Welcome to The Bride’s Den

Chandigarh is a colourful city with young and old wanting to live life to the fullest. Naturally then when it comes to something as scared as marriage, there is no stone left unturned. ‘The Great Indian Royal Wedding’ is no longer a traditional ritual but is indeed fast turning into a mega buck affair and donning a new corporate look.

And now, as the wedding season is round the corner, couples-to-be are in an extensive race to various stores to make sure they pick the best. For all the dulhans, who are rather tired of flipping fashion magazines or running through the window shopping eyeing to catch the best in the wedding collection, Wedding Asia 09 was a perfect place that exhibited almost everything. The three-day exhibition was held at Hotel Taj from November 13 – 15, 2009.

Right from invitation cards, wedding location, trousseau, jewellery, bags, footwear, and the doli, Wedding Asia 09 displayed new collections, wedding specials, designer spreads, diamond jewellery, bridal lehengas, home linen and much more.

The designer duo Monapali was available in the city for the first time. “We’ve got here collections that were showcased at Wills Lifestyle Fashion Week,” mentioned a brand spokesperson. “Concept dressing is in and we find brides opting for unusual colour schemes… even white is in demand,” she pointed.

The product ‘creativity’ was showcased in abundance at Monapali counter, shared by two designers Mona Lamba and Pali Sachdev from Kolkata. Founder members of the Fashion Design Council of India, the two designers are a permanent feature in Indian Fashion Week, Lakme Fashion Week, Wills India Lifestyle and other international festivals. Event management companies are best take part in it.

“Colour is big this season and unusual tones like aubergine and lilac are topping the charts. The designers find a growing acceptance towards Western cuts like gowns and dresses for wedding as well as ‘reception’ wear. There’s a lot of stone work and coloured embroidery that’s in,” mentioned Khalid, who brought with him his wedding wear label ‘Amadi’.

Also riding the popularity charts was velvet ‘rajai’ but not the thick version as well as digital prints – a la Tarun Tahiliani style. At ‘Wedding Asia’ Pooja Jain brought with her digital prints under the label ‘Paridhi’ while Malvika Balana, the designer behind ‘Mandvi’ offered traditional gota work in vibrant hues.

Bridal tunics from Navneet Hitkari’s Catu’s, Banarasi, Chanderi, brocade sarees of course occupied a fat space.

“There is scope for creativity in diamonds and coloured stones,” claimed Suresh Kohli of Bhagat Raj S Jewellers from Delhi. “The ultra-modern designs are out, contemporary makes a style statement. However, traditional still rules the roost in kundan, polki, and jadau jewellery,” he added.

Designer bags from Fidaa and Arban Designs, party-wear footwear, gift items, Cesta Chocolates in umpteen flavours, choice of honeymoon destinations were some of the other occupied counters of the Wedding Asia.

Great way to plan your wedding! At this time wedding planners are best to help you.