Your Ultimate Guide for Wedding Dress Shopping – Inspiration and Style Guide

The stress of wedding shopping can be overwhelming. From the food to the decorations, jewelry to the shoes to scheduling salon appointments to running around the bazaars to find the perfect outfit and fretting about the tailoring, there is much to think about. The list could go on and on. All brides-to-be fantasize of wearing the dress of their dreams on their wedding day, but there are a lot of factors to consider, including design, event, and most importantly budget. Also, it is important to know your style and what kind of look and silhouette you prefer.

Your wedding ensemble should make you feel your best and allow you to enjoy it to the fullest, so you must feel comfortable in your wedding dress. There are many Pakistani designers who create couture and wedding dresses, and their work is appreciated worldwide. These designers include Ali Xeeshan, Fahad Hussayn, Hussain Rehar, Faiza Saqlain, Ansab Jahangir, and many many more. Each of the designers specializes in a certain type of look, so it just depends on what you're going for. Ali Xeeshan bridals should be your first choice if you're an extra bride looking for drama, while Faiza Saqlain bridals should be on your mood board if you're looking for something classic and elegant.

If you don't know what to wear, don't worry, we have got you covered just scroll down and find all the inspiration you need.

Bridal Shower

A bridal shower is one of the most important pre-Shaadi events. This event is all about cute dresses, daytime lighting, and cute decorations. It has to be our favorite event of all thanks to the cake, the activities, and the gifts. To shower the bride with love and blessings, all of the bride's girlfriends and female relatives come together. The dresses are usually themed or color-coordinated. Most brides either opt for jumpsuits, long frocks, gowns, or maxi dresses at their bridal shower. You can also go for a skirt or a kaftan as well.

Hussain Rehar has the most top-notch fashion-forward skirts paired with fitted blouses. Their Darcy article from the collection “Va Va Voom” comes with a puffy, twirl-worthy skirt paired with a fitted blouse with black bead detailing on the sleeves. This is a perfect choice for a soft yet fashion-forward bridal shower look. While pastel colors may seem the right choice you can also go for bold and vibrant colors as well. Zaviay has a wide range of western-inspired bold cuts on a bright color palette for all the stylish brides-to-be.

Dholki

Talking about the pre-events, get ready for the fun-filled dholkis and dance practices. In this event simplicity is your best friend and you would want to keep your ensemble minimal, simple, and full of grace and save the drama and glamour for the main events. You can go for salwar kameez, peplum, pishwas, long frocks, or shararas set with the shirt. The color palette could vary according to your personal preference you could go for the classic yellow, mustard, orange, and green or you could also go for multi-colors as well.

HEM luxury pret collection has the most alluring and extravagant dresses for dholki featuring the most eye-catching colors and prettiest floral embroidery. Their carnation outfit features a multi-color organza frock with golden shararas making it the perfect dholki outfit. Salwar kameez is the ultimate go-to for weddings and a traditional one with classic zari or gota embroidery is a must-have. Faiza Saqlain’s Arisa from the collection “Mahsa” features a contemporary, classic, and simple lime salwar kameez adorned by Hania Amir. The minimal and intricate silver embroidery on the neckline and gota detailing on the border with heavy embellishments on the shalwar paired with a multi-colored organza dupatta is the go-to outfit for dholki.

Mehndi/ Sangeet

The most fun-filled event out of all has to be mehndi or sangeet. With the dances, rasams, music and just enjoying mehndi is a night of all the fun-filled experiences and your outfit should be equally fun as well. When it comes to mehndi dresses there are no written rules, you can be as experimental as you want, you can play with colors, embroideries, and silhouettes as well. You can go all out with heavy embroideries on ghararas, shararas, lehenga choli, and pishwas. But make sure it is twirl-worthy and comfortable because you would also want to dance the night away 😉.

