Marigold Events – Indian Wedding Inspirations, Wedding Lenghas, Invitations, Cake, Decor, Wedding Blog and Website

Hello Lovely Ladies! Wedding Wednesdays just got more interesting on Marigold Events. We get many questions from brides asking for wedding advice. We will be selecting and answering “Question of the week” every Wednesday on Marigold Events. Ask your question by filling out our contact form on the right.

Q. I am getting married in six months and am very confused on how to plan my wedding. How should I go about my shopping. I want to have a royal wedding with traditional Punjabi touches and want to make it a memorable event. I would prefer pinks, reds and lots of gold.

A. Dear Bride-to-be: Congratulations! Planning a wedding can seem to be a daunting task, and you should break it down to smaller tasks and have a plan of action. Following is a list of things you will need to shop for:

1. Wedding Invitations
2. Wedding Outfits
3. Wedding Jewelry
4. Accessories: Bindis, Bangles, Shoes, and Purses
5. Trousseau
6. Favors and gifts for family and friends
7. Money Envelopes and other gift wrapping/packing supplies

Now that you know what you need to shop for, I would suggest picking colors for your wedding. Pink clashes with red, so I would suggest that you pick shades of red, orange and gold. These would be great colors for a traditional and royal look. You can tie in your colors in all the things you get for your wedding – from invitations, to decor, to your outfits. You can find beautiful invitations in many colors and themes on invitation websites. Here is an example of a unique invitation that I think will go along well with your colors:

For a traditional and at the same time royal look, I would suggest that you include marigolds in your decor. You can also incorporate orange gerbera daisies, red roses and chrysanthemums for accents. You could ask your decorator if he can incorporate different styles of rangoli (on floor and water) and fabrics like organza and chiffon in your wedding decoration. For shimmery look in your decor, you can ask the decorator to use strings of crystals. You could also have antique chandeliers at your venue for a royal look.

Since you are Punjabi, consider using kaleeras in your wedding decor. When you walk to the stage/mandap for jai mala, your cousins/brothers/sisters/bridesmaids will be walking along you – At that time you can have your entourage carry a “Phoolon ki Chaadar” or a sheet made of flowers over your you. You can have your decorator/florist decorate this with many different kinds of flowers, fabric and even kaleeras.

Hope I was able to provide some helpful wedding planning pointers to make your wedding memorable. Good Luck and don’t forget to have fun while planning your wedding!

Shopping in Delhi is fabulous! It is full of cute shopping areas with nifty stores. Yesterday I was shopping around in Greater Kailash I, N Block market, and found this amazing gift and home accessories store called Kassmi. Kassmi has some amazing collection of accessories and gifts, which can be used as wedding favors, gifts, as well as wedding trousseau.

They have an amazing range of products, hand crafted using brocade and zardozi or dabka work, like trays, jewelry boxes, coasters, photo frames, lamps, corner tables, umbrella stands, planters, and lots more. I had the pleasure of meeting the owner, Smita Kasliwal, one of the owners of Kassmi, and talk to her about her work.

Zardozi work is very intricate, gold thread work, which never goes out of fashion. Brocade and Zardozi are usually used on sarees, salwar kameez and lehengas, but Smita has taken these fabrics and hand embroidery to a more unique level, by using it to design home accessories.

I found the stuff at Kassmi beautiful, practical, as well as reasonably priced. I really liked their coasters and I think that would make for a gorgeous and a very practical wedding favor. Kassmi take appointments at their store. I highly recommend shopping at this store as it has stuff in every budget range.

Next week I will be giving away a home accessory that I picked up from Kassmi. Please note that the views presented in this blog post are my unbiased views and this is not an endorsement.

The following post is by our guest blogger, Ruchi Garg Kalra of RGK D’Zines. All the photos of  gorgeous jewelry pieces in this post have been designed by her design studio, that showcases different designers, and can be purchased on her website. Scroll to the bottom of the article for a special offer!

When you think of a wedding you think of love and all that went into bringing those two people together.  Most brides have dreamed of their wedding day since they were little girls.  They are excited not only about what the future holds but also everything that will go into making that day one of the most memorable days in their lives.

