BOLLYWOOD ISHTYLE: Priyanka Chopra & Nick Jonas

What a year it's been for celebrity weddings! And one which has rounded off the year for us is the beautiful Priyanka Chopra's wedding to beau Nick Jonas. It's a sweet mix of Western traditions and Eastern cultures, and I liked how the couple celebrated with a Hindu ceremony (in which Priyank awore a deep red Sabysachi lengha) and a Christian ceremony in which the bride wore couture designer Ralph Lauren.

I like both dresses, although the Ralph Lauren dress is probably more dramatic and impressive with a 70-foot veil!

I'll be posting more about this couple's wedding events very soon - what did you think of the outfits?

FRIDAY FASHION LINKS...!

I'm always on the look out for more blogs to read - especially in the age of social media where it's a lot about pictures and less about articles! Here's a few I've found

1. Siddy Says 
This is quite a varied website, covering topics from fashion and beauty to lifestyle, TV and art. It is quite focussed on Pakistani fashion on the Style section, but what I like most is the Stories page, which is a mixed bag of everything from different writers.

2. Zara Zi
A blog that's all things modesty, pastels and afternoon tea! I follow her Instagram account as well which gets updates more often, but it's a nice pinky account that I quite like.

3. Pinkvilla
If you don't know about Pinkvilla then you will do soon enough - it's chock full of Bollywood gossip, fashion trends, weddings and celeb topics. I've currently been surfing it for the #DeepVeer wedding posts but I also like reading it for the latest news in Bollywood land.

Let me know what you've been reading lately, and whether you already read any of these!

BOLLYWOOD ISHTYLE: Deepika Padukone Weds Ranveer Singh

We've all been holding our breaths on this one - and after a few days of no pictures (apart from a few blurry ones of the island the couple are staying on), Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh released a couple of beautiful photos of them tying the knot while at Lake Como, Italy.

The couple look gorgeous, twinning in rich red and gold, made by the artist that is Sabyasachi. I love that they both opted for two ceremonies as a nod to both of their backgrounds - the first being the Konkani (South Indian) look, and the second being the Anand Karaj look which is the Sikh ceremony.

I love the whole look - Deepika didn't simplify her wedding look but looks beautiful - glamorous, glowy and completely bridal. I didn't straightaway but someone online pointed out the Hindi script on the edge of her dupatta, which translates to "Saubhagyavati Bhava", which means something along the lines of 'May you alwats be the one whose husband is alive and may you remain safe from widowhood', which is a romantic touch for her bridal look. Ranveer looks suitably royal - I love that as dressed up as he is though, he still looks absolutely delighted!

I'll be posting more about these gorgeous couple when we get full outfit pictures, as well as about the upcoming receptions for the couple in Mumbai - who's excited?!

BOLLYWOOD ISTYLE: Anushka Sharma Weds Virat Kholi

I’m sure a lot of you caught photos for this one – Anushka Sharma’s super-secret wedding to Virat Kholo last month, which was planned by the couple themselves, in a small ceremony in Italy (which I did follow via hashtag #Virushka!) The couple looked like they had a fun wedding, and it seemed like a pretty happy event all around. I wanted to post the outfits the bride wore, which were a good mix of styles - although all designed by Sabyaschi!

The Engagement

This was a pretty smart affair, with Virat wearing a smart suit and Anushka in a gorgeous velvet maroon sari which she rocked with a simple updo and red flowers in her hair, and a gorgeous choker necklace. I think this would be among my favourite of the looks she had, striking, classy and elegant done well.

The Sangeet

What I liked about this most of all was how genuinely happy the couple looked here – neither of them are overly dressed up, and the henna looks exquisite. I really liked Anushka’s and Virat’s outfits – they’re wonderfully colourful, and feel fun fun – perfect  for a henna event, and you can see how relaxed the bride and groom are. And I’m sure none of us missed the déjà vu feeling though – seeing some of these photos reminded me a little of the wedding in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil! Anushka looks pretty in a print, brightly printed lengha choli and Virat looks great in a complimenting hot pink waistcoat jacket.

The Wedding

For the wedding ceremony itself, Anushka wore a pretty floral lengha by leading designer Sabyasachi (who seems to be everyone’s first choice at the moment, I’ve noticed). The outfit was a girly one – pastel pinks and white, with a very spring vibe to it. I have to confess, I didn’t love this wedding look  – it was okay but it could have been so much better. Perhaps I’m used to the more glamorous looks, but something about this looked a little ordinary – especially the hair and makeup, which looked a little flat, and felt like Anushka’s  beauty didn’t shine through. I was a little surprised by rave comments about her bridal but I guess it’s down to different tastes. Personally I think Anushka would have looked amazing if she had gone for a similar look as this one (especially the hair which I love!) – but hey, that’s just me. Having said that, I later saw photos of Anushka's hair under the dupatta which had beautiful soft pink roses, which looked really pretty!

