Nothing excited me (or freaked me out) more than the clothes. I was given this basic information in advance:
– There will be 5 events over 3 days.
– People change clothes for every event.
– Jewelry is a must. The bigger, the better. You can never wear too much jewelry.
– People dress FANCY for weddings.
– Gujarati weddings are known to be some of the fanciest weddings out there.
– Men can get away with western suits but all the women and girls will be in traditional Indian dress.
– When in doubt, dress up.
Bearing all that in mind, I began my shopping prep in October. I was determined to do this right and getting 5 wedding-appropriate traditional Indian outfits for both Nia and I seemed like quite a daunting challenge. I was up for it though and I left Mr. Nick to figure himself out (guess what he wore – ha ha, you guessed it, western suits).
OK, let me walk you through what we ended up wearing!
For the Puja Ceremony on the 1st day I wore this saree:
And here’s a close-up because I’m sure you want to see the gorgeous details! Dang those earrings were heavy. My poor earlobes were not happy. And I even got the little ones. Just imagine if I had bought the normal sized ones they were trying to sell me. Mad props to Indian women – it takes serious strength to haul around those heavy beaded gowns and loads of jewelry. I clearly haven’t built up my stamina enough yet. #goals
Nia wore this dress. She was not excited about this one because she’d worn it before.
For the Garba dance on day 1, I wore this embroidered dress. I chose it for ease of dancing and the twirl-factor (very important!).
Nia wore her famous “wedding dress†ensemble that she purchased with her birthday money. I had planned to save that for the actual wedding but she just couldn’t wait any longer to wear it. She was definitely the belle of the ball (besides the bride, of course). :)
For the Puja ceremony on Day 2 I busted out my first Lehenga Choli. (Lehenga = Skirt, Choli = blouse). I am in love with it. Nia rocked a dress with a sheer midriff that showed off her awesome belly button. Side note: Indians like to show a lot of belly. She was very perplexed by this, as it’s not as common in the US. She kept saying, “Mom, the belly button is a private part. Shouldn’t people be covering it up??†I guess we need to work on our anatomy lessons a bit more…
And a shot of the back, just because it’s so cute.
And finally, for the Wedding Ceremony on day 3, I wore this sparkly saree.
Since wrapping sarees can be really tricky, I had my tailor do a pre-stitched version that I could just fasten with a hook (and one pin for the shoulder). It was so slick. I was surprised by how much interest there was in my pre-stitched saree. My assumption had been that pre-stitching was a common thing but apparently that’s not the case.
Nia was rocking a cute headpiece for the wedding. I’m sure it has a name but I don’t know it.
So there you have it…the clothes. Tomorrow will be my final post about the wedding. Do check back!