Apart from the choosing the wedding dress the bride will wear, the next most important selection is of the gorgeous jewelry she will be wearing.  Most brides today are looking for simple, yet elegant pieces that help make a statement.

Modern South Asian American brides of today are done with their grandmother’s traditional love of big gold necklaces and perfectly matching earrings.  Nowadays if they have statement earrings that have a hint of tradition and a hint of gold they have reached a perfect balance.  They want something more versatile and modern. They are looking for pieces with a unique sense of style and flair.  They are looking for pieces that they can wear more than just on their wedding day.

The modern American glamorous bride is trending away from traditional diamonds to statement chandelier earrings.  Statement earrings not only are bold, but they also add class and style that is timeless. Vintage inspired chandelier earrings in sterling silver with crystals, semi precious stones and fresh water pearls are affordable yet classic.  Statement Chandelier Earrings are a must for any glamorous yet classy bride of today!

RGK D’Zines is one such jewelry design studio that showcases unique pieces.  The pieces are stylish, diverse and add a mystique to your elegance. The inspiration for these pieces dates back to the Victorian and Royal Mogul era in India. Pieces are truly unique and combine the old world traditions with the new world fusion.  Their jewelry has been worn on the red carpet at the Emmys and also has adorned many Hollywood Celebrities.  Check out the collection at www.RGKdzines.com or fan them at www.facebook.com/RGKdzines and also do check out their blog at www.rgkdzines.wordpress.com.

Natasha Alam (True Blood) wearing RGK D'Zines ring at Hollywood Gala, September 2010

Sarah Drew (Grey’s Anatomy) wearing RGK D'Zines Earrings at The Emmy Event

Ali Fedotowsky , bachelorette wearing RGK D'Zines earrings at The Emmy Event

The RGK collection pieces are all either sterling silver or 24K gold vermeil with semi precious stones and fresh water pearls.

Special Offer for Marigold Events Readers – RGK D’Zines is offering 10% off to all our followers! Use the discount code “Marigold” when making purchase on their website.

Looking for unique invitations? Don’t want to go to India to get your invitations? Looking for eco-friendly invitaitons? 3 Bees Paperie is your answer. Indian weddings consist of many events, and putting together multiple invitations can get expensive. I spoke with Reena Vadehra of 3 Bees Paperie – A stationary company with unique invitation collections, printed on high-quality lush paper and inspired by contemporary South Asian Designs – like peacocks, mosaics, paisleys and tribal designs.

3 Bees Paperie have two wedding collections:

1. Couture weddings: Ready-to-order wedding invitations. These are already designed invitations, which can be printed with your content very quickly. The ready-to-order collections are eco-friendly, printed on FSC-certifed paper with recycled envelopes.

2. Made for You: For custom wedding invitations. These are completely customized to your wedding theme, motifs and color pallet. These can use different types of printing like offset, letterpress, screen printing or digital.

In addition, they also sell Thank You card sets on their Etsy store.

Reena said that 3 Bees Paperie invitations use unique color combinations that you don’t commonly see in Indian Invitations: Orange and Plum, Turquoise and Green, Yellow and Plum etc.

Check out the entire collection on 3 Bees Paperie’s Website.

Planning an Indian Wedding just got easier! When I was planning my wedding, I hunted and hunted for a wedding planning website for South Asians. I was looking for a resource, where the wedding planning tools and forums were customized for Indian brides. Well guess what – now that resource is here. It’s called Indian American Weddings, and has been launched by Neha, owner of Marigold Events & Launching Frog (that’s me!) and Payal, owner of Intell Marketing.

Indian American Weddings began as a vision aspiring to make an Indian Bride’s wedding planning experience easy and enjoyable. The inspiration and ideas have stemmed from Payal and my personal experiences, when we were planning our own weddings and discovered a lack of planning resources for Indian Weddings in the US. We envision brides benefiting from a social network that would enable them to share thoughts and ideas with each other and communicate interactively with vendors.

Indian American Weddings is a unique wedding planning community for engaged couples and their families. It is the first interactive site to enable brides to network with other brides and vendors all over the country. It is, in essence, a virtual wedding expo, where brides can virtually see vendors’ products and services, communicate with them, and network with other brides – all without shelling the expenses of travel or time to a wedding expo.

