hello... havn't got a reply to questions posted in the later part of this thread... but thought of writing my experience when i went to karachi for my wedding shopping...
i had a list before travelling, that included, baraat venue selection, invitation cards, photographer and saloon bookings, clothes, shoes / bags, jewellery and bed sheets...
as the valima was planned in a hotel, i was interested to see gardens for my baraat... i couldnt see too much grass anywhere but then finally booked at the aero club in gulshan which had a huge marquee to accomodate our guests...
invitation cards werent easy too... went a couple of times to the same area 'pakistan chowk' in sadar... though ppl in my family had earlier informed me that its just a matter of two days, wat i experienced was completely different... many good one (a/c ones) asked for at least 2 weeks to get the order delivered.. as mostly they sold tailor made designs... kher, i couldnt decide on the designs they sold so i went to this non a/c shop in the sae area named karachi printing press and saw the card i wanted (with glitter :P) and that too at a much cheaper price... they got it delivered the next day and thats how i got the second item ticked off my list... it costed me after negotiation... i guess 10 rupees per card...
the photographer i have less info about as it was done by my chacha... he brought me portfolio / albums of the guy as samples at home... n i liked his work... he is a renowed one in karachi i presume... regarding bridal make-up (ive mentioned my story in my other threads :P)
For jewellery, i had to just buy 1 big dulhan type set... so i got one selected at syed jewellers... it was a double jhumka and broad choker... in multicolour gold... currently it has champaigne beads... i also got some artificial earings on silver from zevar for around 5K each... and gave an order for an antique dholna ruby set (for 22k)...
bed sheets i got hold of the gul ahmed sale so bought around 5 from there... then went to pick up a few traditional ones in gulshan... sheeshe wali and kaltex bedsheets and also bought a velvet bed spread... avg. price of bedsheet at gul ahmed were 500 rps... and for the traditional ones i got for 2K rupees approx... bread spread was for 5K i guess...
for the clothes, as i didnt have to do my baraat nor valima jordha, i had to buy normal wear (which i got done from gul ahmed and the good lawn shops on tariq road)... for party / shaadi wear... i checked a few shop on second floor on rabi center and picked up embriodery on chiffoun, raw silk suit... on the ground floor, got this royal blue sindhi work suit... picked up a couple suit from rizwan moazzam (caught their sale).. one was hot pink with stone work on neck / border dupatta... and also got a stone work border saree (black :P).... also picked a few from exclusive sale (bridal section in the basement) ... one chooridar in combination of dirty and light green... and other in a very different orangish / peach colour with kundan work on neck and dupatta borders... avg price for party dress was 10K (rizwan & exclusive)... rabi center ones were 3K on avg... lawn from gul ahmed was 2.5K per suit and other shops were at 1K.. yeah got one from maria B too for 1,800 i guess... n yeah picked up a fron open / full embrioderry from thread n motives in zamzama for 5K...
gave order for a aqua chiffoun pishwas and my mehndi gharara (light yellow n bottle green) & entrance dupatta (red and bottle green)...
for shoes and bags... found one white one at studio8 (hope ive got the name rite)... got a few chappals n clutch bags from another shop in tariq road starting with 'F' i think... then went to zamzama got a few from stella, etc (again dont remember the names well) ... and i was done! :) ... avg price was 2K per piece...
the whole trip took me 3 weeks and considering i didnt know anything abt karachi shopping, i was out everyday... but had a nice time... hope this could b of some help to someone...