The Delhi Wedding Reception

For the couple's first reception in Virat's home town, Anushka looked appropriately ‘wifey’ in a rich red silk Benarasi Sabyasachi saree – can’t get more regal and respectable looking than that – and with her gorgeous figure pulled it off well. She got the ornamental side of things pretty well put together as well, and I do think that she looked more glowy on this event. having said that, I still think her hair was again, a little flat, and could have been made more glamorous, but it did showcase her sari and extravagant jewellery quite well!

The Mumbai Wedding Reception

This last event was the wedding reception in Mumbai with all the stars, where Anushka wore another Sabysachi ensemble, this time a nude-beigey gold lengha-choli outfit. I think this outfit suited her the most, and was another of all of her bridal outfits that I really liked. I also think her hair looked the best on this day – it framed her face well and looked elegant with her tasteful makeup.

  

Over all I think Anushka did look pretty on her wedding events, but some looks were better than others. I can guess that like a lot of Bollywood heroines, Anushka has done a lot of bridal looks before so wasn’t looking to go overboard or too blingy on her wedding, which makes sense. I also think that the first bridal look in pink pastels and florals looked great for a destination wedding, and I can see the theme she was aiming for.

What did you think of her bridal looks? Which one did you like best?

Bridal Shower fun - Flowers & Peach Tones

I don't always post about the parties and bridal showers I've been to the in past, but every now and then I attend a special occasion which is memorable. Most of my close friends are married (and got married before me!) so for the few who are still bachelorettes, it's a special event when they get married!

So a close friend of mine got married in the last few weeks (this is what I wore to her nikah and engagement), so I thought I'd post a few pictures of the event as it was a lovely series of occasions.

For her bridal shower, she had a pretty low-key event at her best friend's place, which was decorated beautifully and which gave us friends all a chance to chill out, eat good food and play games.

I though the decor was pretty amazing, and was very different to a lot of the bridal showers I've been to in the past because it felt so elegant and sophisticated - beautiful fresh flowers everywhere, candles on the table, hand-made decor on the wall and on the balcony outside there were beautiful cushions with lanterns and Morroccan-inspired tools. I thought this made for a really lovely, relaxed atmosphere and it was really well-put together, different from the usual pink, fluffy feathers bridal showers I've been to!

The food was all made by the bride-to-be's best friend, and she did an amazing job with the nibbles which were laid out beautifully. There was also hot food which came later, but my favourite thing was a fresh juices with fruit chunks and the lime juice drink which was perfect for the warm day!

And of course, a quick peek at what I wore. I paired a pastel pink skirt with a lace top on top of a pink one, which I thought worked well together and looked girly and flattering. It was also a really lovely, warm day so the skirt was ideal, it looked floaty and felt very cool on! There wasn't really a dress code other than being 'dressed-up' but since it was a summer's day, everyone ended up wearing a lot of floral dresses and soft colours which looked amazing together.

I forgot to take a full-length picture of what the bride wore, but she wore a lacy royal blue maxi dress with sparkly heels that looked fab - especially as she said she ended up picking it last minute! Here's a shot of the yummy cake as well, because who doesn't love cake?

I loved how fun this bridal shower was, it was a really lovely start to the wedding festivities and a nice way to relax with friends. Even though it was fairly low-key, the bride's best friend put a huge amount of effort into the food and decor, and I though this was a really lovely way to hold a bridal shower which was more like an elegant afternoon out!

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!

THE WEDDING POST: Mehndi Memories!

Can you believe that it's been a year since my wedding?! I really can't, it seems like only a few weeks ago that I got married and moved away from my parents, and yet I'm so settled and comfortable in my married life that weirdly enough, it feels like I've always been married!

So this time last year, on this day, I had my mehndi night. which was surprisingly an emotional day but a lovely one, surrounded by friends and family. There's a lot of things which I stressed about at the time but on that day, walking in under a curtain of flowers and looking at all of my friends, a lot of that stress and anxiety melted away (to the music of Ali Zafar's Jhoom, if anyone wanted to know!)

I thought I'd do a series of memories posts this week - what I remember from my events, including my mehndi day, the good, the bad and the funny, especially as it's amazing what sticks out in your mind afterwards!

So here's a few random things I remember from my mehndi night, in no particular order, although I'll try not to complain too much! I do remember wanting to do a hundred and one things and stressing about it, and I'm only mentioning them now because a year later looking back, I really don't know why I worried as much as I did.

Getting ready
I'm lucky enough to know a lot of make-up artists and henna artists, so naturally I got my sister-in-law to spend do my makeup, which I loved. We even managed to spend a little free time in the the day where she took me out for brunch before we got ready, which helped relax me a lot. She got the look even better than I thought, I wanted simple and glowy and she managed both without making my face look too heavy or busy, and I loved the result.

It made me happy that I was able to save so much money by booking a makeup artist for my main wedding day, as it can really add up with the more functions you have. I was also glad that it looked the way I wanted without having to compromise - I've met so many women who have opted to do their own makeup or ask a friend to do it, for one or more of their wedding functions and they've looked great, so I'd definitely encourage that options for brides who are thinking about it.

My hair and the mess at the end of the day!

