The wedding trends guide by leading designers and planners

Pratishtha Rana 

Top Indian designers and wedding planners turn trend forecasters for LuxeBook’s wedding digest.

India’s shaadi season is a grand affair. Everyone from the bride to the groom and their families and guests works hard to make a fashion statement on the big day. LuxeBook gets India’s leading fashion designers to spill the beans on the fashion trends for the upcoming wedding season.

Abu Jani & Sandeep Khosla

The talented duo that marked 33 years in the fashion industry this year believes that there are no set rules to follow when it comes to wedding outfits. However, they recommend colourful dresses for mehendi and haldi ceremonies and going all bling for the sangeet ceremony. “For sangeets, wear dresses with sequins, crystals and mirror work.”

A smart tip for grooms planning a destination wedding is to pack a bandhgala, a sherwani and a set of kurta, bundi jacket with dhoti pants.

Ritu Kumar

Textile revivalist and veteran designer, Ritu Kumar votes for a traditional look – jamdani and ikat weaves coupled with the elegance of velvet. For a more comfortable attire – the one in which you can dance your heart out — she suggests combining plain pleated net dresses with heavy embroidered jackets.

Manish Malhotra

Bollywood’s favourite, Manish Malhotra recommends not to over-match, like many couples do, buying the outfits of the same colour, but to focus on balancing each other’s (bride and groom) fashion choices. “The groom can just have an accent of the bride’s lehenga over his wedding wear. If the bride is going minimal with her outfit, the groom can follow suit,” says Malhotra.

Shyamal & Bhumika

Pastel toned sherwani jackets and long structured kurtas are in trend for grooms, says Ahmedabad-based designer couple Shyamal and Bhumika Shodhan. They suggest that brides opt
for vintage tones like ochre, European green and salmon pink and choose floral patterns with sequined embroidery for sensuous cholis, shararas. Sheer organza sarees and peplum tops are also great options.

Payal Jain

It is not always about looking royal and opulent. “It’s important to let your hair down, have fun and be comfortable, especially at a beach wedding,” says Delhi-based designer Payal Jain. An elegant sundress or a linen dress for women and easy linen pants and shirts for men in bright, happy colours are a good idea. In fabrics, Jain suggests silk mixed with brocade, crepe, taffeta and georgette. These are perfect for lehengas and sherwanis.

Kunal Rawal

Shahid Kapoor’s wedding dress designer, Kunal Rawal makes a case for different shades of pink and blue. In his recent collection, Rawal experimented with hues of blue – dark navy, cobalt, denim blue, ice blue and beach blue. He also recommends deconstructed sherwanis, popular with new-age grooms for their redefined details. The deconstructed silhouettes are often a three-piece set, which doesn’t particularly follow the usual structure of a sherwani and combine traditional and modern elements of a kurta, a jacket and pants or a dhoti. The use of solar printing and photochromatic pigments, using threads dipped in bright dyes is also a great way to add a playful element to a groom’s outfit. “It would be fascinating to wear an all-white outfit, which instantly changes colour to mint or yellow when one moves from the indoors to the outdoors or vice-versa,” says Rawal.

Anushree Reddy

Known for her flattering bridal couture, Hyderabad-based designer Anushree Reddy takes inspiration from the word glamour. She reimagines lehengas for the modern bride in her Blockbuster Brides collection in gold, pink and red and recommends low-cut blouses, “Decorate these sexy pieces with laces to make them more attractive,” she says.

DiyaRajvvir

A fashion lesson on fabrics: The husband-wife duo Diya and Rajvvir Arora of DiyaRajvvir label suggest choosing light fabrics, especially for destination weddings. It is the best way to be stress-free. “Tulle is here to stay on along with georgette and crepe de chine,” they say. Their checklist for a bride includes a hand-painted lehenga, a classic floral organza saree teamed with a dramatic blouse and a well-tailored pantsuit to lounge around in between ceremonies.

Payal Singhal

Payal Singhal, who celebrates her 20th year in the fashion industry this year, drops the idea of traditional dupattas and recommends embroidered jackets over lehenga-choli sets. “Bombers and jackets with lehengas are trending this season. And the showstopper outfit we put together for Shibani Dandekar (at the Lakmé Fashion Week W/F 2019) is perfect for a modern bride.”

Nachiket Barve

The colour palette this season has hit a refresh button. The bride and the groom can play with an array of different shades; bright, understated and even conventional ones like red. “Ivory white is what I am loving currently,” says Barve, who launched his eponymous label in 2007 at Lakme Fashion Week’s Gen Next showcase. Barve created a quirky travel-inspired fashion collection, Passport Princesses, for the last Lakmé Fashion Week showcase, in collaboration with handbag brand Caprese, for brides who love to travel. The range has a mix of contemporary and festive wear, inspired by the 70s Moroccan aesthetics.

Amit Aggarwal

Designer Amit Aggarwal, who launched his eponymous label in 2012, suggests matching neons with ivory for a beach wedding. “The colour combination looks beautiful against the backdrop of an ocean.”

Wedding planning trends

Planning a wedding in this millennial hour is about adhering to trends and making the big day, even bigger. From artsy themes and grand décor to gourmet food and Pinterest-inspired ideas, a wedding checklist is an elaborate affair. To unravel it all, LuxeBook catches up with the duo behind FB Celebrations Pvt Ltd., Founders Bhavnesh Sawhney and Farid Khan, who curated larger-than-life weddings of Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja; Poorna Patel and Namit Soni; and Sanjay Hinduja and Anusuya Mahtani.

At FB Celebrations, strategies follow an organised plan to put together a reel-worthy reality. For grand weddings, preparations start six months in advance, while the close-knit affairs are planned in a period of three months.

Décor- Modernize and Personalize

The primary trend is to modernize without disregarding traditions. Replicas of temples, palaces or sheesh mahals are always in demand for décor if the actual destination is not available.

Personalization has been the biggest trend this season. Handmade elements and floral decorations are significantly used to customise the wedding space.

Illusion of grandeur comes in to play with installation of stand-alone structures, grand table centre-pieces along with glass and crystal statement décor.

Themes- From the 60s to Bollywood Broadways

Pop-art is a free-flowing theme for the classic touch of the 60s. One can use a mix of loud colours, prints and graphics to set-up photo booths, high ceilings and paintings.

Bollywood Broadway as a concept is fun, dynamic and colourful to execute. It includes extravagant sets inspired from Bollywood, dramatic lights and music and dance performances, similar to classic Broadway shows.

Reuse and recycle

For a conscious eco-friendly wedding, use of reusable, recyclable and reprocessable décor, props, invites and gifts are popular.

Food & Beverage- A toast to the wedding couple

Food and beverage trends generally seen in the fine-dine restaurants have become a part of the wedding menus, such as green and organic ingredients, DIY food counters, desserts along with the wedding cake and more.

Cocktail hours are now a part of the main ceremony, since the new-age couples prefer to enjoy their ceremonies with drinks and food.

Social Media

Sawhney and Khan say, “Social media is a major influence in the way weddings are now planned, and its impact is conveniently far-reaching. The hype, spice and drama around a wedding on social media is so huge, it might pass for a marketing campaign for an international brand.”

Instagram and Pinterest are a big source of inspiration for brides and grooms. The widely used hashtags are an easy way to consolidate your wedding images under one gallery. Guests now RSVP and share their credential information through websites and apps, especially curated for weddings.