My wedding website!

Dear All,


Given the free time on hand I have these days, I channeled my otherwise wasted energies towards creating this wedding website. So do have a look and let me know what you think!


Himanshu and Nikki

Insight into my wedding day look...

The wedding cards are here! :D


Sheesh...I am actually tying the knot soon! Lol. As the wedding day draws in closer and closer, to get a perspective, my wedding day look is going to consist of the following:

This is topor or the crown that every bengali bride has to wear. Its intricately designed and very light in weight, being made of thermocol.  

These are the traditional Shakha paula bangles that a bride must wear.

Because my wedding is a culmination of three cultures; Bengali, Gujarati and now Punjabi, I will be wearing:

This is the Punjabi chura/bangles that the bride has to wear during the wedding and for at least one year. 

 I want something like the above for my panetar/ wedding saree

A lovely maang tikka...

Beautiful henna mehendi adorning my hands and...

Feet as well!

And the bichia to adorn my toes...

Will keep you guys posted...as I learn more! 

Do you know, I am already freaking out? And I should be too! Its December already and the wedding's in January. Doesn't leave me with much time, does it? Time for what?  I don't know...maybe a lil more time to spend at home with my dad, mom and my newly painted room? [Yeah, I am starting to get nostalgic now. Recently on my birthday everyone kept saying that it was my last birthday as a single gal. Bah. It drove my mom to tears twice. Not the best way to bring in your 25th, is it?]


Currently my room looks more like a store room. The window baithak [French windows with seating arrangement] is occupied by four big suitcases. Each of these contain some part of my trousseau. And am I done shopping? Nope. Not completely still! There has been a change of plans and now I too want to wear a traditional Gujarati panetar instead of the honey-gold colour Kanjeevaram I was planning to wear. Bah. All last minute changes. 


My cupboard has been converted into another storage area that contains my regular clothes and the stuff thats coming in from the designers/tailors. I am not allowed to wear any of these yet. I managing in my juna-purana stuff...so I have to still hunt for the perfect Panetar. Everyone seems to know the best place to purchase it from and it gets even more confusing. On the other hand, Him, my man, is worried whether I will turn into an auntyjee who only wears sarees [because I purchased so many!] and his jeans-kurta wearing girlfriend will be lost forever! 

And the countdown begins...

Seventy-five. Just 75 days more and I will be married! Whoa...that doesn't seem like a lot of days, does it? Frankly, I want more, so do my mom and dad. Especially dad. He just cannot come to terms with the fact that I am going to be married.

Mom is crying over little things. But the irony of life [or my life, to be precise] is such that they have been waiting for this day ever since I turned 18! At least that is what my mom says!

Well, not much news right now. Just chose the wedding invitation card and its going to print by end of this week.

Sigh life is difficult with my man being in the US of A. Well he has been away just for the last 12 days or so and will be coming back to the capital in no time. But I miss him. 


Weddings!!! If anyone was to ask me how to go planning this whole drama [believe me it is much more drama than a well written play. Many sudden twists and turns, new characters, old ones, action, melodrama and blah!], I'd simply say, "Elope!" Yes. Undo the complications in your life and run! Go to a court house, register, wait for a month, turn up on the given date in jeans and kurta, sign the papers and be off to a cozy location for a long honeymoon. Sigh...how I wish. But no! I wanted a full wedding with all the jazz. 


So here I am already exhausted. Shopping is almost done but you never know if there is another shopping spree lurking behind some  corner. Frankly I don't think I can handle another saree buying session. Bas. Went to my sasuraal, Delhi, recently. My ma-in-law took me shopping and she couldn't stop with the gorgeous sarees! We had planned that we would buy maximum two more sarees but ended up with six. Six long hours of browsing 
through two stores in South Extension and Greater Kailash left my man exhausted. Poor him! 


Got back home and realised I required a lot of space to pack the goods. So had to buy suitcases immediately. That done, the clothes bit doesn't end here. After things are bought one has to get hold of a good tailor and a good designer. Petticoats and matching blouses have to be done. Unfortunately we had been procrastinating and so most of the designers we knew about, sent us packing right away. 


The tailor said he would give everything after Diwali...what a sigh of relief. And then we met this god sent designer. She agreed to do all my stuff by December. Phew. 


So for now...thats it!

Shoe-imply awesome!

Shoes...and more shoes. I don't know about the other brides but my trousseau is a lot empty without shoes. I have quite a few as you have already guessed. In the past I have dedicated an entire blog post to shoes on Ire. And this one is no different. Okay it is a bit different because these are going to be a part of my wedding loot. And my own wedding gives me a chance to buy blingy shoes! Oh how I love bling...yeah I have a couple of pairs of golden [mind you... matte finish gold] chappals and stilettos. 


