Bridal lehanga 101

I am searching for lehanga. Can you give me pointers on what to pay attention to? How do I figure out what type of lehanga I want? What is the current trend in lehanga? what are some parameters I need to observe and figure out which I like?

Please help... I will post my search and what I learned

 

So far I tried few on & I learned....

• Choli lenght: short or long ---> I need it to be long as I am muslim
• Choli style: loose fit or corsette ----> after trying few on i realize i love the feel/fit of corsette. It helps my posture & I feel great. This is a must have
• Choli color: matchign color or contrast?? I haven't figured out which I like.

• Ghagra fitting: mermaid/fishtail vs. full ghagra ---> I love the full flair look, looks very bridal
• Kam (design): stone vs. antique vs. ?? ------> stone looks great and very princess like but it will not allow me to wear gold jewlery & I am not comfortable with that. I also feel stone takes away the attention from me and just looks glitter. Antique is ok but I am not sure yet
• Material: net vs. pure silk vs. raw silk vs georgette vs. chiffon ---> I have only tried on pure silk (I love), net (hit or miss depends on the style), and Georgett (didn't like). Haven't tried the other 2 yet
• Dupatta: net vs. non-see thru material. I prefer non-net as it looks rich but net is common

What else should I pay attention to?

 

at this point I am very frustrated. I can't differentiate between the once I tried. After awhile all the bridal lehanga starting to look alike. It feels like Dejavu from when I went ring shopping and all diamond strated looking alike.

In my frustration I went thru bridal pictures and after the makeup/hair/jewlery is done, most traditional brides do look alike. Then why am I wasting so much time looking for something good, why don't I go witht he cheapest option. I even considered going for saree. I am just frustrated. So I am starting from scratch

I know I want lehanga instead of saree because I can wear saree any time but lehanga is not normal ware
I know I want red because I am still traditional but now I am willing to look at combintation of red + some other color instead of pure/all red

Gave myself one more week to search

 

Its nearly end of January and I still don't have a dress finalized. My deadline is to finish dress this month.

I have found 1 ok-ish net mermaid red lehanga at resonable price. I can live with it but don't love it. I visisted it 2x and tried on the 2nd time. It didn't give me the wow bridal effect, rather "it isn't bad" feel.

I have found 1 that gave me the wow effect, the silk pink panel cut ghagra with stone work all around. It looked very princessy and I glittered all the way. But it is above my budget, too shiny for me (will take away attention from me) and I can't wear my mom's gold necklace with it. But I can change the color, the kam...etc .after all the changes I make i wonder how it will look. too risky

I have one more shop I have to visit. hopefully I find my answer soon

 

I didn't find my lehanga in the last shop in my town where many of my friends got their lehanga. I was dissappointed as I was certain she will have something. She had nice lehanga but not in red. Isn't red the traditional color, yet very few store seem to carry them.

So the decision was between custom making or taking a trip out of town & see whats out there. I decided for the 2nd as I wasn't sure about custom making and how it will look in the end. It was a big mistake, well not a big mistake just a mistake.

Due to the weather i had to postpone my trip several weeks. My option was to drive to Chicago or Toronto. I decided Toronto as everyone told me chicago is too expensive & not many been to Toronto for shopping. One day i decided I can't take it anymore & drove in the snow storm with my mom and sis. We were tired & to my dissappointment there weren't as many shop in Toronto as I imagined. But I found 2 big shop & tried on several different lehanga. They have collection in red or any color I wanted. It was nice to find more than 2 lehanga which i was facing here in Mi.

There was 1 that stood out to me, it was very traditional and normal (just like i imagined). But I didn't want to rush into buying because I went there to try on different style. But we were tired & at the end of the day as we were making our way to our car (parked outside the very shop i found a lehanga in) the owner saw us and asked us to come in & I found myself buying the lehanga.

The lehanga is size too big, they promised to alter & I needed arms longer & back covered. They said "no problem". We stayed in a hotel and left it for alteration.

THE PROBLEM WITH BUYIGN READY MADE which no one told me is
1) alteration never gives the perfect fit a made to order gives. It looks/feels like bla
2) making adjustment, even small one like extending arm, will still be a big issue with ready made. The material for extension didn't match making it seem like patch work. The back cover looks like patch work.......

Overall the lehanga is nice, i like the skirt but I am not happy with alteration. I hate the patch work it has & there is no way I can fix it unless I get another blouse custom made which is goig to cost me another $300 buck. The blouse doesn't hav the corset fit i wanted & in back it looks weird (but it is covered with dupatta). So i can wear it at the wedding, it just not a elegant and refine looking

Now my fiance is finally getting his sherwani and he wants a blue color, which is making me want to add a hint of blue boarder on the inside of my duppatta to have some connection between our outfit. I am really upset because althought i have my lehanga i am left with lot of work yet to do. All these headache would have been solved had i taken the custom made route & my cost is fairly comprable. IF anything with all the adjustment my store brought one might end up being more expensive

So word of advice, if you can not wear a dress as is, dont bother geting it. Adjusting and fixing is too much headache. Better of custom making it.