Indian weddings are one of the most exciting and colorful celebrations you’ll ever experience. The beauty of it all, from the bride’s dreamy henna to her enviable accessories, but have you wondered how to incorporate some Indian trends into your wedding?
You don’t have to be of Indian heritage to replicate the beauty and larger than life nature of an Indian wedding. There are a few subtle ways that you can incorporate them into your own big day, without going overboard or coming across as inappropriate.
Outfit Changes
You may already know that Indian weddings can last for multiple days, maybe even as long as a week!
According to Sonas Haute Couture, this means that the bride has to go through a lot of outfit changes for various parts to the ceremony, with the most glamorous ones reserved for the main ceremony itself. Traditionally, Western brides have worn a big beautiful white dress which generally stays on for the duration of the big day. However, more and more brides are starting to embrace the idea of changing outfits up mid-ceremony, especially if the bride is going to be attending a reception where she’ll want to be able to move more freely.
Jewellery
One of the big differences with Indian weddings is that the jewellery is a lot more glamorous and noticeable, as opposed to understated and subtle as it might be in a Western wedding.
To steal the style of the Indian bride, some of the pieces that you could take for your own wedding include large earrings, bangles, ornate necklaces or even a bindi-style headpiece. Although there is a need for some caution here and there’s a fine line between wearing jewellery which takes inspiration from the Indian wedding and wearing an actual piece of Indian jewellery.
Authentic Indian jewellery and accessories may have a wider cultural or religious significance, so be sure that you’re aware of anything like this before you throw it on.
In addition, while Western wedding jewellery would usually mainly be silver, in an Indian wedding, gold jewellery is preferred, which could be something else that you may wish to consider.
Henna
In an Indian wedding, the bride will often have a form of elaborate henna known as Mehndi, but some Western brides and those of Asian descent have also started to incorporate it into their big days in subtler ways. Many choose to just have a simple design done on their hand or foot to enhance their wedding outfit, which is a nice tribute to the Indian culture, without going overboard. Traditionally these temporary tattoos are dark brown in colour although they can come in many different colours and are applied all over the body by Indian brides. Western brides also some times create a mehndi-like pattern using glitter, gemstones or crystals to create a similar effect, this is ideal if you don’t want to commit to henna for a couple of days or weeks.