Helloooooo beauties !! As promised to you, here is the first post of the “Bridal Banter” series on Elegant Eves. This series will be dealing with mostly the Bengali bride, rituals, jewellery, makeup ideas, styling and random tips for the Bong beauty to shine on her special day. The reason why I chose to do one such series especially for the Bengali bride was because of this: there is an appalling shortage of styling tips and ideas for the Bengali bride anywhere on the internet! :-/ The ones labeled as “Bengali brides” look anything BUT one! Grrrrrrr! From jewellery to attire, nothing conforms to the traditional Bengali bridal look. Thus, this series is here for all those Bengali brides-to-be who want to look their classy best on their day! J

I have always wanted just one look for my wedding day- no, it’s not how Kareena or Priyanka looks in those bridal lehengas. It was how my mother looked on her wedding day- traditional, ethereal, sweet and REGAL! J Even though I know I will be nowhere close to her, but I shall definitely try to bring it close ;) Interestingly, most of my close Bengali friends also want to look like their moms did on her wedding day- not one wanted to look like a Bollywood bride!

So, what do you think made our moms look such breathtakingly beautiful that we want to recreate the look? J The answer is traditional Bengali jewellery, the khopa (Low bun), minimal makeup and kohled eyes aaaaaaand…….. “laal benaroshi” or red Banarasi Saree. Interestingly, the only non-Bengali thing about a Bengali wedding is the bridal saree which originally comes from Banaras (Varanasi) and is now available in every nook and corner of the country.

So all you Bong beauties out there, give those filmy bridal magazines a miss and look back into your own treasure! There are so many options in the traditional Benaroshi that you can try J There is something very regal about the right benaroshi coupled with gold jewellery. I remember the famous fashion designer Sabyasachi mentioning something in an interview where he specifically stressed on the fact that weddings should be the time when we should celebrate our own culture and leave drastic experiments for other occasions :P

Points why a Benaroshi saree has been THE choice since ages for a Bengali bride:

1. It is a known fact that sarees bring out the best in Bengali girls, and when that saree is as ROYAL as a Benaroshi, who can stop her from outshining everyone else at the wedding??

2. A normal Benaroshi saree (not the designer ones!) will cost you almost half the price of a bridal lehenga and can look equally good!

3. Your bridal Benaroshi can be re-worn in other occasions too with minimal accessories of course! That might not be the case with a heavy lehenga you spent a fortune on.

4. Benaroshi comes in various fabrics like Katan Silk, Satin, georgette etc and you can choose one which would hug your curves beautifully ;)

After a tiresome search through Google, I could come up with some pictures of benaroshi sarees which I would like to share here.

On the wedding, a Bengali bride generally prefers to wear a red benaroshi with shonali jori (golden zari work). Below are two such options I absolutely LOVED: One has tiny buti  all over the body and an elaborate aachol aar paar  (Pallu and border) while the other has prominent motifs all over coupled with dazzling aachol aar paar . Both these sarees would look glamorous when worn with gold jewellery and can look classy and understated when you choose to wear them on a later occasion with maybe just a long gold chain and a pretty pair of earrings! J

I found these two also during my endless search over the internet (They were showing net and crepe sarees when I searched for Banarasi sarees! Aaaaaargh!) The first one has the jori  in floral pattern which is giving the whole saree a very rich look while the other has leaf motifs all over with heavy jori work on border and aachol J

After the wedding comes the “Bou Bhaat” or the reception. There is a tendency among Bengalis to wear a blue benaroshi on their bou-bhaat. Thank goodness, my mother-in-law to be asked me what I would like to wear on mine and I happily said…… ummm… will reveal that later ;) For the time being, just know that it’s not blue :P There are myriad options for you to try in your Bou Bhaat. Ranging from blues, to greens, to purples to pinks! The choice is yours woman! :D (Statutory Warning: Please don’t go about being a ‘bridezilla’ and bug your in-laws to get you “That particular color”- there are subtle ways of letting them know what you would loooooove to wear on bou bhaat ;) hehee )

These are the two benaroshi which I absolutely loved and would be good picks for bou bhaat. One is a royal blue with contrast pink paar-aachol and the other is an oh-so-gorgeous hot pink with jori ALL over! Sigh! :’)

If you would like to keep it less extravagant, these two, coupled with a good hairstyle and heavy jewellery would also make you look like a pretty blushing bride on your special day and can be re-worn in this contemporary manner later. 

You can even try off-beat colors and contemporary patterns like this (Not a personal choice though. Its tradition all the way for me! Lol)

Another two popular colors are mauve and green: These are the best ones available online that I could gather for you. You will get even better options in the shops. But there is something about these sarees which is making her look like a goddess, isn’t it? J

I shall be updating the one I chose for myself AFTER my wedding :P Come on, allow me that time won’t you? It’s just a few more months to go….. :D And before you start throwing stones at me, I will run way for now!

I will be back with more on the Bengali bride soon…..super soon!

Disclaimer: All the images shown here are taken from Google Images and the blog does not claim ownership over these. These are used just as reference.

With love,

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5. Bridal Gold Hghlighter (Inglot AMC Illuminator #62)