So I was waiting all these months or rather from the time I was officially allowed to shop, to buy meself shoes...its so typical me. There have been times in the past when He would be around and every time I ventured close to a shoe shop, he would panic. He would be like, "No Nikki, nahi...you have lots of them!" The situation has changed a bit as he doesn't mind me buying them, simply because it makes me happy. :)


And with shoes, the first thing that comes to my mind is of course Sarah Jessica Parker. Women across the world would watch Sex and The City for her clothes and shoes. 400 pairs of sexy sandals...Jimmy Choos and Manolo Blahniks! What else can a girl ask for? Nothing. So just check out some of mine below:   

These are brow peep toes...very comfy!

Ooooh...these are my current favourites! I want to wear these to my engagement...did I mention I love bling? Hehe

So far so good...have these much as yet! Have to still buy a pair for the wedding, one pair for reception [Mum], one for Delhi reception and a couple of flats! If my pocket permits then I can get myself boots as well!

I am not a fan of gladiators but these caught my fancy! Oh so very comfy!

More to come...will keep you posted!

So I am meeting all sorts of people who are going to help me be the beautiful bride. Lol. Last Sunday I met the make-up artist. We got to know her through some family and so we visited her home-cum-office. Once there, we  were greeted by scores of stray strands of hair. No she ain't shedding hair...just conducting her class. About six enthusiastic women worked diligently to get some hairstyle right. Don't ask names...because I am not much into hairstyling and all.


A few minutes into the visit, we were escorted to this room that seemed like her parlor. She handed me a thick album to browse through...it contained all the bridal makeup models. The room had many pictures of her dressing brides and so on. So I liked what I saw. It was nice...simple and all that. 


But I am not sure of how much I want of this. It is not the expense that has brought me to the decision [its freaking expensive...the entire thing will come up to 30k or so!]. The thing is, I hardly know about makeup. I own a flew glosses, a compact and Kohl, thats it. I have never applied rouge...don't even know how to! I used to have some foundation but I have made a mess of it in the past [best not to go down that lane!]. 

I don't even want to wear the heavy maang-tikka and all [the traditional/ornamental head gear Indian brides wear] but mom was like, you should...it would look nice. Bah. I think its going to be a mess. I will be tired with all this going on. 


I don't know how other brides feel. But I have this nagging feeling that I should have eloped else had a court marriage and be done with it. At the end of the day, we - Him and I, want to be together, so I guess that is all that matters. But thats not happening. My ma and pa, his mom, have scores of things planned. Will keep you posted on these...

Sarees and more...

Gosh...planning a wedding is no piece of cake. Recently I got talking to this guy friend of mine and he was like, your wedding's six months away and you are already shopping? Aren't two months enough? Well, that got me thinking. 

If I had to do everything in two months...it would be crazy for sure. Why? Because a wedding is not only about shopping. And shopping doesn't mean that you get into a shop, buy whatever you like and then you are done. No way! Weddings are special...very special and it is an occasion of a life time [for me yes...cannot say for the others!]. So I asked this guy friend to shut up. 

Him's been very patient with all my ranting about shopping and all. Some days are good and some are bad. On some days I find really good stuff to buy while others are just a waste. Frankly, it is confusing. Simply because there is so much to choose from!

And my mom is the opinion that a trousseau should have variety. This is the first and the only trousseau planning I have been involved with...so yeah it is definitely fun! According to my mum there should be a variety in sarees. So I have a mix of cottons, silks, Georgette, crepe, net etc. But then it does not end here. We both; mom and me are saree lovers. My mum can hold an exhibition of her sarees alone [she owns about 200 plus and what a variety!] 

So my trousseau is going to be something like this:

Kanjeevaram

Temple Design Saree

Tusser Silk

Maharashtrian Silk saree

Bengali Dhakai Saree

Bengali cotton saree

Kantha Saree [I have to get this yet!]

Bandhani Saree

Leheriya Saree

Ikat print saree

Patola Silk saree

Designer Net saree

More to come...I am running out of names. 

Please note: none of the above images are of my trousseau...pics will be taken soon!

Flowers

This is one of my favorite poems of all times.

Flowers

Some men never think of it.

You did. You'd come along

And say you'd nearly brought me flowers

But something had gone wrong.

The shop was closed. Or you had doubts -

The sort that minds like ours

Dream up incessantly. You thought

I might not want your flowers.

It made me smile and hug you then.

Now I can only smile.

But, Look, the flowers you nearly bought

Have lasted all this while.

- Wendy Cope

Recently Him and I had a tiff. So this meant we did not speak for a day. Now when we want to patch, the man is a little hesitant...the ego is involved you see. So earlier he would courier new books to me as a patch up gift or just like that. And I was complained [not really] that he had never got me flowers. 

Whenever we pass a florist, I would nudge him and say, you could have got me some and to this he always replied 'next time'. 

So the next day of our tiff, I get a call on my cell phone from an unknown Mumbai number. The man on the other side is inquiring about my residence address and being the good girl I am [I do not talk to strangers!] I ask him back, "Aap kaun hai? Kya bhejna hai? Kaha se bol rahe hai?"

