...some Wedding traditional crafts, favors and gifts

...the fun part of any wedding is the preparation for the different events leading upto the maraige.
The minute, we knew the wedding was fixed, we started coming up with ideas for the gifts, favors and the decor. Having come back from Mumbai late last year and having been introduced to some fabulous shops in Mumbai by my cousin Sandhya...we had the gifts pretty much nailed down. Pinterest helped us hugely for the decor and the favor ideas...

Some glimpses of the wedding gifts, favors and traditional crafts created for the wedding...

For the Sumangali pooja (Also the Suhagaan pooja)

This pooja is done to invoke the blessings of women from the bride's family, who have lived long and are enjoying prosperous family life with their husband. This is always done earlier to a marriage in the bride's family or earlier to a Munji (thread ceremony for a boy). Auspicious items like Haldi-Kum Kum, comb, mirror, earrings, bangles, blouse piece and a saree, Betal (Pan) leaves and betal nut along with fruits and flowers are given to 5 or 7 or 9 women and 1 or 2 young girls. This is tradinally given in a Mora (also called Soopa in Northern India) made of cane and hence called Morada Bangana in Karnataka.

Our earlier thoughts were to get cane baskets and use them as the Mora...but I wanted the traditional mora...and had planned to make 18 mora's out of paper mache...Crazy! probably yes..! Anyway, as luck could have it, my friend Vara from Bangalore was travelling from Bangalore to Atlanta on work...and he got me the moras from City market in Bangalore...
After giving it a wash in turmeric, I painted some Rangoli and Alpana designs on the mora's...Rangolies and Alpanas are painted in front of every door, to welcome Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. I then painted some Warli designs performing the different day to day activities that are part of the wedding preparations...

 Betal nut dolls - Made of the round betal nut and draped in ghagra made of the chunari fromVaishno devi, these dolls are so special. zWhen we had visited Vaishno devi last year, we had prayed for all, including Purni... hence a doll representing the devi seemed apt. Two betal nuts and a wine cork did the trick...

Haldi Kum Kum flowers - These are made of stocking material and have Haldi (Turmeric) and Kum Kum powders in the middle of the flower...

For the Mehendi - Candles from Ikea were painted with henna designs and then sealed using Mod podge and decorated with white stones for the subtle bling effect...

Gifts - Mumbai's Crawford Market is a haven for shopping for wholesale stuff...Jewelry, bags, clutches...yes you guessed it right...most of the gifts came from Mumbai

For the Bridal shower - beautiful bracelets were made with pearls by Shyla (the brides mother), and her Tampa friends Dr.Swarna, Chaitra, Vani, Shanta, Dr. Sudha and Geeta... 

Hope you enjoyed the post...