Farah Talib Aziz’s collection “Leelah” features some of the most alluring and eye-catching designs for mehndi. Their article Bia features a burnt orange kalidar with contrasting fuchsia pink color embroidery which is perfect for a classic mehndi look. Ansab Jahangir’s collection “Dia” article virsa features a yellow lehenga choli with dabka work on raw silk fabric. Pair it with green Kundan jewelry and a sleek hair look and you have the perfect look for a daytime sangeet. If you want to go for something extra and full of heavy embellishments that will put you in the spotlight then Ali Xeeshan’s collection “7 sins” article greed is for you. The red lehenga choli embellished with floral and botanical designs will make you look like a vision.

Nikkah

We love each and every look when it comes to bridal wedding looks but there is something so loveable and alluring about the nikkah bridal look. The white or pastel traditional and classic outfit, the vintage jewelry, and the soft makeup look make the bride look heavenly and gorgeous. If you don’t know what to wear at a wedding then keep on reading because we have just the right designer collections for you. You can either go for a super simple look such as Fiza Khawar on her nikkah opted for a simple white Faiza Saqlain pishwas or you can go for a full traditional ghararas look like Waliya Najib opted for a tea pink gharara on her wedding.

Mohsin Naveed Ranjha’s collection “Jugni” embodies traditional embroideries on a muted and ivory color palette with classical cuts. This collection is perfect for nikkah and features ghararas, kalidars, and long shirts. When it comes to nikkah ghararas no one can do it better than MNR. His designs are the first priority of every celebrity and influencer for nikkah. Their latest collection “Nael” article “Kamila” features a pure silk kameez on a bed of dense mirror, dabka, and tilla work. The shoulder pads on the sleeves give the whole outfit a modern twist and is paired with a kacha tilla gharara and net dupatta with Kiran. As soon as we saw this outfit we bookmarked it for the upcoming festive season. This outfit comes in pink and gold colors.

Baraat/ Shendi

The main shadi event is all about the bride and her dress and it should be the main focus. As the decorations and the groom’s dress revolve around it.While the red bridal dress is a classic you can also go for shades of pinks, green, orange, and white as well. We love a traditional red regal bride look with golden embroidery. It is vintage, classic, and eye-catching. And tried and tested that it will make you look like a vision on your big day. You can mix and match by adding a splash of colors in your wardrobe by incorporating contrasting colors in the embroidery. While a lehenga choli seems like a go-to choice for Barat, you can also go for a long shirt, peplum, or a kalidar as well.

If you want to go for a traditional and classic look then Shakeel’s by Zeeshan Danish is a perfect choice. The heavily jaal embroidered long shirts with flattering lehenga silhouettes are a go-to for all the brides-to-be. Another collection that has caught our eye ever since its launch is Fahad Husayn’s “signature wedding”. This has to be the best bridal launch of the season with attention to detailing and a unique color palette. The quintessential bridal dresses with heavenly drapes and hand-crafted work give a sense of regality and royalty.

Walima/Reception

Walimas is all about soft colors, silver embroideries, and minimal makeup looks. Most of the walima events are held in the daytime to accentuate the silver handwork and pastel colors of the dress. Although there is no specific rule on what kind of silhouette you should go for at your reception but maxis, gowns, shararas are the ultimate choice for walima. You can also go for a pishwas as well.

Faiza Saqlain’s collection “Yar e Man” article Ayra features an ice blue kalidar paired with shararas. It is the dream walima dress and will give you desi Cinderella vibes on your big day. We also loved “Bahar” by Kanwal Malik which is a mint color lehenga and frock embellished with intricate golden zari and dabka handwork perfect for a daytime wedding.

Hope this helped you decide what to wear on your big day. No matter what you decide, we're sure you will look magnificent. LAAM carries a wide selection of designer wedding dresses from Pakistan's top designer brands. Thus, there is no need to run through the bazaars, since we have everything covered for you.

- by Fatima Farooq

Fatima Farooq Sometimes a writer other times a business student. You can find me listening to Sufjan Stevens and doing art after work.