Hey guys, hope you all enjoyed reading my part one of the wedding preparations, the struggle was real. I thought finding a wedding venue would be hard, but that was easy compared to finding my mehndi venue.

For those that are wondering what a Mehndi is, its a henna paste that stains the hands (or feet and body) and is like a temporary tattoo. It is mostly a south asian tradition, but applying henna to the hands or feet has been adopted by many others. In the south asian culture, the girl, sometimes guy, have a pre wedding party, the bride (sometimes groom) have henna applied to their hands and feet to dress them up for their big day. The darker the stain, the nicer it looks. Mehndi parties are always colourful and vibrant, it is such a fun tradition, where everyone get together with lots of snacks, and music.

 

Venue

So going back to venue hunting, as the wedding venue had been booked, we decided to have the mehndi party two days before, before it would just always take place the day before the wedding, but it just would have been too much stress, hassle and so tiring. My wedding was booked for the Wednesday, we wanted my islamic marriage to take place the day before, some people have it on the day of the wedding, six months before the wedding, like whatever rocks your boat. But I wanted mine the day before, again, it would have been too much emotionally on the day. So that left us with, what day should I have my mehndi day? And we decided on a Monday, but we forgot it was easter bank holiday Monday, and most venues or halls were closed for that day. We called and visited so many venues for the Mehndi.

I personally wanted my Mehndi to be in my house, as we were planning to have a marquee fitted in my garden. And also, I was adamant to have a very SMALL mehndi. I only wanted very close friends and family there. I mean, I was having 550 people at my wedding, who I either didn’t know or even like

So I’m allowed to have the people that I want, at my mehndi, and it was a very small number of people. My parents were not so happy with that, but I literally was so stubborn and put my foot down, however, they wanted it to at least be at a venue 😐

So, I agreed to the venue, which I later regretted as the stress of venue hunting was a struggle, I didn’t want this unnecessary stress. Finally, we found a venue, and we had to pay double the price for the place, as it was a bank holiday, (like I keep repeating).

So, now that the venue was booked and we had a definite date! I could move on to the other interesting things, catering, stage, decor, dessert & sweets table, any extra vendors that I wanted, and the cake.

Invites

OK, so I had my dates confirmed for both my Mehndi & Wedding, I can start looking at wedding invites. That was easy, I literally went online, onto google, and typed in asian wedding card invites, I wanted to keep my invitations very simple, and didn’t want anything extra, you know like a scroll or some plastic glass slate. (We’ve received some extra af invitations over the years) I was keeping everything simple, so obviously, the wedding invites would be too, besides, after the wedding, everyone will be throwing it in the bin!

I came across Wedding Card mansion, I looked through their site, picked a design, filled out the form, making sure it was clear and that there was no mistakes or errors when putting in the information, the venue and times. I corresponded with someone there via email who would send me samples of the PDF, and once I was 100% satisfied, he printed them out and they were sent over. I think sorting out my wedding invites was the least stressful task on my life! LOL 😛

Catering

My dad was adamant to cook the food for the Mehndi, because my dad has this thing, he will take the responsibility of cooking the food by himself, and I’m not just talking 40-50 people, I am talking about 150-200 peoples worth of food, and I didn’t want my dad spending my last few days running around, preparing and cooking the food, when he could be spending time with me. I found a catering company that does small little boxes of food for individual people, its small, and suitable for a small function like mine. It was called All Season Foods, and we tried their food at a family friends mehndi, so I didn’t hesitate and put down a deposit.

Desserts Table

It has sort of become a norm nowadays to have little extra vendors or settings, like dessert tables, and photo booths etc for the day, you don’t have to have it, but it sort of looks bare and empty. I planned on making some desserts myself, and guests also bring some snacks in hampers too, my cousin makes desserts too, (find her on IG: @tahrimas_treats), so I arranged for her to make me a few desserts for the day, of course, I paid her, if family don’t support one another, than who else? 😛

Photo Booth

I knew for sure that I wanted a Photo Booth for the mehndi, most people do get it for their wedding, but I knew I would not get a chance to use the Photo Booth, so I booked one for my mehndi and that way I knew, I’d be able to enjoy it too. I booked @reflections_mirrorbooth, who I had met at a charity event in February 2017, and knew I would go with them when I would get married, their Photo Booth isn’t a traditional booth, it is actually a standing mirror that takes the pictures for you, it was unique.

The stage, again was going to be arranged by my friend from @xquisite_events, I told him the colours and how I wanted it, and left the rest to him.

As for the cake, (mentioned in my previous blog, Wedding Preparations – Part One) I was going with a family friend to do my mehndi cake, nikkah cake and the wedding cake. I showed her a design, to match with my outfit and knew I wanted my cake to be matching that theme.

 

(Cake pictures taken from Pinterest)

Thank you so much for reading my Mehndi Preparations – Part One of my Life of a Bride Series. The next few posts will be much more fun, adventurous, and stressful. I look for outfits, accessories and I start preparing myself to be a bride. So stay tuned for Wedding Preparations – Part Two – Bridal Attire and Wedding Preparations – Part Three – Accessories and be sure to follow me on my Instagram: @iMonafwonders. You can also click on the IG Icon at the top or bottom of my page, and it will take you straight to my Instagram Profile.