Got engaged? 10 things to do after your engagement !

Got engaged ? Congratulations !
If you are planning for your wedding day, here are the 10 most important things to work on ,right from your day of engagement because the wedding day will be one of the most memorable days of your life.

1. Spread the news of your engagement day-
Take the time to write down in detail about your proposal story and share proposal story with your friends and family. Let your friends and family know about this good news. Start planning and shopping for the engagement ceremony.  Read and do some research on diamonds or gemstones. Decide how big you want to arrange your engagement ceremony and invite your guests.
Right after your engagement ceremony you can start working for your wedding day.

2. Start Organizing-
Take pen and paper and write ideas and lists down and keep track of them. Do research starting from the save the date to the thank you letter.  Wedding planner can do all these things for you but still you should have some ideas, thoughts to discuss with the planner. Write down different ideas you come up with and talk to the planner. Make a notebook, binder or spread sheet to keep the track of your to do list . Keep things as organized as possible

3. Find the date for the wedding-
Find the date for the wedding as soon as possible so you can start booking for venue . This is the most important decision you’ll make considering both parties and their views. Mostly Indians contact Panditji to decide an auspicious wedding date.If your flexible with the dates pick some dates which will not come in peak season so you can get a good deal and availability of venue and other vendors.Plan well enough in advance so that you will get to choose venue and vendor of your choice.

4. Budget-
Set budget before you talk to wedding planner. Ask wedding planner what they can offer you within your budget. Breakdown your budget in different category such as catering, venue booking, transportation, shopping etc.  Always overestimate your final budget as there will likely be small expenses that will come up along the way.

5. Guest list-
Prepare a tentative list of people you want to invite on your wedding. Your guests do a lot more than just stand next to you on the day of the wedding,  get them involved. Start noting down the names of your guests as soon as you remember them otherwise it may happen that you forget few of them. Update your guest list as per your limit and preferences. Also decide bridesmaids and groomsman.  Determine who and how involved you want them to be in your wedding.

6. Contact vendors-
Do research on vendors. Use vendor directory to start searching for vendors in your area. Talk to your planner if you want any specific vendor for that service. See their availability for the that and make the contract with the vendor.Set the meeting with vendors and ask questions before booking any vendor. Read the reviews of that vendor or get recommendation. Book the venue as soon as possible as many venues are booked a year in advance

7. Start planning your big day-
Envision your wedding day. Decide if you're having a formal wedding, a casual affair, or a theme wedding and what you want your wedding to feel like . Decide what type of venue you want to decide lavish party at a hotel banquet hall or wedding at the beach. discuss with your partner and take some notes.

8. Wedding trousseau-
 Decide who is wearing what on your wedding day such as dresses of bridesmaids , groomsman, mother of bride and most important bride's dresses. Indian wedding starts minimum 1 day event to maximum 7 days event ceremony. so decide what your wearing on each of of ceremony.  Decide about wedding favors, and gifts.

9  Before, after and on the day of wedding-
If you are a busy person consider hiring a wedding planner or consultant.Planner takes all the responsibility of small things. Schedule a final walk through with your planner and venue before the day of wedding. Attend Beauty Appointments with beautician. Send thank you letter to the guests after the wedding.

10 Honeymoon destination-
Now get relaxed and select a destination for honeymoon. If it is out of country get all the paperwork (visa, passport etc) done in advance. Contact travel agency for booking.

Drinks for kids parties !

Serve easy and unique drinks at your parties.Let's see how to prepare these drinks in three easy steps.

Ruby fruit drink
Mix soda water and red grape juice together in equal quantity.
Serve chilled.
Use seedless black or red grapes for decoration.







Red Potion punch drink
Mix apple juice, cranberry juice and soda water in equal quantity.
Served chilled.
Use mint leaves or red berries to decorate.










Orange punch drink
Mix orange juice, pineapple juice and peach juice together in equal quantity.
Served chilled.
Use Orange slice or peach to decorate.
Rainbow punch




Kiwi juice-
3 kiwis,3 strawberries peeled and cut.
Mix with water in juicer.
Add sugar (if needed)
Served with ice.









Strawberry milk shake-
Mix strawberries, milk, sugar and vanilla ice cream in a blender
Pour it in to the glass and decorate with fresh strawberries.

Still need to do research for your wedding dress?

Do you still have confusion what type of dress you want to wear for your wedding day?
Before shopping for  your wedding dress you should think about many things such as styles, color, material. Think which dress suits your body and which dress you can carry beautifully and comfortably .
There are different types of dresses available for an Indian bride such as lehenga, ghagra choli, sharara, lacha etc.


1. Lehenga-
Consider the design of lehenga, lehenga  is in “A” shaped cut with a narrow cut around the waist area. The circumference of the skirt increases towards at bottom. Here are some lehenga styles.

