A sweet living doll!

October 11th 2009 brought gray skies, freezing rain, a teasing cold front and the opportunity to brighten it all up with a wedding look for a darling bride in Austin!

A Jain Gujarati Indian wedding with a fantastic combination of tradition with modern individual touches- An intimate wedding at the Holiday Inn North West and a fun reception at Cafe' Blu at the Lake!!

For the morning ceremony we started at 9:45 a.m at the Renaissance at the Arboretum- The outfit was a lush emerald green and deep red chiffon sari with dull gold embroidery. The desired look was natural with the 'Saman's signature touch' of accentuated eyes and chiseled features... For the evening reception, the lehnga was a unique patchwork inspired piece with embroidered and woven panels in hues of magenta, emerald green, mustard and more with a gold and mustard blouse and an emerald green dupatta. And the bride with her sweet demeanor and soft features looked just like a doll!

This is the look for the morning which was tweaked for a bit more drama with the hair down for the evening and these are the before and after pictures for you to enjoy!

The Nail Story

Mehndi is an adornment of the South Asian bride that is both a marvelous piece of art and is one amazing aphrodisiac :)
So the nail design and mehndi are two parts of the wedding look that carry over to the post wedding and honeymoon and many brides for this reason choose the french manicure as their nail design.
While the french manicure may look extremely neat and very classy on a day to day basis, it doesn't always work out with the mehndi. Mehndi gets darker 48 hours after its initial application and the more your body temperature rises, the deeper it appears! And that can become too stark a contrast with the white tips- Here are my recommendations for nail color and design-
If you are wearing a red, maroon or orange theme that has gold accents and wish to stay away from those colors for the nails good alternates are:
1. Champagne or light sand shimmering nail color
2. Taupe color with copper tips (shorter nails only)


For pink, blue, green outfits that may have silver detailing
1. American manicure but with pearl tips (no white or creame please)
2. Sheer silver nail polish (it doesnt look tacky)
3. Diamond dust or very subtle glitter solars

Airbrush design on the nails is a personal preference but can some times look a bit too busy with the intricate mehndi design on the hands.

If getting solars or acrylics, do request a slightly rounded square tip and get them done atleast 4 days before the wedding event start as the cuticle area can throb or hurt the day after the nails are put on!

Happy nail styling!
XOXO
Saman

What joyous excitement-

This weekend i was part of a grand Indian wedding of the Maharashtran & Tamil cultures! As i made my way to the Rennaisance at the Arboretum in Austin at 5:00 a.m, the windchill was nippy. But soon the cold melted to the warmth and hustle bustle in my brides suit as we got company from her brother, mother, aunt, uncle, the photographer father, the PRIEST :), another brother, his son and lots of friends- soon there was barely enough space for me to get her ready but hey that is the fun of a true desi wedding.

As i put on her final touches i even got a suggestion or two by the priest on how she should look for the wedding :)

I headed back to the studio at 9:00 a.m and was back at the hotel at 3:00 p.m to get the reception session started. As i undid her updo there was a shower of rice that turned the carpet white, no kidding, that is the most generous amount of rice shower i have every seen come out of a hair do! As we proceeded to covert her hair style into a lush cascade of big curls, I met the groom for the first time then, lounging in his UT shorts and T with the remnants of the wedding with Turmeric color feet and a black spot on his cheek to ward of the evil eye- what a darling he was too, the next time around he looked so handsome in his tux!

From a very traditional Maharashtran bride (with some Tamil accents to accomodate the new family ) to a glamorous Bollywood diva- how divine- all in a days work.

XOXO

Saman Ansari