Favourites from Niki Mahajan's Couture show!

Niki Mahajan's Couture show

Absolutely loved these -

Facebook link to her page - https://www.facebook.com/nikimahajanindia?fref=ts

Different Types of Heels a Woman can wear

I absolutely love shoes. The first area I move towards in a mall has got to be shoes. Heels absolutely increase the style quotient of any dress. They can totally make or break a look. They work with all types of clothes - be it western clothes like jeans, skirts, dresses or Indian clothes like sarees, salwar suits, lehengas. For wearing a saree, the first instruction is put on your blouse, petticoat and the heels or sandals you would be wearing.

Things you should love about heels!

• Increases your height - Have a tall husband or boyfriend, haven't really reached the ideal height, or you just want to look taller. Heels are your best friend there. 

• Make you feel and look sexier - Once you have them on, you feel so good about yourself. It totally changes your behaviour. Even scientifically, they change your body posture, by forcing your butt area and chest out, and bringing out your calf muscles. 

There are so many new types of heels, shoes designs etc. coming up, it becomes very difficult to keep up.

So, here's presenting my easy guide to understanding the different types of heels available. Show it to the men in your life, and they might just get a grasp of how much information overload and choice overload we women have, and how do we still manage to finish our shopping in a few hours ;-)

• T-Strap Heels - 
• Peep-Toes
• Wedges
• Platforms
• Sandals

Work in Progress!

Roka Ceremony Location Hunt

I honestly wasn't involved in the location hunt for my Roka Ceremony(busy studying at ISB, Hyd).

My parents mentioned that they tried hotels such as MaharajaResidency, LemonTree etc.

They either had too big halls ( we had a very small gathering of 40-45 people), or did not have a hall, and wanted to place a partition in their restaurant space. Neither of the options seemed like a good one and my parents finally settled on GoldenPalms Resorts & Spa ( East Delhi, Opposite East Delhi Police Headquarters)

Hotel from the Outside 

A Glimpse of the reception 

The Banquet Hall/Conference Hall

Simple set-up on the stage done for us

We were catered to by this Gentlemen Gaurav. Do ask for him if you're booking this place. He was extremely helpful, and nice during the whole process. The staff was really polite and well mannered as well.

For the food, we had requested for food without onion and garlic, as it was the Navratre time. The Chef was really helpful, and suggested dishes that would do well without these ingredients. And voila! the guests loved the food. In case you want to do a pre-tasting, they are happy to oblige you at their restaurant.

The lighting was dim and soothing here. The photographer did setup his special lights near the stage for the photographs, but otherwise it was well done. They have a nice music system as well, and you could share the songs you want with them in a pen drive, and they are more than happy to oblige. The hall we booked was on the first floor, and they have two lifts for the same. The entry to the hall was also really nice, wide space, in case you have to do a ceremony at the entrance as well. The waiting area of the hotel was also well made, with nice comfortable sofas and soothing lighting. Since the hall already had designed walls, we did not really have to do any other decoration in it. Although, in case you do want to, they have affiliated personnel, who will help you out with that. I do believe they will charge extra for it though. 

If you need the details of the cost, or any other information, please feel free to drop in a comment with your e-mail address and I'll replay at the earliest.

GOLDEN PALMS - http://www.goldenpalmshotel.com/
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Start of my search on the internet!

There is a while lot of information available on the internet for brides-to-be.
It becomes extremely difficult to wade through all of it, and find what you're looking for.
So, I will be providing links as and when I find them.
These basically consist of blogs, facebook groups, pages on pinterest etc.

1. Facebook Group - StealAStyle - https://www.facebook.com/stealastyle

Love the pics they post, and apparently, they charge lesser for a similar outfit..

2. WeddingBlogs - 

a) thedelhibride.com

b) weddingsutra.com

c) CrazyIndianWedding.com
d) peachesandblush.com

3. Pinterest -
http://www.pinterest.com/avanigupta09/trosseau-blouses/
http://www.pinterest.com/avanigupta09/trosseau-salwar-suits/

Make-Up Artist for ROKA at Delhi

I was new to Delhi, so did not even have a set salon there.
My cousin had got beautiful make-up done for her brother's wedding, and so I asked her, as this MUA would be a tried and tested one.

I wanted my make-up to stay natural, and not be over the top, since this was the first time I would be meeting my fiance's extended family. And you definitely want to get the first impression right.

My cousin suggested MUA Shailly. She has her own salon at Yojana Vihar and Karkarduma - Silky Touch. The salon is in a residential area, and I had a little bit of difficulty in finding it. The employees there were extremely sweet, and took good care of us. They suggested facials according to the skin type, and happily answered all queries we posed, and believe me, I asked a lot. Shailly comes in only after three, so ensure that in case you have to get ready earlier, you let her know in advance.

