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Mehndi - A Pre Wedding Celebration

  • Mehndi - A Pre Wedding Celebration
  • Mehndi - A Pre Wedding Celebration

Indian weddings are known for their bright array of colours, music and dancing but most importantly the historic traditions, rituals and beliefs, however, the celebrations actually start in the days before the wedding with a celebratory tradition called Mehndi.

In the build up to the brides wedding day all of the family and close friends get together for an evening full of festive spirit, with plenty of food, drink, music and dancing, and where the brides hands and feet are decorated with Mehndi, an elaborate design full of beautiful patterns, symbols and even the groom’s name written into the palm of her hand…. which the Groom has to try and find after the wedding! 

Mehndi is a paste made with dried leaves from the Henna plant but many like to add Eucalyptus oil, clove oil and drops of lemon due to beliefs that Mehndi has powerful medicinal purposes as well, one being to ease stress and headaches and keep the bride calm in the lead up to her Wedding day. Another firm belief is that colour of the mehndi indicates the strength of her future husbands love, the deeper the colour the more both the groom and his family will love his bride.

Indian weddings and pre wedding ceremonies are incredibly eye catching with bright coloured outfits adorned with hand sewn details and gems. For the bride the most traditional colour is Red with gold decoration.  Many bridal parties are adding new contemporary twists to the decoration of the home for the Mehndi celebration by using our paper hanging lanterns but still in keeping with traditional colour schemes such as red, ivory and gold.

For the more creative bride wanting to accentuate the party atmosphere you can match your round paper lanterns to the brighter colours seen in your guests’ outfits such as yellow, fuchsia, orange, purple, turquoise and green.
Transform your sitting room into a vibrant party venue by suspending your paper lanterns from the ceiling using clear fishing wire or even ribbon to match your colour scheme.