Mehndi Preparations – Part Two – Feat @veiledcourturebeauty

Hello wonderers, hope you are all well. Many people have been waiting for this post, and it is about my Mehndi Outfit, the Mehndi shoes, bangles and all the other accessories. My outfit for the mehndi was made by the one and only Easmin. (IG: @veiledcourturebeauty)

Mehndi Outfit

It’s normally a tradition for the grooms side to purchase the mehndi attire, however, my parents gifted me my mehndi outfit, and I was able to design the whole dress myself. Ever since this lifestyle blogger and fashion influencer, Roshini Daswani (IG: @roshinidaswani) got married in 2015 and Tamanna Roashan (IG: @dressyourface) was her bridal makeup artist for all 9 of her functions. I was obsessed with her wedding functions and outfits. But there was one specific outfit, that called out to me, and I was obsessed and in love with it since then.

It was Rossini’s Mehndi function, from her outfit to her hair, makeup and jewellery, I was so in LOVE! She looked so beautiful, it was unique and it was giving me major Princess Jasmine vibes. Since then, I knew, that for my mehndi, I would defo be inspired by that outfit, the colours, and the simplicity of it all.

So, when it was finally my time, I went to countless boutiques, and shops in green street and Ilford Lane to see if they had anything similar. They didn’t have many options. I tried on a few outfits but I wasn’t so amazed by them.

 

I messaged various tailors etc, messaging them, calling them, asking for quotes for having something similar made with similar material and more modest. Most boutiques and tailors said no, some said yes, but they were in India, and also, I wanted to be involved during the whole process of the outfit being made, The ones in India wouldn’t allow me to be involved.

I discovered Easmin on Instagram, (@veiledcourturebeauty) and saw that she custom makes wedding veils herself, so I thought there’s no harm in emailing her. I emailed her with a picture that I attempted to sketch with the pictures of Rossini Daswani’s Mehndi outfit and asked for a quote for the lengha, top skirt & dupatta.

Luckily, Easmin emailed me back and was happy to work with me, she listened to everything that I wanted and put together a better sketch for me, we communicated via emails where I was quoted a price and how long would roughly take etc, then we arranged to meet at her house, as she is a working mummy, we discussed material swatches, the colours, and I got to go through the shades for the floral motifs that I wanted attached to the dress, I wanted a pastel themed outfit.

Easmin measured me up, and she was kind enough to always keep me in the loop for the outfit. I’d be getting pictures and updates throughout the day, and even at 1am in the morning where she would be sewing the floral motifs onto the outfit by hand.

 

 

Once my outfit was complete, I tried it on and it was perfect. I was in love and was so grateful for Easmin making me this perfect dress I had envisioned! I saw it in my head and just brought it to life! I was picky and so specific, and Easmin listened and paid attention to detail to what I wanted in my outfit.

I made a slight adjustment to my outfit, and that was in the dupatta, I added a border to the scarf, not because I wanted to, I was happy with everything, however, I had to, as the dupatta (scarf) would be pinned to my head, it wasn’t heavy enough and it wouldn’t grip onto my hair. So I just visited a store in Green Street, they sell borders and other extra materials, I took it to Raj Tailors, and they attached the border onto the dupatta for me within half an hour. To be honest, it sort of completed the dupatta for me.

Shoes

I knew  I wanted high end shoes for my event, I mean why not? 😛 I was still looking at a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes on Selfridges, but was still figuring out if I wanted them ones, however, by luck, on Christmas Day, Selfridges had a massive sale, and those specific on Jimmy Choo’s I wanted were discounted and I treated myself to them. 😉

Accessories

With my accessories I did a bit of mix and match. I didn’t want to spend crazy amounts on the jewellery as well. I purchased a necklace set that came with two necklaces, a tikka and side head piece, and earrings from Amina Collections. (IG: @aminacollections) I wasn’t fond of the earrings so I went to Bees (IG: @shopbees) in Green Street and bought some matching earrings that looked similar to the jewellery set. For the bangles I had some pastel shades at home and also got a few set from Bees too. Altogether, I’d say I spent under £90 on my mehndi jewellery, which I feel is quite reasonable. 🙂

MUA, Hairstylist & Mehndi

I booked my lovely friend Alsa, (IG: @beautybyalsa) to do my hair, makeup and apply my mehndi on my hands and feet. She’s done my makeup a few times, and it made sense to just book one of my friends to play such a huge role on one of my big days. However, when we get together, a task that would take a few hours, ended up taking longer than a few hours. 😛

Mehndi by Shifa

As I knew my friend would be doing my mehndi, I didn’t want to use any henna cones that has so many unknown chemicals in it, especially due to bad experiences and having extremely sensitive skin, I didn’t want to have a reaction a few days before my wedding. I checked out Henna by Shifa’s (IG: @hennabyshifa) henna cones and saw they were all handmade by herself and only contained natural ingredients. So I placed an order and received them within a few days. There’s strict instructions to follow, to keep the mehndi fresh, and for the stain to be darker, I also got the lemon and sugar spray with it too. Now on her website she also does a Bridal special box, that comes with henna cones, citrus seal and an oil.

Make sure to follow me on my Instagram @iMonafWonders. You can also click on the IG icon at the top or bottom of the page, and it will take you straight to it. Stay tuned, as my next post will be picking out my wedding accessories. Please like or share my post, it will be appreciated 🙂