As the mercury starts a downward trend and a cool breeze starts caressing your cheeks in the evenings, you know it not only spells the end of a very long, very sweaty Pakistani summer season but also the start of what we all like to call the shaadi season.
Shaadi is the time when girls ‘become women’ as they sit and force a smile looking like the “perfect bride”, or as what their mothers instruct a perfect bride should look and behave. These brides also don the most garishly expensive ensemble of their lives that took maybe two months to make and is worn for just two hours of their lives. And the grooms are in the same old boxy suits or if they are feeling “different”, they’ll wear that paghri or kulla, depending on what you prefer to call it.
We all know what Pakistani brides wear, usually a red lehnga and jewelry that is so obviously ripped off of Aishwarya Rai’s look from Devdas (why is it still in fashion, though?). But do you know what brides and grooms around the world choose to wear to look their best on one of, if not the, biggest day of their lives? Well, let’s have a look:
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Italy
Malaysia
Indonesia
Japan
Brunei
Thailand
Kenya
India
Morocco
And finally…
PAKISTAN
During this celebratory period, in Pakistan, all your weekends are completely booked with mehndis and baraats and the boring but necessary valimas and your weekdays are all about those dholkis and dance practices. You get to see, literally, everyone in your social circle at these events and you get to stuff your face with the same old pulao and chicken shorba, maybe at a ‘farmhouse’ event there is respite from more of the same because of a lavish sit-down. Share with us wedding traditions specific to your family.