Two days before the function, she asked us(me and my SIL - Sis-in-law) to get facials done, and any other waxing, pedicure, manicure etc. We had options between several facials such as O2 facials, Lotus facials.
I got an O2 facial done, and OMG, my skin looked so much better after it. I specifically took this facial, as I really needed to get my tan removed. They spent a good amount of time in the facial. It was quite relaxing, I think I even managed to sleep in the midst.
(p.s. I am studying at ISB, and there is honestly no time to take of your skin, and it just looked lifeless when I went to her)
My SIL was also very happy with the facial and the massage they gave.
Shailly asked us for the dresses photographs, and suggested make-up accordingly.
She has three packages for engagement/roka make-up.
4500INR - using local make-up
6000INR - using MAC products for the base and local make-up brands for the rest
7500INR - for the entire make-up using MAC products
She also suggested the hairstyles. For me she suggested a hair extension, as my hair was quite short. I resisted this, as I wanted to retain my natural look, but she was quite insistent, and finally agreed to do a trial on that day.

On the day of the ROKA, we reached there three hours prior to the function time.
We were given nice face massages again, so that our skin wasn't dry for the make-up.
Then, she started my make-up. She spent a good 45 minutes on my make-up. She made sure I was happy with the colors she was putting, but also was giving her own suggestions wherever I was unsure.
After that, the hair, and lehenga draping.
They draped the saree for my SIL. She has wavy and thick hair. They spent a good amount of time on her hair, and gave her a really nice hairstyle.

You can check out the photos from the Pre-roka photoshoot below :

My Pretty SIL

You can leave your e-mail in the comments below for the phone details of the MUA or any other information you need.

I'd be happy to say Hello too :)

Roka Preparations - Lehenga Search

I'm currently pursuing my masters at Hyderabad, ISB. Thankfully, we've been given a 15 day break!

But there's no rest for me, as my roka has been planned for the 12th of October.

My nephews mundan was also pending and was held on the 7th of October... my poor baby.. lost his lovely hair..

We're all(my parents, brother, sister-in-law) really tired, but equally excited about the roka ceremony.

I didn't want to go over the top with the dress for my roka. I was oscillating between a heavy suit, a light saree or a light lehenga. Saree was ruled out, as I would have to wear one at some point of time during the wedding, so why repeat. Heavy suit seemed like a good option, but then, it was the first time I would meet several people from his family, and somehow, we decided on a light lehenga.

We started our search from Krishnanagar. There are really nice and reasonable shops there, and I have bought many pretty salwar suits from there. Unfortunately we didn't find anything great.

Next, we moved onto Karol Bagh. Boy! what collections. Frontier, and all the stores have beautiful stuff.

I tried several shops, and am a really finicky shopper, tried on several lehengas, atleast 15-20 :(. Frontier lehengas seemed expensive for my budget, but there were beautiful lehengas and salwar suits. They were really rich in terms of color, material etc. It becomes extremely important here to understand the sort of crowd who would be attending the function.

Frontier

WHAT I LOVED ABOUT IT - The beautiful designs, good salesmen, rich colours

WHAT I DIDN'T LOVE - High prices

Finally, I liked a simple lehenga.. with an off-white bottom, bluish green net chunni, and a pink blouse.

I had to buy tassles and the stone sequin lining separately and give it to the tailor to stitch the lehenga, but hopefully it'll all be worth the mehnat. The tassles and sequins I bought from Karol Bagh itself. There are several shops that give you these, the ones I bought them from, were near the shops selling mobile phones. 

Btw, this lehenga was bought at Khanna Sons - the shop did not seem to great from the outside, but once they started showing the lehengas they had, I was hooked. The salesmen were a little laid back and you had to give them a little push to see new designs. But, they have a great collection. They have a tailor, but he isn't very great. My lehenga was stitched by him, and the blouse did not come out so well. I had to get it done again. I would suggest getting it stitched from your own tailor, if you have one. 
My SIL bought a very pretty saree from there too. Chances of discount were very less, although my bargaining skills are extremely poor. I'm sure, people with good bargaining skills would be able to get a good deal. 

Khanna Sons - 01128758302

WHAT I LOVED ABOUT IT - Beautiful designs, unique designs, shop is right at the beginning of the street, stick to the time they say.

WHAT I DID NOT LOVE - You have to push them to show new designs, shop is not so great, they do not have a good tailor with them which would have made the job muuuuch more easier, and as for me, I couldn't get too much discount from them.

 
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I'll post the pictures post 13th, after the Roka.

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Add on - Post Roka Ceremony

My Roka ceremony went on smoothly. I wanted to share my lehenga pics with you, and hopefully if you like it, you could check out Khanna Sons next time you're in Karol Bagh.

The Lehenga was appreciated by everyone around. It was simple, looked good in dim lighting, and the best part is, I can reuse it again, as it isn't quite heavy.

In case you need details on the cost, stitching, or anything else, add a comment with your e-mail and I'll get back to you.

Do check out the posts on the Make Up Artist(MUA) 
& the location !