In addition to the social networking aspect, the website offers to brides and couples all the tools and resources needed to help design, organize and plan the perfect unique Indian Wedding. The word “Indian” is the key – not only do we help you customize your planning to include all the Indian glamor and nuances of an Indian wedding ceremony, but we can also help you customize any other Indian event you may want to include like Engagement Party, Mehendi, Sangeet, etc.

Website’s Highlights for brides:

• Your Personal Profile Page with Photogallery: Create a detailed personalized profile of yourself and your upcoming wedding. Upload photos, and write about yourself. The wedding planning tools are linked to your profile. Your wedding planning research can be accessed by you through your username and secure password from any computer.
• Planning Checklist: Manage your wedding planning tasks and track the important details so you don’t miss a single step.
• Create your Budget: Set up your wedding budget and track all your spending to keep your wedding expenses in line.
• Create your Guestlist: It’s a Guest Database! Manage Guests, input their addresses, track Guest info (invitations, RSVPs, gifts, seating, thank you’s) – all with our Guest List Manager.
• Appointment Book: A handy tool to record all your appointments and reminders so you are perfectly scheduled for each day of your wedding planning
• Create Events and Invitations: Send out your save the dates for each of your wedding events with a click of the button and manage the RSVP’s from here.
• Planning Calendar: Your wedding planning is a calendar view and organizes all your appointments, upcoming events and due checklist items in one place.
• Research Binder: Your Wedding Planning Notebook where you can save notes, links, images of products and services you are considering but haven’t yet finalized.
• Guestbook: Post on your buddies’ walls and keep them up to date with your wedding planning. Post on a vendors wall to make inquiries or contacts.
• Get advice from other brides on the forum: Network with other brides, share tips and ideas, post questions. It’s amazing how much you can learn and share with others just like you.
• Add buddies: Friend other members of the site and them to your buddylist. See where other brides are in their planning process. Look at the profiles of your bride and vendor friends, check out their photogallery and write on their guestbooks.

There is a plethora of Indian vendors offering products and services to meet the Indian wedding market needs, however, they have always competed with families traveling to India to fulfill these needs. To these vendors, we offer a revolutionary new channel to market their products and services to a targeted customer base and form affiliations with other vendors in the business.

Website’s Highlights for Vendors:

• Free Business Page and Listing: Design your personalized business page highlighting your products & services and offering exclusive promotions and sales.
• Guestbook: Post on your buddies’ walls and keep them up to date with your services.
• Photogallery: A picture is worth a thousand words. Showcase your products and services with a collection of photos and images.
• Appointment Book: A handy calendar with customer appointments and reminders so you are perfectly scheduled for each day.
• Planning Calendar: View all your appointments in a calendar view.
• Manage Clients: A client database that manages client names, profiles, addresses, interests.
• Interact with other brides on forum: An Online vendor expo – interact with brides interested in your products and services. Make customer contact online!

The website has been beta launched, and we would really appreciate your feedback!

Finding Indian bridesmaid outfits can be a major challenge. You may want the exact same sari or lehenga for your bridesmaids, or if you are having a hard time finding exact outfits, then you may want something that goes well together. I strongly recommend that your bridesmaid saris match the colors of your wedding. I would stay away from buying the same sari in different colors. If you are having trouble finding the exact same sari, I would go with one color with a slight variation in pattern. I strongly believe, that one color looks more elegant. Here is some inspiration for bridesmaid saris:

Magenta Bridesmaid Saris with a turquoise border

Blue bridesmaid outfits - Although the outfits are different, they blend well together

Vermilion Colored Bridesmaid Saris

Orange Bridesmaid Saris

Mustard-Green bridesmaid saris

Maroon bridesmaid saris

Sea green bridesmaid saris

Fucshia bridesmaid saries

Pink bridesmaid saris

Plum bridesmaid saris

Red bridesmaid saris with golden work

Lavendar and pink bridesmaid saris

Purple bridesmaid saris

Keep up with the hottest trends in the Indian Wedding Industry. As you try to find that perfect wedding outfit, here are some designer wedding lehengas for inspiration.

