BRIDAL CULTURE

Rejuvenation
A recipe for Bridal Health and wellness

​Photographer: Meraya Studios
​Directed & Styled: Breath of Henna & The Sai Lens

“As she sits in her room alone, she wishes she could sleep another night in the ocean of fabrics flooding her room from floor to armour. Her mehndi would get ruined so she puts on her robe to get ready. As she pauses for a moment, she reads a letter; unopened and marked with her name. The sun begins to set and she pulls out her grandmother's haar (necklace); an heirloom. A relic binding three generations and souls…”

BRIDAL DIARY: I was brought in to adorn Mashiat for her third Bridal Henna experience (well first diary) but third mehndi application. Her husband Tadmir had booked their honeymoon trip to Greece and she wanted to feel like a Bride again. This touched my heart and I was overjoyed that she had asked for a platinum diary for her vacation. We had consulted over face time and her details were highlighted by her enthusiasm on screen.

A henna diary versed her years of true love, Bengali quotes, a dulhan, enchanted florals, MT monogram, his name and a lace composition on her exterior hands and feet. Seen below is her digital diary which was first hand rendered to include all her details. No bride should ever be forced to have mehndi on her hands especially of those lines that are not her own. A henna diary is the journey of the bride, which includes her reflection through family, desires and love story.

I believe that a Bride’s henna moments should not only reflect the cultural associations of henna but who she is as a woman.
These stills were captured to express the importance of time and transitional periods. After adorning many brides and hearing their stories, the application of Mehndi is a much needed period of cleanse;  so often forgotten or packed away with wardrobe of ones youth and history during wedding season.

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Adorned the beautiful Mashiat who recently got married in Bengladesh. This diary was a PLATINUM B Diary which was rendered beautifully with her love story and personal details. She is wearing a printed tulip saree from Chandan Fashion, denim of her own and a vintage blouse from Chosen Vintage.

REAL BRIDES

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One Bride had mentioned that she was financing her wedding as her father had long passed and her mother was her sole supporter. She did not want to burden her mother as she had no savings and had worked a half day before we had met. As my fingers wrapped around arm, the warmth of my fingers transferred into my other non-dominant hand and she felt a sense of comfort. I have been told to possess powers of healing or comfort but this was something we both shared. This was a moment she needed and I was glad to be there. You need to be healthy and happy but not everyone has a support system or can ask for one. Every bride walks a different journey and for that reason, her diary should be her own.
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​ADVICE

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​I believe that this moment of clarity is needed and having a bridal stylist for your special day provides our communities with a deeper understanding of marriage. Our families need to understand that a bride is a whole of her own kind; her view on the world is one of multiple lenses and so sees culture through colour first and not with meaning.  As the time of marriage is within hours, the process in planning a blissful marriage can be slow and steady. This style shoot is for the working woman, the woman providing for her family, the woman who begins her day with free spirit, the woman who may be a mother, the woman who has a second chance in marriage, a woman who is accepting of change and diversity within marriage.

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My advice to the bride of today, take some time to meditate with the ones you love, a few fingers in counting.  As you near your special day, turmeric blended with oils and yoghurt will be used to exfoliate your skin, enjoy it. As you bathe in milk or a luminous mixture of oils and water, allow it rejuvenate your skin for a new path; a journey involving another whole world. As you have prepared your look through pins and screenshots for your sangeet or mehndi, allow others to adorn you whom you trusted or hired. Family and friends will rejoice alongside the bellies of drums and dancing glasses filled with lassi and refreshing cocktails, take part.

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Team Credits:

Meraya Studios
Mashiat
Breath of Henna
The Sai Lens
Chandan Fashion
Chosen Vintage


For Bridal Styling and personal stories, please email: sailensbooking@gmail.com