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Hi everyone! So Im rukhsati-fied and finally back. It’s been a crazyyy last 4 months with wedding festivities going on but wanted to come by here and say a big thank you to all those amazing people on gs who have been the most helpful while I was planning the wedding. Here are some details from the weddings and some pics, be warned this is a long, long post =)
So basically, everything started in March: dholkis, celebrations, etc.
Now the wedding- my shopping kicked off in London for makeup, shoes, bags, etc. It’s an absolute divine place for any shopaholic! Next was Pakistan and short trip to Dubai. With so many things going on (dholkis, preps, moving, etc), I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go but then decided to just a month before my wedding for my bridal trials.
For my rukhsati, I was a Bunto Kazmi bride =) And for valima, a Sana & Safinaz bride =) And I have to add, a VERY happy and content one. My husband’s attire was completely done by Deepak Perwani. I have heard so much about bad designer experiences on gs and elsewhere, my experiences with all three were beyond FABULOUS. I can happily say that as a bride, I could not have asked for a better experience, both on phone/emails and in person.
First, Deepak: He’s a close family friend of my husband’s family. I called him and he was wonderful to talk to. He asked me about my clothes, colors, designs, everything. He then sketched out my husband’s clothes accordingly. A week later, I got a call from him saying he was flying to Miami for a fashion show, and was gonna meet up with my husband to see what he had in mind for his clothes. They had a meeting and Deepak went over all the designs, etc. Once back in Karachi, he sent it to us again to approve and started the work. My wedding was in end-May, and I went to Karachi in late April. I called him in Karachi and he told me to come by and see if I liked the sherwani which was still in the works. I went to his kaarkhana and told him the sherwani looked a bit plain compared to what I was wearing. He said no problem, and told me to choose something else. There was a stunning sherwani he had on mannequin there, I told him I wanted that kaam. He then sketched out another sherwani for me, the motifs he was using on the design, he enlarged them and put them on the khussas as well. 5 days later, I went to pick it up and I just LOVED it- he had made a jet black sherwani with dull gold kaam on collar and sleeves, and buttons on the front with small motif on each. He had taken the same motifs, enlarged them and put them on the khussas as well. Instead of shalwar, he made black pants with the sherwani so basically everything was black: sherwani, pants and khussas. He had a few turbans that he had matched with the sherwani. We both liked a dark burgandy banarsi turban and altogether, the entire outfit looked A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.
The Bunto Bridal and jewelry: I wore my grandmother’s heirloom nauratan set that my mother wore on her wedding also. With that, I had a paanch lara which had to be reduced to a 3 lara because the bridal turned out to be so heavy. It had beautiful nauratan pendants matching with the main set and a matching teeka. Because it was a pearls look mainly, I got a matching hair thing made as well- a big nauratan pendant for the updo/joora with three strands of pearls on each side. I don’t think anything can be more special on your big day than wearing something that belongs to the people you love so much: my grandma and my mom. I even wore my mom’s gold karas that she did on her wedding. Basically, all my jewelry except the hair thing, was heirloom, beyond special. When my mom was putting her karay on me, I could see that emotional look on her face. Ah, lovely moments, alhumdulillah.
As for the dress, I think the more said about Bunto bee, the less it is. I don’t know why brides have called her stuck up and not the type to listen but in my case, it was more like a motherly figure than anything else. As a bride, she really, really pampered me. I had not so much interest in ordering from her but because I wanted something traditional, SGC told me I should definitely think about her, and because she’s a close family friend of my inlaws, my mother in law urged me to give her a call to see if she could make what I wanted. When I told her I had heard of her to just do her own thing, my mil was like, not at all, she’s not like that. So I went ahead and called her.
Here was the thing: I had only heard and seen of her making farshis with long shirts but I wanted an old school, classic style gharara from the era of our grandmothers. When I told her that, she said she will make me anything I want BUT since long shirts are in fashion, I should consider a farshi. It took a bit of convincing on my part but I told her I only wanted a gharara, something that will never go out of fashion and have the classic Bunto look. Finally she said okay, I’ll make it for you. She told me her starting price was 3 lakh for a simple bridal and I told her I didn’t have a set budget anyway, and didn’t mind paying the price, I just wanted it to be STUNNING and something even my daughter will love years later. So go all out and make what you want. She assured me she was going to make me something totally different and incredible.