He says, "Madam, main Borivili se bol raha hai hoon, aap ke liye bouquet bhejna hai aur address ghar ka diya hai,"

I was like, "theek hai..bhejiye.."

He says, "Haan magar bataiye, Borivili se kaise ana hai?"

I explain the route to him and mention the landmarks. Before he cuts the call I ask him who has sent the bouquet and for whom? "Himanshujee ne bheja hai aap ke liye bouquet," he said. 

And Him happened to call just the next moment. So I was like "you are sending me flowers?" He replied very nonchalantly, "What flowers? Who? Where?" And the next moment he blurted all out. He had got a friend of his to book a bouquet online and send it to me. Little did he realise his friend had selected a florist in a far off suburb and hence that chap required the route to reach my place. Lol. Poor him. 

The bouquet was really pretty. He knew I don't like roses so I got assorted flowers. 

Shopping...what else!

I have been staring at the blank 'new post' page for a while now. This is not how I intend to begin a new post in my bridal diary...poo poo! Okay to cut the crap...I am excited. I am so excited that it is tiring me out. I jump at at any new shiny thing [not that this is new] I see in a shop window. 


You know like most women, I enjoy window shopping too. I used to love to peer at stuff on the mannequins and  think of how they would look on me or if I were buying it, what would I go in for or how the frill at the end killed the outfit for me even though the embroidery was good. Exhausting...isn't it? Ha, and I haven't even begun talking here. All those days of thinking, imagining and rethinking, and re-imagining are over. It is now my turn to actually enter the shop, try out the stuff laid out and buy some of it. And I am buying loads of it. 


I have already bought stuff that amounts to 1/4th of my trousseau. I am not giving any details yet a my hubby-to-be is reading this and I want to surprise him. 


My trousseau was being planned in my head for years now. When the real time has come, I am being practical. I want to save and cut down on things I thought I would buy but they are outrageously expensive. I want to be able to wear most of the stuff always [hope to remain the same size though...]. So I have some really pretty sarees, a few good salwar kameez pieces and the rest of the list awaits to be bought. 


In the mean time, I have downed umpteen number of coffee cuppas [yummy filter coffer that I am so going to miss in the capital] and have been marching all over the this place called Matunga. Believe me, if you live in Mumbai, you know this is the place to get all your silk sarees from! 


So this is it for now...more on the coming tuesday!

Capturing a few memories on celluloid...

One Hundred Years Of Togetherness...

Okay let me make myself clear - I am no coy bride-to-be! I don't blush that easily and I don't feel like crying yet, now that I am soon going to leave my family and relocate to Delhi. None of that for now at least. I hope the crying bit does come with time though...else I will have proven to myself that I am WEIRD. And believe me you don't want to go down that road. 


Recently him and I got talking [we talk everyday and thats a lot of talking...making up or rather pacifying ourselves over the phone as its a long distance relationship!] and he was like I like you being mushy. At this point, my mind is racing just like you see in films. Everything is passing by real quickly like a carousel gone mad and yet, I cannot remember this any one time that we both have been real mushy. No, we aren't one of the weird couples. We have had our share of love and all that...but I always thought we were the more practical ones and we are! So my man needed the rain check - no love we were not mushy...not ever yet! 


So he is a bit disappointed [sowwie!] but then thats the truth.  Mush was never our thing. In fact if someone was to ask where we spent most of our dates, I'd say we are always checking out books. Boring...you think? Nah. His first gift to me was a book and many books thereafter. Before he had even asked me out and we were pals, just before my 22nd birthday, he made sure he couriered my birthday present - One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. And I wasn't even expecting it. 


Back then it was a sweet gesture but then with time, to me this is one of the most romantic things he has ever done for me. People look for some mush in a relationship so that they can feel they are romantic. But romance is much more than that, at least to me it is. 


It is romantic when we are crossing the road and he asks me to come onto this left side. Why? So that he can make sure I am protected from the oncoming traffic. We always hold hands. He never lets me walk on the outer side of the road. He has never asked me to wear make-up or asked me to change my style of dressing. We have never had tiffs over where we should go for a date. It is always my choice of restaurant and what I choose on the menu. I am the one who does most of the talking on the phone and he is the one listening. All of this and much more. 


This is romantic because he is not trying nor am I. It just comes naturally. And that is why we are what we are today. :)

It is never easy to be the center of attention and I never preferred the limelight. But there comes a time in every girl's life that suddenly it is all about her. And yeah, my time has come. It is all about me now. Him and Me. 


We are sort of engaged [rings are yet to be exchanged] but I am bound to him [happily] for this lifetime. The wedding date has been set and the preparations have sort of begun. For me, the excitement has not sunk in yet so I am still normal. Yeah, I do seem to be running out of patience but I guess that is bound to happen. Sleep has gone for a toss. Shopping has to be done and tonnes of it has to be done. Jewelery has to be designed and bought. Wedding saree is a distant thought for now. Me and Him have not met in forever [a month to be precise] and the levels of frustrations are rising. Bah. 


For now only this bit. I will keep you posted.