Best Wedding Dress Ideas For Women In Pakistan

We Pakistanis love having big fat weddings. Everything has to be over the top and should exceed the expectations of the guests. I have seen the sweetest girls turn into terrifying bridezillas during their wedding days as they have immense pressure on them to look flawless and beautiful.

To be honest, I understand their anxiety. Every bride wants to look special and different on their wedding day. They deserve to be demanding because it is one of those special days of their lives that they will cherish for a long time. Every bride has her preferred look for the big day. Some want to flaunt a royal wedding saree or some are happy to wear the traditional lehenga with an Indian-designed Choli.

Although, lehengas for brides are sort of a cliché choice I believe it gives out the most wedding vibes compared to any other attire. Punjabi wedding dresses for females are ideal if they are unsure of what to choose for their big day and don’t want to experiment.

Over the years, a typical 3-day wedding event has been turned into a week-long wedding party, with new events added to the list inspired by the west and our neighboring country. From the Bridal shower to Shendi to a lot of dholkis and qawali nights, people keep coming up with new ways to celebrate wedding bells in unique ways. Although the concept of “Shendi” is very cringe-worthy in my opinion, on the other hand, it does allow people to save money as they arrange 2 events at the cost of one.

However, the longer the list of events, there are more expenses made on traditional wedding outfits for ladies of the house apart from the bride. All the khalas, phoupos, and girlfriends of the bride want to look ravishing to celebrate the happiness of their beloved ones.

Needless to say, the bride remains the center of attraction and with so many events lined up, it can get pretty overwhelming to decide what kind of dresses should be worn. Fear not, you don’t need to enter into the bride wars zone as I have gathered some suggestions for the dresses to be worn on these various occasions, even if your wedding party is a month long.

Bridal Showers- A Treat for Yourself

As a girl prepares herself to step into married life and accept tons of responsibilities that can even scare the crap out of Chucky’s bride, the event is arranged by her close friends and cousins as a way of showering her with blessings for a new life.

Since it's a pre-wedding event, one of the most important factors you should consider while picking out a dress for the bridal shower, is that it should not overpower the dress for the big day. Mostly Bridal Showers are a day event, so try to choose pastel colors for the dress. You should choose a dress that is not adorned heavily nor should it be too simple, that it takes you out of the limelight.

The ideal dress code for a bridal shower is gowns embellished with sequins, jumpsuits, or heavily embellished skirts with a plain semi-formal shirt. You can also browse the internet for various bridal frock designs and get something exclusive stitched for the occasion.

The Dholki and Qawali – The Notorious Nights

For the nights filled with fun and unlimited dancing, you need to dress as comfortably as possible. Simplicity is your best friend when it comes to endless Dholkis and Qawali nights.

A royal wedding saree can be a tad bit much. You can opt for simple shalwar kameez with light embroidery in traditional colors such as green, orange, or yellow. However, if the shalwar kameez seems too typical then you can choose a peplum with fitted trousers to give it a slightly formal look. In my opinion, sharara sets with plain shirts are your best bet. With the outfit being subtle, your makeup needs to be minimal too. Try not to add dramatic eyelashes, bright lipstick, or excessive blush to your party makeup. Keep it natural as much as possible during such events.

Even a simple Kurti for a wedding party such as Mayun could be ideal, as you don’t want to spoil your expensive attires with stains of Mehandi or Haldi. With cousins and best friends in the mix, things go crazy within the blink of an eye.

Mehandi – The night of Endless Fun

This is one of the most awaited nights in the wedding month. Even though everyone has been tapping around in their dancing shoes for more than a month at dholki in dance practices, this is the night where the wedding party’s hard work pays off.

Everyone is super hyped up as the dance floors are laid out for catchy and energetic performances. This is also an event, where you don’t have to move around much. With all the rituals taking place, all you need to do is sit and cheer up for your friends and cousins who have prepared exciting dance performances exclusively for your wedding event.

