Dressing Up in Anarkali Salwar Kameez for Mehendi Ceremony

Indian weddings are famous across the world for their series of ceremonies, occasions and rituals, filled with a blast of colors and fun filled functions. In India, a wedding is a week-long affair, with plenty of functions lined up before the wedding day. Families of the groom and the bride come together and become part of the week-long extravagant events of joy and happiness. The big fat Indian wedding is all about getting decked up for numerous ceremonies like the sangeet, mehendi, cocktail party, and finally the wedding.

With so many functions lined up as part of the wedding ceremony, shopping for the wedding is always a tiresome affair. The shopping list for the bride and groom starts with an extensive wedding attire portfolio comprising Anarkali salwar kameez, angarakha suits, lehenga choli, traditional sarees, kurta, sherwani and Indian jewelry designs.

Some of the most important ceremonies that are conducted before the marriage day are the engagement ceremony or sagaai, the musical evening or sangeet, and the henna party or mehendi. After the engagement ceremony, one of the most eagerly awaited ceremonies that the bride-to-be and her young friends look forward to at any wedding is the mehendi and sangeet ceremony.

For the mehendi ceremony, the bride can choose from a wide selection of exclusive apparel, like the Anarkali salwar kameez, or kurta with a pair of leggings or patiala salwar; and add final touches by decking up in Indian jewelry designs to add the traditional touch. The mehendi ceremony takes place one or two days before the wedding day. As a part of the mehendi ceremony, henna is applied on the girl's hands and feet. Other women and young girls too ado
their hands with intricate mehendi designs.

The Bollywood movies, daily soaps on television, and music videos have popularized the mehendi ceremony and taken it to a different level of celebration. This ceremony brings together all the women under one roof, where the bride’s palm and arms are decorated with the mehendi. Close family members and female friends of the bride also participate in this function, and the ceremony is accompanied with a round of singing and dancing.

Traditional designs comprising of baraat, dulha-dulhan, doli-shehnai are still very popular in mehendi artwork but contemporary Indian brides nowadays prefer either Arabic mehendi or zardozi and studded designs matching their wedding dress. The art of mehendi applying has seen new innovations in terms of using semi-precious stones and colored mehendi to match the bridal attire.

During the Mehendi ceremony, the bride needs to look beautiful and at the same time, feel comfortable in her attire. Anarkali salwar kameez with short sleeves or designer sleeveless kurta with leggings works well for mehendi ceremony. One can also opt for flowing shararas with heavy dupatta work, simple Indian jewelry designs and minimal make-up to get a mesmerizing look for the mehendi evening.

Anarkali salwar kameez designs have been in vogue from the past couple of seasons and surely score higher than salwar kameez. Anarkali salwar kameez designs act as the perfect attire for bride’s pre-wedding ceremonies like the mehendi and sangeet. Embellished necklines, sleeves and hemline of the Anarkali paired with Indian jewelry designs, make the bride look simply alluring. Many brides also choose to wear salwar kameez in their mehendi function. With a little bit of embroidery, a hint of bling and gota patti work along the sleeves and the hem, salwar kameez and churidar kurta makes for the perfect attire for the special mehendi function.