Okay so this was in April of 2009. From then till September of 2009, after my order was booked, it took us six months to decide on the bridal. This is where Bunto bee and Fizza really, really blew me away. I exchanged emails with them literally every other day and I always had a reply back within a few hours. They sent me numerous pictures and discussed each and every corner of my bridal with me. Initially I had wanted a medium light shirt and dupatta but a super duper heavy gharara. However, Bunto bee convinced me to go for a heavy gharara as well as a heavy shirt and dupatta. I was a bit skeptical at first thinking if that would look OTT but she told me it will be put together very well. Once everything got confirmed in September, it was like a big burden off. They asked me if I wanted pictures of progress with my clothes but I said no, I wanted it to be a surprise when I saw it. When I went to Karachi, Bunto bee called the next day and told me to come for my trial.
So here I am sitting there and her bahu asks the assistant to bring out my box, she pulls it out and I was like WOW! My dupatta and shirt (medium gharara length) were in this gorgeous shade of maroonish red which she calls ‘Bunto Red’ with dull gold kaam all over. The gharara was in a bright shade of red with kaam/jaal ALL over, literally from the kamarband till the end, she had made it twice as heavy as I had asked her to. It had beautiful kaam on the knee gote and a thick border on the border of the gharara. And since I had told her I was wearing a nauratan set, Bunto being the genius she is, made my sleeves in chatta patti in different colors to match my jewelry. So basically, everything was maroon and red except for the colors she added to my sleeves. She had dhl-ed me fabrics, colors, etc so I had an idea of what was being done. I liked how she did my gharara in pure, soft jamavar (dipped in water according to her) since I didn’t want a stiff look and something more flowy. I had asked for something more georgette type but because she was doing full kaam on the gharara, only a jamavar could have hold that much kaam without looking limp and give a rich, regal look to the bridal.
I can’t even say the bridal was beautiful because that would be a major understatement. When I came out of the fitting room, her bahu said to her, I haven’t seen you make these in a LONG time! Bunto bee then looked at me and said, do you remember how you had to convince me to make this for you? What made you think of this? This is LOVELY. She adjusted my dupatta, wrapped it around and for some reason, kept looking for a while, and then she said, Im going to keep your bridal here, I’ll call you for your second trial in a few days. I had no idea why she said that, and a week later, she called my husband’s khala to bring me for my second trial. When I wore the dress and came out, I was like, this is NOT my dress, I couldn’t even walk in that gharara, now I can’t move at all! She started laughing and told me it was MY dress, she wanted it to look as heavy and as regal as possible.
She had basically quadrupled the kaam on my shirt and dupatta to make it more heavier. She had increased the kaam on my sleeves, enlonged my daaman with more kaam, and added a line of jamavar patti with beautiful gotay ka kaam on it. She did the same with my dupatta but the most amazing were the aanchal of the dupatta that she wanted to be the center of attention while I was sitting down. I had one more trial left because even during the second one, she still wanted to make changes. For my third trial, Sumorani (my maid of honor and she was visiting Karachi with me) was there as well and Bunto bee showed her everything: how to make me sit, how to set my gharara on stage, how to drape my dupatta, how to set out the aanchal, etc.
Like I said before, she really pampers you as a bride. Anytime I thought of something or wanted to change things around, all I had to do was give her a call. When you’re there in person, you’re the center of her attention and she will keep making changes till she knows she has made you that perfect bridal you want. She will have her assistants and karigar/tailor at your every beck and call, they will be standing with her while she does your fitting. Anything you are not happy with or changed, she will tell them, beti ne yeh kaha hai, I want it done asap.
Her prices start at 3 and go up as you increase the work on your clothes, yes she’s expensive and don’t go to her just because you want a Bunto Kazmi bridal. However, if you have a budget for her, you shouldn’t even think about anyone else. Her kaam is like a piece of art, so, so intricate and lovely. My mother, who wasn’t sure how the bridal would turn out and if the price was worth it or not, was so in awe of the bridal that she is now set on booking Bunto bee for my sister’s bridal as well, iA.
And I have to tell you guys how beautiful Sumorani’s dress for my wedding was. It was designed by HSY, a stunning anarkali style a-line with kaam to die for. Besides my bridal, that was the outfit we were both dying to see while it was being made. Finally when it got shipped to her in Karachi, her mom called and told me it looked really, really nice. Finally when I got to see it, we both sat in her hotel room and just ooh and aahed over it for a while, haha. She looked like a complete stunner on the wedding!