Shilpa Shetty in an absolutely stunning Tarun Tahiliani Wedding Lehenga

Another Tarun Tahiliani

Karishma Kapoor donning a beautiful red Manish Malhotra lehenga

Pink and Green Lehenga by Manish Malhotra

Rakhi Sawant wearing a Neeta Lulla Lehenga

Sabyasachi definitely has his own signature style, which is reflected in this outfit

This lehenga is drop dead gorgeous! Check out the train - love it!

This DIY tutorial will illustrate some unique techniques to create invitations. We will talk about rubber stamping and embossing. I will make some product recommendations, and also go through the steps.

Our end product will look like this:

Pointed Flap Enclosure with Embossed/Rubber Stamped Invited

Supplies:

1. Pointed Flap Enclosure (Chocolate)

◦ 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″

◦ Special Feature = Makes a lovely presentation for wedding invitations and other special occasions.

2. Flat Paper (blue, lavendar, fuschia, white, ivory, cream)

◦ 8.5″ x 11″

3. Outer Envelope

◦ A9 ( (5 3/4″ x 8 3/4″)

4. Rubber Stamps (Same pattern, but in 2 different sizes) – Big Rubber Stamp, Small Rubber Stamp

5. Ink Pad, Clear for Embossing

6. Embossing Powder (We will use gold for this example)

7. Embossing heating tool

8. Paper Cutter

9. Pair of Scissors

10. Pencil

11. Ruler

Steps to create the invitation:

1. Open a word Document in Microsoft Word on your computer. Change the orientation of the document to landscape by going to Page Setup.
2. Make a table with one row and two columns on the document, such that one cell is 5 1/2″ wide and 8 1/2″ long in dimensions.
3. Type out your invitation text in each of the cells using your favorite font. You can use Da Font to find some beautiful fonts that are not available out of the box.
4. Print out the document on the Flat Paper (8 1/2″ X 11″).
5. Using paper cutter, cut out the paper along the edges of the document you created.
6. Now take each individual invitation, rubber stamp and ink pad. Apply clear ink to the smaller rubber stamp and apply it at the top center of the invite.
7. Now we will begin the process of embossing. We will take the gold embossing powder and pour it over the stamped area. The powder will stick to the stamped portion. Now remove the excess powder by pouring it back on another sheet of paper.
8. In order to emboss the stamp, we will use the heating tool. Plug the heating tool and test the temperature on your hand. Once its hot enough, then use it like a hair dryer over the stamped area with the embossing powder on it. You will notice that the stamp area will start getting embossed.
9. Repeat the last three steps on the flap of the pointed envelope with the bigger stamp.
10. Once the embossing has dried out, you can place the invite, along with the enclosures for RSVP, in the pointed inner envelope.
11. Use the outer envelope to address the invitation.
12. Note: Please make a sample or two before you buy supplies in bulk. Also, you can get the printed paper cut in bulk at Kinkos.

Your invitation is now ready! It is simple and elegant. The stamp looks Indian, but contemporary. Get ready to wow your guests!

Gone are the days when there was just one boring style to wear a saree blouse. Today, there are a number of options to choose from. Everything in a saree blouse is customizable from the cut of the neck/back to the style of the sleeves. A saree blouse is a statement! Here are some blouses for inspiration when you are choosing a blouse style for your wedding outfits.

Image Credit: IndianWomenClothing.com

This is a traditional choli style blouse with hooks to secure and a string to tie the blouse at the back.

Image Credit: Indiwo.in

Another choli style blouse, but this time with a very deep back!

Image Credit: indianwonebclothin.com

A halter style net blouse with embroidery.

Image Credit: SareeDreams.com

Looking for a blouse that is more fashionable? Check out this halter blouse which has a collar and is secured by hooks at the back. If you like deep backs, you will love this blouse!

This halter blouse is made of brocade. A brocade blouse goes with almost any sari. If you do not want to wear your matching sari blouse and want something more trendy, then brocade blouses are definitely the way to go.

Check out this gorgeous bikini style blouse! Love the embroidery on the brocade.

Image Credit: SareeDreams.com

Check out this beautiful turquoise net blouse with stone work border on the bottom edge.

Image Credit: Flickr - radhikasarees

Check out the puff sleeved blouse below! Love the work on the blouse.

Long sleeved blouses are in! Whether it was Vidya Balan’s blouses in the movie Paa or Kareen Kapoor’s choli in the Bollywood hit 3 Idiots, long sleeved blouses look very elegant and stylish.

