When I had gotten engaged back in December, I had kept it a bit of a secret for a while. And then pulled a Kylie Jenner and revealed that I had gotten engaged after a while. I did this for many reasons: Nazar ( evil eye – its definitely real), avoiding nosey aunties, but most importantly to actually get to know my husband. The engagement ceremony itself was small and intimate – a bit too intimate but it is what it is. It was the first of many weddings to come for my family- being that I am the eldest among all my cousins and Pakistani weddings and ceremonies are a bit…extravagant. I figured, that a lot of you may also be struggling with stuff like this especially in this era of COVID, I thought I would share some of the details to maybe help you guys out as well! I may make this into a whole wedding series, share some planning tips and how I did things when the time is right. For now, here is my rasam!
The Decoration
Okay, so this was one of the biggest struggles but we got lucky in a sense. Although I was baat pakkied for a while, a “formal” ceremony didn’t take place until like a month later. That was because midterm season, thanksgiving, work schedules- basically we simply did not have time. However, I found out a week before my engagement ceremony that it was happening. You can’t imagine the stress and anxiety I had when I found out. I just thought A week was not enough time.
Our Entire decoration and setting was a DIY and it was all done the night before but most on the morning of at 8 am! Yes, literally 8 hours before. We used fancy duppattas from our formal suits, a churi ( bangle), a hook and Christmas lights to decorate it all. Yup that is all it took. We got lucky in the sense that my local Joanns was having a huge sale because it was the week after thanksgiving. so we had gotten a bunch of christmas lights. They were about $6-10 during thanksgiving weekend- which was not bad because we had gotten quite alot of them. However, I went back a night before the ceremony and they were $3 per box! Definitely check out your local craft store for supplies like these and deals. We hung the lights around the entire perimeter of the room and that was basically it,
Okay so you guys might be wondering how we utilized a bangle and our duppattas. What we did was we had wrapped the scarves into the bangle and secured it- you can do that with either a pin or simply by tying it into a knot. we then places a little hook on the wall and then secured the bangle on the hook. This created a water fall sort of background with the dupattas. Our decor cost us less than $50 and it looked decent. we did not have much time so we worked with what we had and it turned out well.
The Outfit
Okay, for any bride, her hair and makeup is probably her biggest concern, it is just a girl thing. Getting an outfit was a bit of a hassle. I didn’t have time to get one made or to go out and buy a new outfit because well, we were pressed for time. I ended up rewearing an old dress of mine. I had wore the dress once years ago to my cousin’s wedding in Pakistan and had not worn it since. I had gotten this dress custom made from a local Designer Biya styles ( @biya_styles) I have gotten a couple of outfits from her and they have all been excellent. My outfit was a silk Gharara and a heavy peplum style shirt. I was skeptical of the red but it turned out fine at the end. I had worn jewelry that I had borrowed from my younger cousin, the earrings and tikka were hers. I had gotten fresh flower Gajres ( fresh flower bracelets) from my aunt- I think she had gotten them made from a local vendor.
Hair and Makeup
I think the least of my worries was for sure my hair and makeup. I literally got ready an hour before the event. I did my makeup super quick with minimal effort. I wanted to keep it natural and simple. I had been sick for a couple days before so I was not really in the mood for a heavy glam either. I focused on my face makeup and popped on a bit of mascara that was it. I think it is important to have a good base- I used the Huda beauty foundation, concealer, and powder on the day of and I think that is what made my skin look so flawless and amazing.
My hair, well that was an interesting thing. I was not sure how I wanted to do my hair and had tried to do an updo but it looked horrible. My aunt ended up doing my hair into a half up half down situation and it looked great! I don’t like to tease my hair or add hairspray because it damages my hair so easily and Hairspray irritates my skin. However, I had to do it in order to set the dupatta and secure it.The dupatta pinning was a bit tricky. I had never pinned my own dupatta before but I got the hang of it!
Kainaat&CO 