As you probably know (okay maybe not), we (Shriya and Nadya) are currently in London studying for our Masters. This means we’ve got a prime spot for wedding shopping, planning, and general matrimonial schtuff. And we had our sort of English South Asian Wedding baptism by fire because we recently went to the National Asian Wedding Show – the biggest South Asian wedding show in Europe – and it was completely nuts.
To fully demonstrate just how chaotic, exciting, and mind-boggling this event was we’ve put together a running commentary of the day along with photos we took.
Desserts and Sweets
Nadya: Oh mah gawsh, I loved the weird twee candy spreads we saw everywhere. These people did vegetarian, retro, and classic sweeties and they set it up for you. I still think my favorite one though, was Sweet Butterfly which did a candy, mithai, and fruit buffet with those little Indian rickshaw things. People are so creative.
Shriya: The candy spreads we saw were absolutely adorable! As you can see in the first picture, some featured lots of ribbons, jars, and pastel and pink – which work perfectly as wedding favors or bridal shower gifts. Others went bold and dark for deep purples, blues, and light fixtures.
The candy/desserts inside were either macarons or fruity jellies of some sort. Some of these carts/decorators even featured Indian sweets! However, most of them weren’t actually made by any of the companies advertising them. I would have loved to see some confectioners promoting their own displays!
Nadya: This was so cute! So so so cute! I mean, it’s awfully Western, but who says you can’t serve chai like English high tea? I for one, would love to wake up to this on the early morning of the wedding ceremony or the morning after the reception. Oh my gosh, I feel like I should come dressed as a fairy princess or something.
Shriya: One of the cooler trends I saw at the Expo was afternoon teatime displays! Some companies had their whole business models based off of designing cute tea parties for brides and her relatives. They’re perfect for bridal showers or pre-ceremony snacks!
These displays heavily featured pastels, pink, and pearls – the 3 P’s of teatime perfection!
Bridal Jewelry
Above is a close-up of a pearl back-drape necklace featured by Roshni Makeup and Designs. And Below is us posing with the model!
Nadya: So I know the jewelry at these sorts of things are like supposed to be made of Bollywood dreams or something but I swear when I saw this back-drape necklace I died and woke up in Shah Rukh Khan’s arms. It was a major ‘gimme gimme’ moment and the only thing I could take away was this sick photo. *sigh*
We saw a whole bunch of pretty shiny things, especially a huge range of tikaas. So, if you’re planning your wedding now, be sure to make room in your budget for like four blingy tikaas so you don’t miss out on this trend.
Shriya: I loved the pearl and jeweled design on this dress back – it’s classy, yet fun! Since the dress is a Western design, adding long Indian jewelry definite gives it an Eastern vibe.
Bridal Fashion
Nadya: There were so many kiosks for designers and dress store owners! It was like walking through South Hall or Artesia. I think I developed a semi-permanent crick in my neck from all the double-taking I did. But even though they were pretty, idk, I’m not sure it’s worth forking out hundreds of pounds or dollars on a dress you can’t really try on (since there weren’t any changing rooms) and have to buy right then and there. They take you in with their ‘THIS DAY ONLY’ sales but you’d probably be losing more money if you bought a dress at the expo itself. It’s probably better to take a card and check out the shop later.
Shriya: Getting an inside look at all the latest and greatest bridalwear trends was awesome! I learned that velvet is the new “in” thing – such as with the blue dress pictured above! While many shops didn’t actually design their own dresses and lehengas, they did have exclusive rights to them. I wish more sarees were featured – the Expo vendors showed off their Western dresses with Indian embroidery more than anything else.
Finally, here’s us with our best regal poses on a wedding throne display that featured lots of shiny crystals and lights. Aren’t we just fabulous?
And we want to give a shoutout to Rabbia over at Asian Wedding Ideas for speaking at the event! We sadly missed her talks, but hit up her blog for the details!
If you wanna see more, find at us @nadyatajmahal (Instagram) and @shriya_samarth (Twitter).