Check out Deepika Padukone donning a long sleeved blouse in Om Shanti Om:

Are you a creative bride? Do you want to add your personal touch to your invitations? Do you want your invitations to be unique? Look no more! We have the perfect DIY invitation ideas, which will set your wedding invitation apart.  I will show you some techniques and point you towards some resources, with which you can make your own invitations very easily. Most of the supplies and inspiration that I have used for the invitation created in this blog post are from Paper Source. You can order your supplies from their online store, or go to their many locations around the country.

Our end product will look like the following:

DIY Wedding Invitation with Decorative Handmade Paper and Ribbon

Supplies:

1. Half Moon Enclosure
   • 5″ x 7″
   • Special Feature = The half circle cut out allows a portion of your invitation to peek through the top – a great place to include a small graphic element.
2. Flat Paper (white, ivory, cream)
   • 8.5″ x 11″
3. Flat Card in color of your choice
   • A7 (5″ x 7″)
4. Outer Envelope
   • A7 (5 1/4″ x 7 1/4″)
5. Decorative Paper (or Handmade Paper)
6. satin ribbon in color of your choice
7. Paper Cutter
8. Pair of Scissors
9. Double Stick Tape
10. Pencil
11. Ruler

Steps to create the invitation:

1. Open a Word Document in Microsoft Word on your computer. Change the orientation of the document to landscape.
2. Make a table with one row and two columns on the document, such that one cell is 4 3/4″ x 6 7/8″ in dimensions.
3. Type out your invitation text in each of the cells using your favorite font. You can use Da Font to find some beautiful fonts that are not available out of box.
4. Print out the document on Flat Paper (8.5″ x 11″).
5. Using the paper cutter, cut out the paper along the edges of the document you had created.
6. Mount the Flat Paper on the A7 Flat Card using double stick tape. This creates a contrast and a layering effect.
7. Now take the decorative paper and cut out a strip of paper that is 3-4 inches wide and long enough, such that it wraps around the half moon enclosure completely.
8. Using double stick tape, adhere the decorative strip around the half moon enclosure. This adds a beautiful accent to your envelope.
9. Now take the wide satin ribbon which is 2.5 times the length of the half moon enclosure (approx. 12.5″). Make sure you cut the ribbon into a “V” shape, so that the edges don’t fray. It also makes it look more professional.
10. Wrap the ribbon length wise along the invitation card, right in the middle, and insert it in the half moon envelope. The invitation can be pulled out using this ribbon and adds a nice touch to the invitation.
11. Now put the invitation in the outer A7 envelope.
12. Note: You can create your other enclosures for RSVP, directions in a similar fashion.

Your invitation is now ready to wow your guests! Let us know what you thought of this DIY tutorial.

Don’t ignore those beautiful hands when buying accessories and jewelry for your wedding! Your hands will be a focus of all your wedding pictures, especially when you are performing the wedding ceremony, cutting the cake or making champagne toasts. So why not spend some money on accessorizing those beautiful hands with jewelry? Here are some ideas on how to adorn those beautiful hands.

• Bangles and Bracelets: This is a no brainer! Bangles/Bracelets are a must. You can’t go wrong with a nice gold bangle set worn with a heavy bracelet worn in the front. There are a ton of fancy styles to choose from, where the sets have a combination of different kinds of bangles.

Intricately designed beautiful diamond bangles

Amazing Combination - Beautiful kundan kada (bangle) with bracelet

Kundan Kada (Bangle) with Meenakari work

Pink Tourmaline and White Sapphire Kundan Bracelet

Silver Bangles Set

Gold Bangles Set

Green Bangle Set

Blue Bangle Set with droplets

• Hathphool: These are bracelets with rings and look absolutely stunning! They enhance the beauty of your hands and also look great with your henna. This hand ornament has a flower or medallion in the center and have chains attached to them on both sides. One side the chain becomes a bracelet which goes around your wrist and on the other end they become rings which go on your fingers. There can be one to five chains. I am obsessed with kundan and polki hathphool!

Polki Haathphool with green tourmalines

Adorning the colors of henna - Kundan Haath Phool

• Cocktail Rings: These look beautiful as well and can be worn on any finger or thumb. For weddings, the most traditional is polki or kundan.