Sana & Safinaz: My bridal for valima was made by SS in about 4 weeks, AND it was ready 4 days before the given date. That’s how amazing they are. I was heck of a confused bride about my valima clothes. I had NO idea who to go to and after seeing one of their designs, I started a thread here on GS where Ziggy posted some amazing pictures of their bridals. I called and spoke with Sana about their purple and teal bridal but for some reason, I had second thoughts about it so I never went ahead with it. And Im so glad, that bridal is not that great in real, very dull. This was in early February. Finally, mid of March had come and I realized I was still a bride without valima clothes 
so I called up SS again and their assistant told me to atleast put a deposit down so they could book my order and I can decide later which bridal I want. Meanwhile, I absolutely LOVED the pink/fuschia bridal that Vaneeza wore on the cover of some magazine. Sumo’s mom was in Karachi so she went and checked it out, told us she really liked it and put a deposit down for me. Sana and Safinaz were traveling at that time so I didn’t get to speak to them until 2 weeks later. By now, it was almost April. I finally spoke to Sana, she asked me about my budget. Again, I had no budget given by my husband so I told her to make it however she wanted. I sent her a picture of the bridal I had wanted but in a dark blue color. She was a bit skeptical, SS are known to be very choosy with changing colors. She told me she had mostly done this bridal in pinks and reds and never blue, and wasn’t sure how that was gonna turn out. I told her that was the only color I wanted. Finally she agreed, said she was going to make some changes to the outfit to make it heavier and discussed everything with me. She wanted to do red pipings but when I asked her for green ones, she agreed. Basically, I had no problems with her. She listened to what I wanted and assured me she was going to make me something very stunning. I reminded her again that I needed the dress by May 1st, and she said it will be done, which was barely 4 weeks away.
In Karachi, I called to let them know I was here and her assistant told me my bridal was ready. I was like whaaa? So soon?! Okay, so I went for my first trial, Sana showed me the original dress in pink and took my proper measurements. Called me back the next day, I went over, she told her assistant to bring out my bridal, she took off the cover and I was speechlessssss! It was GORGEOUS. She asked me if I liked it, I told her I was in LOVE with it! She was so happy, she was like, I don’t like doing phone orders because you never know what a client wants but Im happy you like it.
This is what she had made me, there were 4 pieces: the tank slip was in a copperish silver color with huge motifs in silver on the front. The coat that went on top was front open (so the slip showed from beneath) in a gorgeous dark royal blue color with heavy kaam all over in silver, dull silver and copperish silver (same as the slip inside). At the back, it flows into a beautiful trail. She made me two legged sharara, more like super wide pants in copperish tone with silver kaam all over it. The dupatta was in same royal blue color and the prettiest was the piping she did all over in emerald green color, totally stunning. For my makeup, I kept it at smokey eyes with pink lips, and for jewelry, I wore an emerald set with it along with just two karas. I wanted the dress to be the main thing so kept the jewelry light with huge emeralds in the middle.
The only thing was, even after two trials, the sleeves were the only issue since they wouldn’t fit. So finally at the last one, Sana wasn’t around but Safinaz was just as good. She got upset and told her karigar that the dress better be ready by the end of the day and the sleeves done how I wanted them. The dress was ready at the time I was given and done perfectly.
I really liked how both my bridals/looks were complete opposites of each other- I wanted a traditional look for one day and modern for the other.
Makeup: For my first mehndi in Miami, I had it done by this MUA whos work I liked so much that I booked her for ALL my events. I had her fly down to do it for my next mehndi and rukhsati, and then for valima as well. Absolutely wonderful to work with, she did a great job.
Mehndis, mayun and day after: We had two combined mehndis, each in our homestates. Both the mehndis were both so much fun! For the one we had from our side, my sister, cousins and Sumo did a surprise group dance with us, the bride and groom. It was planned with us of course, with late night practices so noone finds out, but a total surprise for everyone else. It was done after everyone else’s dances were done, I wish I can post a video of it, it was really cute. For the first mehndi, I wore a heavy deep plum long, flowy angharka with combination of rust and mehndi green. I kept half my hair down. For the second one at home, I wore a banarsi chatta patti dress in different colors from Zardozi, and did the punjabi look with paranda and flowers in hair. I had another outfit made which didn’t work out so I went to NY a week before my wedding, and Sumo and her husband drove me around in insane traffic to find something to wear, we found nothing though. It was really, really nice of them. Finally after mayun, while sumo and I were up at 5 am and I was putting on a fashion show with everything possible I could wear at the mehndi, we decided on this zardozi outfit.