Straight cut lehenga

This type resembles a wrap around skirt. This legenga style is straight from waist to the hem.  This creates creates an illusionary slimming effect and suits on most of the body types.

Fish cut lehenga

A fish tail lehenga is fitted till the knee and flares from the knee resembling the tail of a fish . It fits well on the hips and is hence recommended for women with a curvaceous or an hourglass figure.

A-line legenga

A-line lehenga is a skirt which flares from waist to the hem, roughly resembling  the shape of the letter A. This type suits for  thin as well as curvaceous brides

Flared lehenga

This style has lots of plates at the waist so it has large circumference. It has large plates at the waist so it looks good on thin brides . These plates add volume to the waist and looks very classy and elegant. 

This is similar to the ghagra cholis. 

2. Ghagra -

This is preferred outfit by most of the brides specially from north part of India Rajasthan or Gujrat. They feel comfortable in ghagra rather than in stylish lehenga. This style looks similar to the flared legenga . 

3. Sharara-

Sharara the skirt is divided vertically with stitches in the center.This lehenga is separated like a flared trousers.  The Sharara is quite common among Muslim brides or Lakhnavi brides.

4. Lacha-

A Lancha has a long blouse which almost comes to the length of knees. The skirt design may same as the lehenga or ghagra. This is the type of ghagra with slight variation in the blouse. 

5 Reasons to celebrate destination wedding at resort

Indian wedding generally is a very elaborate ceremony which can last from one day to more than a week. Hotels, wedding halls are widely used places for the Indian wedding. However farmhouses or resorts are also a good option if you want to celebrate Multiday weddings.

Here are some things which will make you think why you should go for farmhouse or resort wedding.

1. perfect reason to keep the guest list simple- If you are planning hometown wedding then you will have to invite every single person that you know, in that you will not get  a chance to talk to your close friends and relatives. If you plan a wedding away from the town in the resort other people are not obligated to come because of time or monetary constraint.

2. Creativity- if you plan a wedding away from the home you will get a change to be more creative on the venue, food, attire, decoration and entertainment. such as you can plan the indoor and outdoor parties with limited restrictions.

3. Freebie- many of the resorts offer free event planning help for couple if you have large group booking so you can spent more time with your family and friends.You can make use of each and every facility of the resort right from the planning parties at pool to the terrace.

4. Perfect combination - Perfect combination of event celebration, site seeing and family reunion. If you plan your destination wedding at a resort, you family and close friends will get a chance to reunite and they can have a nice time.  Also the guests from both parties can get a chance to mingle with each other and to get involved

5. Save on decor- These places are mostly located in a calm environment and away from the city on the beaches, vineyard, state park or  blooming gardens so you can get stunning scenic backdrops and good chance for outdoor scenic photography.

Lawn or garden is a good place to celebrate mehndi and sangeet event where you can enjoy to the fullest with friends and family.

LFW Winter Festive 2012- Shyamal and Bhoomika

Shayamal and Bhoomika presented their royal collection called 'Maharaja'  in LFW Winter Festive 2012.The theme of the costume designed outfits is specially for the wedding.

This collection reminds of the Mughal era. It includes heavily embellished sherwanis, chogas, kurtas and Jodhpuri jackets with dhoti, churidar and dupatta for men and the magnificent traditional multi fabric saris – net, brocade and velvet and the lehengas with zardozi embroidery for women.

Photo courtesy Lakme Fashion Week

LFW Winter Festive 2012 - Neeta Lulla

Neeta Lulla is a successful and popular designer for more than two decades in the fashion industry. She is  National award winner costume designer for famous bollywood films such as Devdas and Jodhaa Akbar. 

Neeta Lulla presented her stunning collection called 'Radha' in LFW Winter Festive 2012.This collections was inspired by the 'Radha', beautiful and traditional style.

The collection of lehengas, cholis and dupattas were gorgeous and complemented with fabulous bridal ornaments by Forever Jewellery. Dazzling kundan necklaces, chandelier earrings, maang tikkas, Minakari bangles collection of the best wedding jewellery.

The combination of rich fabric  such as Banaras Jaal and Chinar Butti brocades with the gorgeous Kanjeevaram, organza, tulle and silks in nice color combo pink, purple,orange, emerald and green is very innovative.

Photo courtesy Lakme Fashion Week

LFW Winter Festive 2012- Bhairavi Jaikishan

Calling her collection 'A Wonderful World' , designer Bharavi Jaikishan presented her collection in LFW winter 2012. All her designs were having the focus on cocktail, evening and bridal wear. It also included ornate sarees and lehengas along with the mixture of lehenga saree which is her trademark.
She has created all exotic creation with rich colors like black, mustered, emerald, pink, red and blue. All brides can take the inspiration from this collection and every women would like to be a part of this 'Wonderful World'.

Photo courtesy LFW