The year 2016 has been incredibly – everything from wedding preparations, to starting my PhD, to moving houses and travelling across the globe, left me with minimal time for my blog (thus my long absence). As we approach the end of the winter wedding season though, I’ve decided to dive right back into writing about the unique mixture of customs, traditions and rituals, and of course, attires that give Bangladeshi weddings their own special identity.

Naveela and Tonmoy’s engagement ceremony took place a few weeks after mine, and the rituals that took place night were very much like the ones that were performed in mine (elaborated here). The event was hosted by Naveela, my sister-in-law’s family, and it was essentially an announcement of Naveela’s and Tonmoy’s desire to commit to a lifelong relationship and an opportunity for them to seek blessings and well wishes from their close friends and family. It provided a platform for members of the extended family to be formally introduced to one another, and for them to be able to meet, greet, and socialise with each other.

And of course, it gave all of us involved a perfectly good reason to dress-up, feast and celebrate!

The stunning bride-to-be, Naveela, was dressed in a mixture of golden-beige and royal blue, a combination not frequented by many brides. Her dress was adorned with embroidered lace, fine zardozi needlework, and glass-cut mirror embellishments. Many of the traditional dresses focus heavily on crystal embellishments and embroidery, the detailing of which although beautiful, is sometimes in my opinion, overwhelming. What I truly liked about hers was the clarity of design the glass-cut mirrors provided, something that my mom and I kept into consideration while designing my own wedding dress – stay tuned for upcoming posts on that.

Dress: Nabila

Tonmoy’s look was classic and timeless. A sleek navy suit, paired with a crisp white shirt and a subtly printed blue tie to complement Naveela’s blue ensemble.  I had a special appreciation for the finer details including the visibility of the cuffs the white dress shirt and how that perfectly complemented his white pocket square and fine white print on his tie.

The pair looked gorgeous and perfectly complemented each other on their engagement night. Having been a part of their wedding festivities as well, I cannot wait to cover some of their fabulous looks!