For our mayun, I wore an orange outfit with pink and seagreen kaam on it in full gota work. For the day after, I wore a heavy black peshwaz with dull gold/green and maroon kaam with a heirloom gold set his grandmother gave to me on my wedding since im the oldest bahu of the family. It’s her wedding set (gift to her from her mother in law) in polki, pearls, and nauratan stones, about 80 years old, absolutely breathtaking! You just don’t see that kind of jewelry anymore. Besides all this, we had so many dholkis, and day after celebrations, so lots of ghararas and saris for those days.
Decor: Because my inlaws had done their mehndi in yellow and green and had a traditional jhoola, I did mine in brighter colors like pink, seagreen, orange, etc with a traditional ‘takht’ for seating with gao takiyas and colorful cushions. Lots and lots of chooriyan, gerberas, and candles. The lighting was done in pinks, greens and orange. Everything for the mehndi was done in pure silver decor I had gotten from Pakistan- the mithai trays, ubtan, dupatta, etc. I had bought these two maple leaf shaped small trays in silver that we put underneath the paan ka patta on our hands, it looked very, very cute. The hotel where we had it had a beautiful chandelier right in the center that added to the look. It was right by golf courses and lots of farms so the background was totally suburbian, made for great scenic pictures. Both my maids of honor, my sister and Sumo, wore anarkalis and looked gorgeous! For the mayun, it was yellow all the way for both.
The wedding was in a Downtown Hilton so a complete contrast from the Mehndi- this was in a city backdrop with lots of stunning buildings and parks around. My wedding theme was royal: golds, beige and maroons with a hint of black. Lots of soft lightings around the room (uplighting in gold and red mixed together), and candles. My invitations too, were done in scrolls in golden metal boxes, with the reception cards done in black and gold, and mehndi in red and gold to match the decor. For everyone’s clothes, all the women wore ghararas, mostly reds (I made my mom wear one as well, looked so elegant and classy!) and the men were dressed in plain black sherwanis with black pants that I had gotten made, with a rose boutonniere pinned.
I wanted a GRAND stage- my decorator did a 48 wide feet stage in gold, beige and hints of maroon with lots of lighting and a beautiful red regal loveseat. The entire aisle was done in candles. I thought the flowers look for aisle was so overdone so on the gold aisle pillars, my decorator put these beautiful candle stands from India that you can put about 20 tealights in at a time. Each aisle pillar had one so when all were lit up, we had about 120 candles lighting up! In addition to that, the entire floor of the walkway of the aisle was lit up with candles =) The hotel planner was a bit iffy with the idea of so many candles but they said as long as they were in a holder, they had no issues. Also, I had ALL the kids set up in a different room, I wanted noone running around starting a fire.
I had no idea how the ballroom looked until I made my entrance with my parents, and I was stunned. The room was completely dark, we had a gold spotlight in there that followed me as I walked down and candles lined up on both my sides. For the centerpieces, my planner did lots and lots of red and burgandy roses with some pink ones along with lots of candles. Since the stage was so bright, I wanted a neutral color for the linens so I did them in black- I never expected them to work as well as they did, absolutely gorgeous with roses and candles all around. There were gold and red uplights mixed together all around the room by the tables.
Inlaws side Mehndi and Valima: My mother in law has amazing taste so she went all out with the decor on both events. They were both at the same hotel, at the beautiful Sofitel Miami with a gorgeous waterfront. While the mehndi was done in traditional yellow and green colors, valima was more modern in silver colors with lots of white and pink roses as huge centerpieces.
Photographers: I had almost booked Lynette J. for my wedding, she is a SUPER sweet person and will really work things out just as you want them. However, while looking through some websites, I came across THE most amazing photographers I have ever seen, yes, even better than Lynette- their work isn’t just pictures, it’s like telling wedding stories, absolutely beautiful and speak for themselves! I had set of two for each of my days (mehndi and wedding), and I think the reason my wedding turned out to be so much fun was also because of them- uber cool, fun people! We just laughed and laughed with them, and had the most fun photoshoot all around the city. Earlier when Sumo and I went to their studio for my consultation, we were in complete awe as soon as we walked in- they have these full blown posters of their weddings, amazing digital albums, and I was like ok, now I know I have chosen the best photographers.
Alhumdulillah, I had a dream wedding, couldn’t have asked for something more beautiful than this, in regards to everything, especially with all our loved ones coming down from every part of the world to be with us on our big day.
