Wedding Preparations – Part Three – Accessories

Hello wonderers, I hope you are all enjoying my Life of a Bride Series, I would like to thank you all for supporting me and taking time out of your day to come with me on this journey and read about my experience. Hope you all enjoyed reading about my Bridal dress experience. Now it is time for the main factors of the wedding day, aside from the dress, it is accessorising the jewellery and shoes with the dress. 😛

Shoes

Shoes is such an important necessity to any outfit or function. Whether you agree or not, it is for me. Shoes are a good investment to make, so I knew what shoes I wanted for my wedding day and I also knew what shoes the groom would be getting too 🙂

 

When I saw these Christian Louboutin shoes online, I knew it was meant to be, they were perfect, they matched the wedding decor of black, and my outfit too! The next decision I had to make was whether I wanted peep toe or closed toe. I leaned more towards the closed toe ones. I made a trip to Oxford street and went to Selfridges where they have a Louboutin section.

My wedding shoes were a gift from my brothers and sister, they wanted to give me something special that would play an important role on my wedding day, and I allowed them to get me my shoes, it is normally tradition for the groom to gift his bride shoes with the outfit, however I wanted Louboutins and you can’t really be like “Hey, buy me £600 shoes for the wedding”

For the groom, it is custom for the brides side to purchase the grooms outfits and shoes for another tradition that we have called the “Fira Zatra.” I will go into more detail to that later, I obviously chose the shoes, I don’t think I gave him a choice in that matter. I just needed his shoe size and off I went and got us both a pair of his and hers Louboutins for our big day.

MUA & Hair Stylist

Okay, so as soon as my wedding date was fixed, I booked my Makeup Artist straight away, I knew who I would be booking before I even had the proposal, and it was none other than the one and only Liza (IG: @artofliza) Her work is just so unique, there’s just something about her work and looks that make her brides look so amazing and flawless. I didn’t want to look like an ordinary potato on my wedding day, I wanted to look like a flawless potato on my wedding day 😛

I had a rough idea on what look I wanted to go for, as I would be wearing a heavy outfit, with a lot of jewellery, I knew I wanted my makeup to be minimal.

For my hair, I booked the lovely Emma (IG: @bridesmade_by_emma) She was sort of newish on the block and I saw she had a unique vibe to her too, I loved the hairstyles she had posted and I wanted her to do my hair and dupatta setting.

I saved some pins on my Pinterest board on what sort hairstyle I wanted to go for, it was obviously going to be up, a sleek hair do doesn’t suit my face shape, so I needed something that looked relaxed and elegant.

Bouquet

I’m not so fond of flowers, I don’t think I ever have been, so I knew I didn’t want to go crazy on a bouquet, my cousin Lizon has a friend, who specialises in bridal henna, bouquets, bespoke candles and other personalised gifts. The bouquets she makes aren’t made with real flowers but they look just as good and as real as flowers. I contacted her and told her exactly what I wanted, the colours and the design, I wanted something super minimal, and also to go with my whole theme and Parvin, (IG: @_alhadaya) would send me pictures of samples and listened to everything I wanted.

I wanted to add a sentimental touch, something for me to have my big brother (who is no longer with us) with me on my big day. He was a big fan of yellow, and Parvin added a yellow ribbon for me around my bouquet. I also ordered some buttonholes for my brothers too, they were also very simple with plain yellow roses in memory of my big brother.

I looked on Etsy and found a locket which I ordered so that I could use to put on the bouquet with a picture of my older brother. It was quite a small locket, so I went into Snappy Snaps and they printed out a few pictures for me of my brother so I was able to cut around it and stick it in. Cause it was quite small it was quite fiddly, but I managed to get it done after a few attempts and it completed the bouquet for me.

Jewellery

So, my wedding jewellery was put on hold, as I was waiting on my bridal outfit, I got a bit scared as the whole of February had passed and my outfit wasn’t here yet like promised, I would call everyday and visit the store 3 times a week, but they kept promising the day after next. Finally my dress was here in the last week of February! I tried it on and needed slight adjustments to be made on my outfit. Everyone was so emotional seeing me in my wedding dress, and it sunk in that this was actually happening.

As my in laws would be picking up my dress, I took the dupatta with me so I could match my jewellery. I knew there was only one place for me and that was Bees, (IG: @shopbees) in Green Street. I’ve always bought my accessories from them and knew this is where I would be getting my bridal jewellery.

I had a fair idea in what I wanted and was very specific. I got out my dupatta and the guy there helped me and listened to everything that I wanted. For my headpiece I wanted a Matta-Pati. I wanted a simple choker like necklace, as I would be wearing the gold my in laws gift me, and that was a long chain. I knew exactly what type of bangles I wanted it, and it was the thread work bangles.

For the earrings, I wanted drop jhumkas, they were stunning and a nice statement piece. I also paired it with anklets and hand chains and they were custom made to match my head piece and necklace as well with the necklace. I was in love and was over the moon with my wedding jewellery. I got the finishing touch and added a traditional bridal nose ring, it was so delicate but I knew it would complete the whole look.

Bees took 3 weeks to deliver my whole custom made jewellery, we worked with such a close deadline, due to my outfit being late, but they were brilliant and knew exactly what I wanted. I was so happy with my jewellery and was actually excited for the wedding day to dress up and play bride. 😛 My in laws also picked up my jewellery for me so they could decorate it in my hamper.

One thing I am so grateful for is that my in laws and my husband allowed me to pick and choose my outfit and jewellery for the wedding, not many brides are blessed to have that opportunity. So Alhamdulillah for being given that chance.

Hope you’re liking my Life of a Bride Series, the next part will be the Wedding Traditions of Giving and Taking in our culture. So stay tuned and make sure to follow me on my Instagram: @iMonafwonders if you haven’t already. 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.

xoxo