On Mehandi, you can afford to play with colors as much as you like. From hot pink to purple to mustard yellow color, you can choose whichever color seems more fun and vibrant to you. Pastel colors are a big no and a satrangi Anarkali dress is a big yes. Feel free to visit bazaars and hunt down the best bridal frock designs available in the market. Apart from colors, you can also add some gota work to give it a more traditional vibe and wear handmade gota jewelry to complete the look. Some families also choose lehengas for the bride to wear on Mehandi but I think it steals away the limelight from your Baraat’s outfit.

Nikkah- The day you say “I do”

This is indeed the most important day of your life as you agree to spend your whole life dedicated to one person and promising to be by his side whether in sickness or health.

Nikkah, unlike Mehandi, asks for a soft color palette such as white, light pink, dull lavender, or beige with a decent work of silver or dull golden stonework. Most brides opt for anarkalis or heavily adorned shalwar kameez for the glorious event. The white and golden combination was trending in recent times as the most preferred choice for the Nikkah ceremony. Some also included waistcoats to make the dress look more formal while balancing it out with a simple choker and a tika.

The footwear ideally should be flats or a khusa. Heels add more drama to the attire and you need to save that for baraat. Sometimes people who have gone through a divorce are granted a second chance to restart their marital life with blessings from their loved ones.  If you are one of those who got lucky to find love for the second time in your life even though you have children, then along with your outfits you need to plan outfits for them too.

And when it comes to children it is not easy to put together an outfit for them. To make things easy for you try to browse bridal wear by daffodils as they offer a huge collection of party dresses for children at reasonable prices.

Baraat – The day you unite with your Better Half

While growing up, whenever I attended Baraat, my mind always used to be quite curious about what colors the bride would choose to wear and what kind of attire she would flaunt while walking toward the stage.

All the guests of the wedding are curious about the bride’s dress, and their eyes are fixated on her as soon as she enters the hall. People like to give it a detailed look, so they can discuss the pros and cons of the dress over their morning coffee. But no one understands the enormous pressure that the bride goes through while choosing THE DRESS. It can be an overwhelming task and many brides turn into bridezilla when it comes to choosing the one perfect outfit for the most important occasion of their life.

To make it easy for you, here are some quick tips that you should follow without bringing too much stress on yourself. From lehengas to heavily embellished ghararas are the ideal choice for the occasion. Punjabi wedding dresses for females can also play out as a perfect fit for the occasion. Your color palette can include different shades of red such as maroon, deep red, or bright red.

If you don’t want to look like a typical 90’s bride then you can experiment with colors like sea green, teal, or golden to have an exclusive and different look. You can go for more than one jewelry set. Two are a must. The makeup has to be slightly dramatic but you need to understand there is a fine line between being dramatic and looking like a drag queen. Make sure that the liner suits your eye shape, the false lashes define your eyes well, and the lipstick makes your lips look slightly fuller. If you have a cute little bridesmaid at the wedding party then you can get her a nice and sophisticated dress from bridal wear by daffodils.

Walima- They Lived Happily Ever After

Walima is the last event of the month’s long wedding party and many brides are quite relaxed when it comes to choosing the dress for the occasion, as it is selected by the groom’s side.

However, in today’s time, many brides prefer to choose the dress themselves as they want to follow a certain style or look for the event. Unlike baraat, you should choose to wear light colors such as peach, off-white, silver, turquoise, or dull lilac. The ideal attire to wear would be long gowns, pishwas, or light embellished ghararas. Keeping in mind the event is a formal dinner to wish good blessings on the newly married couple, the jewelry should be lighter and the makeup should be toned down compared to Baraat.

The Happy Ending Note

As described above, each event demands a different look and vibe. A bride should do her research well before placing orders for the outfits for her special events.

She should be well aware of which type of Kurti for the wedding party would be an ideal choice. The process of choosing the perfect attire should not be difficult as our desi bazaars hold some of the most impressive variety in traditional wedding outfits for ladies.

The only thing you should know is about the look that the event requires and the color palette that will help you to achieve the most perfect look of the year.

And if you are tying the knot with the love of your life, then no matter what you wear, true love will put an endless glow on your face.