Jewellery can never go out of style for Indian weddings.
Jewellery is an important part of a woman’s trousseau. Mothers start collecting individual pieces and whole sets to give to their daughters at the time of their marriage. In times gone by, a woman’s jewellery represented her cache of liquid assets and in turn she would divide her jewels among her daughters when they got married.
Traditional Indian jewellery was inspired by nature and recurring motifs included flowers and animals and designs taken from geometrical rangolis. The popular closed cutting was preferred to make the jewellery more durable and safe for the precious stones. Plenty of Tamils from Burma brought in the uncut rubies the ‘cabochon’ and the kemp has been an integral part of South Indian jewellery.
The diamond earrings have always been considered an integral part of a bride’s trousseau. The common pieces of a bride’s jewellery used to be Rakodi, hair ornament, the waist belt, Oddiyanam, the dangling umbrella shaped Jimikis and the adiggai, choker coupled with the heavy haaram like kasu malai, maangai maalai etc. Today, modern girls shun heavy, chunky jewellery and settle for fashionable jewellery. They want to be stylist and match jewels to outfits, and their choice is light, filigree chockers in both gold and diamonds. Rubies and emeralds too are popular.
The older generations’ insistence for ‘dosham’ free stones has also fallen by the wayside. Diamonds from 2 cents to 9 cents are used liberally in open settings of diamond jewellery and the 4 C’s-colour, clarity, carat, and cut are the criteria for selection. Ready made diamond necklaces for about a lakh of rupees are available in plenty in all jewellery showrooms.
Courtesy: An article about bridal jewellery from a news paper.
Some tips on looking your best on your wedding day.
The entire world loves a bride and on her wedding day, any girl somehow acquires this incredible glow and sheen of beauty. The special dresses, jewels and accessories and the care taken to accentuate and highlight a girl’s best features make her look fabulous.
This grace and beauty nowadays does not come without the help of a professional beautician. The skin, hair, make up, draping of the sari all require special attention. And, all this begins a few weeks before the grand day.
Beauticians were the first to focus on bridal makeup and to open a dedicated bridal salon. They aim to keep up with the changing trends and offer total package solutions to the bride and the members of the family as far as beauty treatment and make up goes.
Bridal Skin Care
Brides opt for skin care treatments with their beauticians, consultations with hair stylist and a trial session of the total look including the draping of the outfit with their dresser. The beautician encourages the bride to come at least for three visits before the wedding day. Firstly, they evaluate her needs and start face and skin treatment so that there is time for the skin to settle down in case there are reactions etc. The next visit the bride shows her costume and accessories to beautician and they have a dry run of the hair and make up. A few days before the wedding, she has a complete session from top to toe.
Current Trends
A beautician says that the current trends for the Muhurtham is a return to the late sixties look-the tight plait, a slight bouffant in the front and venies in different colours. The heavy jadai alangaram is not opted for as the weight of the arrangement hampers the free movement of the bride. A simple hair ornament like a rakodi and kunjalam with or without a string of flowers wrapped around it is popular. The length of the hair of most girls is not long enough to have a heavy arrangement. The brides prefer it to be simple and elegant as the focus is on the wedding sari. Youngsters want to be free to move around and interact with the guest and not stay stuck to one place.
Another beautician says that it is very interesting to work with today’s brides. They do a lot of homework before they come to a beautician; they check magazines, photos and the internet and then choose a particular look and style. If we take hair for instance, the stiff and stylized hair arrangement of a few years ago has given way to simpler styles. For the reception, many like to leave it loose with curls and wisps of hair caressing their cheeks and forehead. Another interesting thing is the return of the ring Kondai with an accent of a hair ornament.
Another intriguing aspect of the bride’s looks is the participation of the groom in the total planning and execution of the project. The modern day groom pays equal attention to his looks on his wedding day. He walks in for his own treatments for skin and hair and at the same time, he also accompanies his fiancée to advice her on her looks. The sharing of ideas and ideals is really satisfying to watch.
Another beautician advises, the bride should pluck her eyebrows and hair waxed at least 4-5 days prior to the wedding. If she have an allergic reaction, she would have the time to cool it down. The base and foundation is kept very light natural with matte finish for the morning ceremony. The eye is lightly line with kaajal-waterproof because of the havan that can irritate her eyes and make it water. The lips are outlined with pale light shades that are in fashion-light pink, pale maroon shades and it is a big no to lip liners.
In the evening the look is glossy with shimmer for the evening. The eye make up is a generous use of eyeliner and the shadow smudged to give a natural finish for the strong video lights. For the fun functions, smoky eyes in fad shades like pink, violet, bronze as it gives the eyes a very dramatic look. A simple rule of thumb is when eyes are heavy the lips must be light.
Above all, the beauticians’ advice is to get a good night’s sleep before her wedding, even though she may be under a lot of stress She cannot afford to look dull or washed out on her wedding..
• The English believe a spider found in a wedding dress means good luck.
• Rain on your wedding day is actually considered good luck, according to Hindu tradition.
• For good lick, Egyptian women pinch the bride on her wedding day.
• Henna is painted on a bride’s hands and feet to protect them from the evil eye.
• Peas are thrown at Czech newlyweds instead of rice.
• A Finnish bride traditionally went door-to-door collecting gifts in a pillowcase, accompanied by an older married man who represented long marriage.
• The tradition of tying tin cans to the back of the newlywed’s vehicle originated long ago when items which would produce noise were tied to the back of the couple’s carriage to scare away evil spirits.
This interesting article is read and reproduced to the information of the newly weds.
