Suparna and I have been together since childhood. We are the thickest of pals and when I received her wedding invite last week, my joy knew no bound.Finally I was going to attend a traditional yet very colourful wedding. A Bengali Wedding. I took a week’s leave, packed my bag and hopped into the first flight out of Delhi for Kolkata.

The wedding venue looked liked the set from the film Devdas and Suparna looked as gorgeous as Aishwarya Rai in her beautiful Bengali Bridal wear. Traditional Bengali marriages have many rituals that the bride and the groom have to perform. The bride mostly is draped in red, maroon or crimson

banarasi saree as red color is considered auspicious and brings luck to newlyweds. Now a day’s even orange, pink, shades of red are getting popular. The head is also covered with red dupatta or veil.

Her friends and relatives were dressed in bright coloured bengali style sarees. These sarees are very popular and famous for its designs throughout the India and worldwide. The sarees are a kind of extension of a woman’s beauty. Her mom looked elegant in the traditional off white with red border Bengali style saree The border and pallu of the saree was red in colour with sequins, stones, beads, zari and resham embroidered decorative design. The lower part of the saree and the entire pallu was embellished with sequins buttis. The traditional white and red saree is a must-have!

Another friend of ours looked sexy yet traditional in vibrant Bengali saree with a heavy embroidered pallu/boarder and with open hair and big red bindi. The most common depiction in bengali style sarees are floral patterns, borders with paisley, sun, moon and stars. Bengal is most famous for its cotton. The cotton saree is called the “Tant” saree. Seeing the beautiful collection of  Bengali style sarees during the wedding ceremony, I just wanted to rush out and shop for myself and that is exactly what I did the next day… just SHOPPED, SHOPPED and SHOPPED!!