India, a country of numerous festivals, sees not just the season of Diwali or Holi but also the ‘shaadi’ season. The magic of this season lies in the fun and frolic it brings, and the pomp and show it is carried out with. And this is why you can’t miss it at any cost. It is estimated that every year 10 million weddings take place in India. Out of this which more than half of the weddings take place in the months between October and February since most people prefer winter marriages. Dressing in winter for winter marriages is a different experience altogether as people enjoy wearing heavy sequined and bordered clothes in dark, deep colors. And we ‘Dilliwallas’ are so used to the ‘Delhi ki sardi’ that besides suits, saris and heavy anarkalis, bold backless blouses are also a rage.
When we asked our readers (to be brides and grooms, the already wedded and people who attend weddings) about what they prefer more, marriage in winter, marriage in the summers or a sexy monsoon wedding, most opted for a marriage in winterand some for a Bollywood style monsoon wedding in a wet place and the least votes went to the dry summer weddings. Priyanka Jindal, a bride-to-be strongly recommends winter marriages, “Marriage is a very crucial thing in a girl’s life and she dreams of it being perfect. I would hate to sweat on my wedding wearing a heavy embellished ‘lehenga’ in the summers.” Dressing in winter might seem simple as the markets are loaded with plenty of wedding attires, but even then let alone the wedding clothes, even choosing right party dress in winter can be a bit tricky. So here’s a small piece of advice for those who get confused with the ample variety at a showroom. Golden rule for dressing in winter, keep it simple!
1) For the ‘ring ceremony’, wear a simple pink or orange saree, crape saree, chose silk if you like.
2) A ‘Cocktail’ is much more casual and lively. Enjoy it by flaunting your favorite, body hugging, plain-black knee length dress. Nothing can beat this sexy outfit!
3) If you’re attending a ‘mehendi’ function just wear a plain red suit with a broad or very broad, golden border and you will look stunning with no need of any jewelry.
4) Dressing in winter for the D-day, the grand wedding, without catching a cold is not as tough as you imagined. Wear a heavy embroidered lehenga, embellished with pearls, stones, crystals, sequins, Swarovski stones, heavy zardozi work in dark colors like maroon, purple, dark red and green and dark pink and orange in a ghaghra choli or a fish cut style or the sharara style. This will not just make you stand out in the crowd at a wedding but will easily protect you from the cold if not keep you entirely warm because of the heavy work on it. Glittering south nalli silk with big golden borders is ‘in’ this winter as famous celebrities too have been seen flaunting this look.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, on the night of November 27 at least 60,000 couples tied the knot in the romantic Delhi winter of 2011. This year too, November month earned the position of the ‘shaadi month of the year’, with 30,000 weddings taking place in Delhi and another 30,000 in Mumbai incidentally causing 3 to 4 hour long traffic jams on the highways. Famous and most followed celebrity couples too were seeing tying the knot this year. The Saifina wedding, being the most happening of all. Other popular shaadis were of Genelia and Ritesh and the ‘Dirty Picture’ heroine Vidya Balan for whom the definition of dressing in winter means only and only Kanjeevaram silks with Pashminas.
Our country’s jewelry market is worth more than 600 billion rupees, half of which is spent on weddings. ‘Thus our shaadi season is not just a festival but typically a booming business in which wealthy ‘Dilliwallahs’ are seen spending lavishly and the band just keeps growing fatter’!
Photograph by Ankur Phougat.