Cocktail Ring - Green Onyx, White Sapphire and Kundan



Cocktail Ring worn on thumb along with Hathphool

In our last post we talked about the use of candles in decor. Candles add a touch of romance to your wedding. How about if this touch of romance was married with tradition? Surinder Marbha, owner of “All About Henna“ did exactly that, where she decorates candles with gorgeous henna patterns. What a beautiful fusion of romance and tradition!

As a child, Surinder dabbled with many crafts. Surinder was inspired by the tradition of mehendi, when she saw her older sister getting henna applied on her hands. Surinder first started applying mehendi/henna as a hobby when she was five years old. When she moved to the US, she took it up again, where she started applying henna tattoos on people. With the encouragement of her friends, she started to take it more seriously. Surinder started experimenting with henna on different media like cloth/candles/candle holders/canvas/frames/boxes/pouches etc. Surinder exclaims, “World is my Canvas!”

Surinder is all about henna! She loves its fragarance, design, and color. Over a year ago she started a business called “All About Henna” (based out of Dallas, TX), where she started applying henna tattoos, selling henna painted candles, paintings and boxes. Her friends affectionately call her “Rockstar of Mehendi”!

For candles, Surinder uses embellishments like jewels, rhinestones, paint, glitter glue, micro glitter, mirrors and Swarovski crystals on the henna patterns. She says that when the candle burns, it plays around with the jewels and glows. She also paints resuable candles and candle holders. Surinder’s uses Arabic henna style in her work. Not only is it trendy, but very gorgeous. She uses flowers, vines, and a lot of dots and swirls. Arabic style has thicker edges with finer work inside and more contrast in color which gives it a bold look.

Surinder’s exquisite candles can be used as centerpieces, and wedding favors. She also personalizes favors with pictures. Recently, she also started to do henna invitations and jewelry boxes. Currently, Surinder is custom designing the entire set of wedding favors order for an Indian Bride in Dallas. The order is an assortment of wax hurricane candles and are individually decorated with a combination of henna, gold paint, red paint, kundans, jewels and svawrovski crystals.

We are giving away one of Surinder’s beautiful hand crafted candles. This hurricane candle is from her new line of flameless candles (operated by AA batteries) adorned with henna art and Swarovski crystals. This candle is inspired by the beautiful colors of spring, where she has incorporated flowers and leaves in the form of henna patterns on this flameless candle and added accents of stunning Swarovski crystals. The end product simply breath taking and will last forever! Its true elegance is seen in a dimly lit room when the warm glow of the flame reflects off the crystals on the surface, creating a mesmerizing hue in the room.

To enter the giveaway, please comment on this blog entry telling us why you like these candles. Don’t forget to mention your email address when making the entry. For extra entries in the giveaway, become a fan of Marigold Events on facebook, follow us on twitter, tweet about it (don’t forget to mention @marigoldevents) or blog about it. If you making extra entries, email us at neha@marigoldevents.com to let us know how many entries you made. The giveaway starts on May 17, 2010 and ends on May 23, 2010. We will announce the winner on May 24, 2010.

Candles adds to the romantic ambience of your wedding. There are a number of ways to incorporate candles in your wedding:

1. Decorating along the aisle with candles secured in hurricane glass or lanterns
2. Adding taper or votive candelabras on the guest dinner tables
3. Creating or Dressing up the Reception centerpieces
4. Accenting the cake or guest book table
5. Using candles as unique wedding favors

Following are the different kinds of candles you can use in your wedding decor:

• Pillar Candles: You can add a dramatic flair to a centerpiece by using pillar candles of varying heights. These are free-standing, thick, round, square or hexagonal columns, which can be plain or decorated. A great idea of using pillar candles could be to tie thick ribbon around the candle and use a bunch of these candles in varied heights, or use them in a secured hurricane glass, surrounded by flower petals. These make excellent centerpieces for guest tables or even sweet heart tables.

Pillar Candles used in varying heights

Hurrican Candles

• Votives: Votives are short round candles displayed in a cup or a votive holder that holds liquified wax residue. They come in many colors. Votive holders come in colored glass, crystal, wood, bamboo, stone and plastic. Hanging votives make a gorgeous centerpiece. Votives are usually hung on natural trees or metal trees, which is an adequate size for the tables. Votives can also be used to accent centerpieces or even as favors.

