Saturday, July 9, 2011

Our 4th of July - The Red and The Gold

Posted by Tasha

Only a month left to our engagement half way mark... 220 days have elapsed since she said "yes" and only 278 days until she says "I do" Ah! This is where the planning gets serious!

Our biggest accomplishment in these 220 days has been finalizing our venue... drum roll... the art gallery! It was the first of the two options we described and we could not have made this decision without your input! Thank you!!! We talked to the Managing Director of the venue, CT, and he is exactly the person we need to refocus us into the planning path! He told us our priorities now are food and photographers before everyone gets booked!

We discussed our options for food in a million different ways and maybe that warrants its own post (stay tuned); yet we still have not come to any conclusions there. In fact we talked about almost every aspect of the wedding day and suggested a dozen options for every element of the day, and again few conclusions are set. But hey, we have another 278 days to really get things straight (or gay).

Besides the venue, we have only one other thing finalized (as of yesterday). Tigritza and I are in India spending some time with her family - the perfect opportunity to get all the Indian trimmings! Last night we spent a few hours in the gold district of Kolkata and finally found THE wedding jewelry for my bride! After rejecting hundreds of gold necklaces of different styles, shapes, designs, and patterns, we came to a very unusual necklace with some fiery colors. This was it. In good Tigritza-Tasha custom, we kept it aside and continued to look until we knew nothing compared. It is delicate and grand and intricate and asymmetrical (like Tigritza's ring) and it's the wedding jewelry! With the necklace we got earrings which perfectly match and we got a tikka (or what I called a tickleee - which is a gold chain with a pendant at the end worn parting the hair in the middle with the pendant at the top of the forehead). Next she had to finalize her sari!

Before I arrived in India, Tigritza and her parents went sari shopping and found two beautiful bridal saris (in two different stores, one in Kolkata and one in Mumbai) after hours and even days of searching through red saris. And since they couldn't decide which of the two was right, they got both! After coming home last night from the jewelry adventure, Tigritza had to make a very exciting choice! She tried on each sari with the jewelry and had her parents and I pick the best one. I was very hesitant seeing her in the wedding get-up, but she assured me that she wouldn't get completely dressed - she still doesn't have the blouse-piece made (the little shirt worn under the 9 yards of sari material) and the pleats (or folds) wouldn't be done perfectly, etc. Regardless, she put on option A, the Mumbai sari, and it was beautiful - rich red with a uniform gold pattern and very thick gold pallu (the end piece that hangs over the shoulder). Then option B. The Kolkata sari. It was breathtaking. Bright red sari, swirls of gold all over, pleats covered in a different - more concentrated pattern of gold, pallu delicately sprinkled with gold. Absolutely majestic. I jumped up and ran away! Tigritza's Dad said "What's wrong!?" And all I could say was "That's my bride, wearing her bridal sari! I can't keep looking at her! This is it!!!" And after a big hug from Papa I ran to another room while the aaahhhs and ooohhhs continued.

So there you have it. Tigritza covered in red and gold. No photos since I'd be looking at them all day and that's no good. Tomorrow we'll go shopping for some little random Indian decorative things that might be nice for the wedding!

As always... more to come!