BRIDAL CULTURE - Bride Hania Zaman

These stories are woven in between veins, hidden away; so deep beneath our corsets. Our souls, entrenched in words that are broadcasted only through our hearts surrounded in cages of bone and blood. Here you see Hania Zaman - our BRIDE in an exuberant arrangement of thread work and embellishment. Created by one of Pakistan's finest Bridal designers ELAN. When is marriage instilled in a young girl? Why do we dream of great romance or that marriage is eternal bliss? Culture to its finest craftsmanship. A great woman always says, right after sunset 'Never wish or feel ill about your future, especially when it comes to marriage. Hold true to your being and remain strong. A great man of your desires will come and keep you happy. This is my wish' - Mama.

 


love exists
in the realm of
culture.
DEFINE: BRIDE
   BRIDE
OF THE
ERA

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Quoting my dear Mama isn't to raise any form of bewilderment. She tells the truth. We work hard to maintain a balance between life, family, honour, respect, fitness, health, meditation and everything else you can possibly imagine. So why not wish for the best, the greatest; your greatest! This is how she was raised and millions of other young girls. To be calm and collect while the world is in turmoil. If your family ever needed you, you either complete your work in advance or you let your breath be your regime. Can you imagine how life would be if with every breath you breathed another thought, another movement. Every step you took was to build your home with love; fervidly contending to your children and significant other. We need several minutes to complete a task, how is this possible? As we grow, we acknowledge our mothers and run around aimlessly trying to build our own force in our homes. My tongue raging endlessly in English after coming back home from school, exhausted while she drinks her cup of tea. I didn't know she was relaxing. She never once needed to, or made it seem that way. MASHALLAH. She listens and till today she is there. A Bride is a woman defined by her upbringing; her mother, if not present, then her father, a sister, a guardian. What I love about this this photograph which was taken by the very talented Athena Blude is that this portrait evokes Hania's eternal elevated state as a BRIDE. Her memories extended in her long hair, woven up towards the sky and gracefully dressed by the heavenly veil. Her jewels are subtle as she wears her simplest all gold set. This is her moment and she remembers all that she was told, heard, read, wrote and folded in secrets close to her heart. Within one breath, she remembers it all.

---

Jun 22
I am absolutely in love with your work
and would be ecstatic if you could do my bridal henna!
My wedding is on
August 12-14
​2016 in CT/RI.
Hania Zaman
​Hand drawn by Sarah Hussain of BREATH OF HENNA. Now seen in ink on Bridal Henna Diaries. 2016
​ 
It was a blessed summer's afternoon in Toronto during Hania's consultation. Streams of sunlight were highlighting both of our faces while she was sitting in a cafe in Connecticut. While talking to her, all I could focus on was her smile, saturated in summer's eternal bliss. Was she ever so delighted to talk to me about her henna affairs. The smile channeled its way into discussing her appeals into the detailing of Bridal henna and that she adored intricacy. Why would she not? She had two beautifully crafted ELAN gowns for her wedding and reception day where labyrinths of embellishments and threads would talk history. ELAN ELAN ELAN. I was interrupted by a thought where all I could think of was, this was it! An explosion of cultural dialect and Pakistan's exquisite realm of art and design. Memories of my mother's valima (reception) gown flew into place as a flock of doves to a seeded temple. My mind started to tick and tock and then suddenly an assembly line formed into a very tight; inflexible area and I said YES! Within hours before I boarded my flight to LGA airport, Hania had received her Bridal rendering and was ecstatic. I am more than overjoyed with her Bridal Henna Diary as it's my most treasured artwork within Bridal Henna.
Dearest Athena, you have instilled beauty, memories of our childhood into these opulent wedding photographs for dearest Hania and Zahan. Traditions are evoked from the veiling of floral bangles and ornaments adorning her Mehndi (day 2) stain.​

While creating art, our bodies sculpt and bend into unknown entities. When I work on a bride, I lose thorough sense of my surroundings. It is a state of complete bliss. The distance is only inches away from the form it begins to take. The being I adorn transforms from Bride to be to the BRIDE. I can hear her speak and we share a conversation which whirls alongside harmony. The florals here take the shape of wings and encompass air. The vines are paths we paved together, leaf by leaf; bulb by bulb to write her story (her world). This is not my first time adorning a Bride, each one is different; Hania's Bridal Diary began with the same root of every other Bride; earth, Mehndi. Why was this different? The elation seen in these photographs is illusory. Her aunt had brought in a delicious meal for the two of us but we were both unconscious as the BRIDE OF THE ERA fabricated herself in front of our eyes. It began to rain; the moment when a Bride is bathed as she is to be of her purest state at marriage. We sat in her backyard and moments passed as we were safely guarded inside by the swarm of bees surrounding our drinks of conversation. We went inside to get the work done as her friends were coming. Her best was definitely her sister. 

Our moments are not to be accepted by others but they for us to accept. The waves will continue to rise and the sores will hereafter, wash away. Hania is a Bride of the Era because she was simple with fine taste. Gorgeous is an understatement. If a woman of culture approaches you in couture and her smile draws light towards your heart, consider yourself the luckiest. You have been touched by a spirited soul. If she is your Bride and keeps you smiling, reflect on your breath and say Mashallah.

Congratulations Zahan and Hania. May your love be your fairytale. Always and forever a love's dream. 
Moments captured by: ATHENA BLUDE
Henna: BREATH OF HENNA
Bridal Couture: ELAN
MUA: Beauty by Amani
Hair: Aferdita
2016