Hanging Votives

Stemmed Votive

• Tealights: Tealights are very small, short candles, customarily contained in a metal or plastic base. These, again, can be used to accent centerpieces or even on the placesettings as a decorative piece.

Tealights used as centerpieces

Hanging Tealights

• Lanterns: Moroccon style lanterns are very colorful and can add glamor to an Indian wedding. Candles, when placed inside the lantern, creates a great ambience. These can be hung on sheperd hooks along the aisle, or just placed on your reception guest tables to create a romantic atmosphere.

Lanterns

• Floating Candles: Think about using tall cylindrical or square glass vases of varying heights and placing floating candles in them. These look gorgeous and are perfect centerpiece for a sweetheart table. Consider tinting the water with food coloring or adding glass pebbles, leaves, orchids, rocks, sparkeles or marbles to the water.

Floating Candles

• Tapers: Tall and thin, also known as dinner candles, can be placed on candelabras and placed on guest dinner tables.

Tapered Candles used in centerpieces

• Gels:  Gel candles are soft and transparent candles which hold decorative wax items inside. These can make for unique favors or centerpiece accents.

Gel Candle used as favor

Next week we will have another interesting post along with a really cool giveaway. Keep an eye out!

There are variety of themes that can be used for Indian Wedding. You should choose one that best suits your personality and style. Also consider your audience and what is most likely to click. Discuss the various options with your fiance and decide jointly.

We will go through traditional, typical Indian and romantic themes to add a flair to your wedding. These themes can be applied to your decor, stationary, cake, mehendi…the possibilities are endless!

1. Peacock Theme: This would be a traditional theme and would typically apply to your decor, stationary, outfits, mehendi, cake, place settings and even overlays! Turquoises, Purples/Fuschias, Browns with splashes of green would go best with this theme. Peacock feathers, orchids, and crystal strings are what you definitely need.
   

   Image Courtesy: hellobellaevents.blogspot.com, and iStockPhoto.com

2. Bollywood Theme: For bollywood theme, think of your favorite romantic Hindi movies. You can choose from many a Yash Chopra and Karan Johar movies. For decor, you could get posters of romantic Bollywood movies and put them on the walls of your reception venue (make sure you use good scotch tape, which won’t leave marks on the walls!). You could also name the tables after those movies and the table name/number that is placed on the table could be a postcard with an image from that movie. The place cards could be tickets to those movies with the name of the guest and the movie name on it. You could even incorporate bollywood in your outfits, where you could dress up as a famous Bollywood couple. Your first dance could be to your favorite romantic bollywood tune. The possibilities are endless! Colorful hues, like reds, oranges, fuschias, sequins, and brocade borders would go best with this theme.
3. “Our first Dates” Theme: This would be a very romantic and personal theme and perfect for couples who have dated. You would start with compiling a list of your first dates: It could be restaurants, coffee shops, sporting events, movies etc. You could name the tables after your dating spots and the place cards could be designed as receipts from the restuarants/ coffee shops, tickets to sporting events/movies etc. Table number that is placed on the table could be a picture of you both with the name of the date spot. I think black and white pics with sepia tones look just fantastic! You could incorporate the sepia tones in your decor, and linen as well. This is something very personal for some people, and the theme should be used only if you are comfortable sharing it with your guests.

So which one is your favorite theme? What other themes can you guys think of?

If you are planning your wedding this year and are thinking of wedding colors, look no more! The verdict for the hottest colors this year is Mango and Turquoise. Different shades of tangerine, coral, mango, warm orange, golden yellow, peach, turquoise, blue are here to rule this wedding season. This complementary color scheme is very unique and very refreshing, especially for a summer wedding.

You can go crazy with these colors! Use them on your invitations, favors, centerpieces, specialty drinks (mango lassi!!!), accents, vases, cake, flowers, napkins, linen, and even your candy buffet! Don’t be afraid to add a splash of oranges and turquoise.

Suggested flowers: Mokara Orchid Stems, Asiastic Lilies, Gerberas, Birds of Paradise, and of course Marigold!

Here are some mango and turq inspiration boards for you: