugh I see the photos because I look so cheerful!

After my brother helped me up on stage, my husband and I did lots of posts - this is us posing awkwardly. Both of us are very used to being behind the camera, and not in front of what felt like paparazzi - but it was still an amazing moment, being with friends, family and neighbours in one room.

Once everyone was served dinner, we took the opportunity to go outside somewhere private and take photographs, which was fun. I remember trying to make my husband laugh and him telling me to stop it, and also telling my husband not to drop me in half of the poses we were told to do! Here's some of them, there's a few more but these were my favourite.

We then went back to in to eat out dinner, and then finally cut out cake. This was also a fun memory for me because while my husband fed me delicately (so he wouldn't mess up my lipstick), I ended up shoving a cake-piece in his face!

We also put our rings on - my husband and I had rushed to buy these last minute as well, but he had picked out a beautiful diamond ring which was also a lovely moment.

After a few final poses with friends and family, we eventually ended up doing the rukhsati (the leaving ceremony) which thankfully was short and sweet, and which was a very short drive to our new house. This is a shot of myself with two of my favourite friends, who both ended up wearing light pink by coincidence - I have happy memories of both of their weddings and it was amazing to see them both at mine.

I'll be posting more details of the wedding outfit and more soon, but for now, I think I've bombarded you enough with photos! I will leave you with my favourite moment of the day - my sisters, brother, sister-in-law and nieces all huddled together for a selfie on stage which was a really fun picture and which eveyerone looked amazing in. I can't show you the photo itself, but here's th emoment we took the selfie!

I also wanted to leave a message for everyone who has left me kind emails, messages, Instagram notes and comments - thank you so much for all of the blessings, congrats and kind words! It was a beautiful day and worth it to see so many happy faces!

-- Curly Fries x

MEHNDI NIGHTS: Rainbow Mehndi Bangles

Having been to a few mehndi events now in the past couple of weeks, I've seen a lot of bright colours, beautiful jewellery, sparkling bangles and amazing styling. One theme at a mehndi was bright, mixed colours (with matching, colourful bangles and shoes, of course!)

Amazing jewellers Bees gave this beautiful way to style colourful bangles together, which I'm loving because of how simple the look is, and how cost-effective the bangles are - perfect for a bride on a budget, particularly for a mehndi event! I actually saw these thinner gold bangles in the store last week (while buying some other bangles, pics soon!) and was tempted to buy them, but thought I'd wait until I knew how to style them - now I have a good idea how!

Image Source

LOVELY HIJAB: Hijab Jewels by Akhawat

I saw these a while back and thought I'd post about them, some of these embellished hijabs and abayas by Akhawat are beautifully extravagant, and would make great inspiration for hijabi brides, or even for those looking for hijabs and abayahs which are dressier than the average.

While I'm not sure I'd wear something a heavy as these, I do think they are lovely, and I can definitely see the appeal in them - the colours and jewels are flattering, they're eye catching and they're quite unique. I also like the fact that most embellished abayahs from this company have matching scarves (although they're not cheap!), and the fact that the colours used, like deep purple, peaches, white etc are very flattering colours which suit a lot of skin tones. I can imagine something like this even being worn by a bride for her nikah ceremony, or a registry, if she wanted to go for something more Islamic yet dressy.

I don't think I'll be buying from this company anytime soon (not because I don't want to, but because they're slightly too pricey for me!), but it's a great place to look for inspiration, particularly for women like me who are always looking for different ways to jazz up my hijab with hijab pins.

Images from Akhawat FB group and website

COPYCAT DESIGNS & DRESSES #11: The Long Gold Dress by Sobia Nazir

Here's another replica outfit I bought recently for a close friend's wedding, which I found very last minute and which I was lucky enough to get hold of. I originally wanted to get this Asifa and Nabeel outfit made for my friend's wedding (the bride wanted all her friends to wear gold) but I didn't like the replicas I saw of the outfits. I looked in several places, both online and in the high street to find something in gold that I would like, since it's a colour I've never worn before so I wanted to make sure it would suit me.

I finally ended up with this outfit, which I didn't actually get made to my measurements, as it was already made by a Facebook seller (the group is called Catwalk Collection) who was selling the outfit as it had been ordered by another customer originally but then the customer backed out last minute. After making some enquiries about the outfits, I bought the outfit and it was shipped over in about five days, which I was very pleased with.

This is replica which I received, which has added sleeves and came with a plain dupatta and plain gold churidar. Although the colour is more creamy than gold, it looks like a light gold colour overall, which was quite subtle and shimmery rather than overly blingy or shiny. The front of the kameez was fully embellished with metal-work and beads, as well as silver motifts on the neckline, hem and smaller motifs on the sides of the kameez. The sleeves were plain but had jamawar fabric as piping, which also matched the piping of the dupatta. There was also a hot pink piping along the neckline, which although was a copy of the original, I felt that it was a bit random because there wasn't any another pink in the rest of the outfit.

This is the close-up of the outfit (I really liked the buttons!) and the intricate work of the outfit. I was quite happy with the quality of the work, as there was a lot of metal-work and beads and it didn't look cheap. There was also sequins used to edge the hem and the neckline, but this was quite minimal and I quite like the effect they had to make the dress look shimmery.

THE GOOD: I've never worn gold as an outfit before, and I was quite happy with the shade I ended up with, since it was a warm, soft colour which was very flattering, and it was very easy to match my make-up and jewellery to. Although the work is very full-on on the kameez, it didn't feel too much to me because of how intricate and detail it looked, and it worked well with the long length of the kameez. I think my favourite part of the dress was probably the smaller motifs scattered on the sides of the kameez (see the last image) which made it look pretty, I've seen this design on other outfits and I think it looks quite nice.

THE BAD: Because the front of the kameez was more embellished than the back, it made the front quite heavy and it leaned forward slightly, which is something I've found with previous outfits which have more work at the front. The best way to balance out the shape of a dress like this is to make the back longer, which thankfully my gold outfit did have, since the sides and back were slightly longer than the front.
I also wasn't too keen on the pink piping on the neckline, although the colour was pretty, it was too random and it made it slightly more difficult for me to match my hijab and shoes to. While the two colours do go together in some ways, in this outfit I think it should either have been left out, or more pink should have been added.

THE UGLY: Like many of my other outfits, this one was made of chiffon, which meant that my sleeves had a lot of pulls at the end of the day from catching onto the work! I think this is just a typical hazard of using chiffon, and the only way I've learned to avoid pulls of fabric so far is to put my dupatta on my should between the work and the sleeves, but this doesn't always work.

OVERALL: I can't give a full review of the time/process it took to make this outfit, since this was technically a ready-made outfit and it was also a very last-minute purchase. I think I did get good value for money, and I was certainly very happy with the level of work and the shade of gold the outfit was in. While in hindsight I would probably have less work on the outfit to make it easier to wear and move around in, I didn't really have any problems with it, and when I wore it, it looked more like a maxi dress than a kameez. I'm glad I got to wear a light colour like this (since I usually go for darker, richer colours) and it's also given me a chance to buy from a Facebook seller who I haven't bought from before.