My jasmine flowers (which were such a headache to buy, because I wanted fresh ones!) came loose half-way through the mehndi and basically looked a mess by the end of the day - you can see them unravelling in pictures below, and the before/after of the flowers! This isn't to criticise the hair-stylist at all - I got my hair and dupatta setting done by Shamalah Hairstylist and LOVED what she did, the flowers themselves just wilted and were bound to fall down after a lot of dancing and moving around! The hair looks not so bad in the second picture, but by the time I got home the flowers had dried and my hair was all over the place!

Also, if any Londoners wants to know where I got the flowers, Vallis in East Ham, East London do them at an amazing price of £1 per string meter and they smell beautiful! A tip for any brides using flowers though, keeping them in the fridge really helped me in keeping them fresh overnight.

Even worse, when I got home, it took me ages to undo my hair and get my hair sorted out. It was actually more painful than my wedding hair was because there was a lot more extensions and back-combing involved, and worse for me because I didn't realise it would be this difficult! 

Non-attendees

A few of my friends didn’t turn up to the mehndi, which I was a little upset about at the time, although I did get over it 15 minutes into the mehndi, once the dancing started! I only mentioned this because it's inevitable that someone can't make it, or something can happen which can be really annoying - try not to let it get to you too much. A friend of mine who got married around the same time I did told me that she was pretty upset that a some of her friends and family didn't make it to her mehndi, enough that when she went home she was upset and even cried a little. You're bound to be emotional but don't let these be the last and defining moments of your Big Days, the last thing you would want to remember about your events is being upset for the wrong reasons.

It's also easy to get annoyed at the little things like these, when it's so much better to appreciate people who DID turn up and make the effort, which can really make a difference on the night! It's fair to say all of the right people turned up and it was really warming to see that they made the effort, not to mention all of the hard work from my mum, sisters and sister-in-law!

Asian Timings

I got to my mehndi venue really early, and was a bit annoyed that I turned up before the guests, particularly as it meant my brother, who was my chauffeur for the night, and I had to wait because I didn't want to talk into an empty hall. Thankfully, my photographer was already at the venue, and used this time for a quiet photo-shoot which I loved – some of my favourite pictures are from this shoot. I was also glad to be punctual because it meant I had some quiet time to myself beforehand.

Sweets and Favours

I barely saw the beautiful sweet table my sisters made and set up. I sure as heck didn’t get to eat anything from it. At least I had lots of photos of it afterwards! Similarly I had spent a lot of time with my sisters making up favour bags, sweet cones and decor boxes in a peacock print theme, which kind of got lost in the hall decor, but admittedly on the day, it didn't matter as much to me anyway.

Ghagray

We’d bought lots of jasmine strings to make into bracelets (ghagray) for some of the guests, and some of them got forgotten. Two of my friends ended up putting dolly-mixture sweet bracelets on my wrists to make up for it because we forgot to get my best friends to put the flowers on my wrist! I don't know why I look so serious in the photo below because I remember laughing about it all!

Food!
Our food got served late, which was very frustrating, as the caterers had been calling me all afternoon while I was getting ready to ask me about venue access and set-up. I actually got up from my stage at one point during a break when the guests managed to eat, to go into the kitchens and tell off the caterers. They learned their lesson and served the food on time on the wedding day though, so at least I told them off effectively!

Dancing the night away!
We managed to get some of the older ladies, the mums and aunties, up for a Beyonce dance which was fun, and it was even better when my sisters and friends joined in too. One of my friends is an amazing (and enthusiastic!) dancer so she stole the show with her moves and got me to join in as well, although I'll admit I was a lot more embarassed!

My niece and I doing twirls!

It feels pretty strange to look through some of these now and see myself all dressed up, especially because I looked pretty calm in a lot of photos and I know I was quite nervous!
A friend of mine got married a few days ago and told me she felt the same - I think it was that point after months of stressing that she walked in and decided to just enjoy herself rather than look for things that had gone wrong.

I know there were a lot of things which were missing, didn't look the way I thought or just general things I thought were needed - looking back I now know that as much as we brides love the little details. the beautiful decor, the amazing dances, it's more important to enjoy the night and being with your close ones. Above all, just sit back, relax and focus on looking good!

THE WEDDING POSTS: The (Other) Wedding Clutch

I already posted about my wedding clutch, but I also wanted to post about this clutch which I ordered first. I ordered this from Aeysha of Kapray Shapray, who also got my wedding jewellery customised and ordered for me via Lahore, which was a huge help.

I've been hankering after a jewelled clutch for a while, and the ones I've seen around London and online were not really amazing, either they were too clunky, the stones didn't look great quality or the prices were too high.

The clutch below was sent to be after I selected from a bunch of designs (I nearly went for a gold one with gold and silver stones, but I can't resist colourful things), and is actually smaller than it looks, which I love because it looks so much more delicate and pretty.

I didn't go for this clutch on the wedding day in the end, because the colours didn't pick out the accents of my wedding skirt (the blues and the greens), so I kept it as a back-up. I considered using this clutch with my mehndi bridal outfit instead, but I wanted a simple look for the mehdni and didn't think a clutch bag would be much use.

I have used this clutch bag a good few times though, and I love the workmanship and the beautiful stones all over the clutch - it's an ideal statement piece for a simple outfit!