Hello and welcome to my rendition of the Bengali Bride Diaries. Now I’m not going to lie I did well and truly steal this idea from the wonderful Imrana on Instagram @imonafwonders and click here for her blog. And also the lovely Sultana Malik with her #100daysofascottishbride series find her instagram here @sultanamalik and blog here . Whilst planning my wedding I really wanted to read bridal content but from a South Asian background. I was so surprised to hardly find anything! But I really struck gold finding the above pages, so thank you ladies.

I had a little experience prior to my own wedding only because I’ve somewhat planned and executed both my brothers weddings to an extent. But let me tell you, when it’s your own wedding it’s a whole other ball game. Everything is so much more different and you need to push the final button, there’s no one else giving the final say lol.

I decided earlier on that I would start writing my own diary entries so I can read back on them on quieter days and re-live this experience as I’ll never go through it again… so that’s what these are.

I’ll be posting these bridal diaries often, yet I don’t want to say weekly/ monthly etc. and make promises I cannot keep. So please keep an eye out for them. I hope these help many of you new brides.

*Disclaimer- these posts were written at the start of 2020 when Coronavirus hadn't populated as much. Some of the things said such as family gatherings etc. were the norm in January 2020 lol.

The first day:

Similar to when both my brothers were getting married, my journey to becoming a Mrs started off by that phone call. Our families spoke for a short while, got to know and then set up a date for the meeting. I wanted my brothers to go and meet my now husband prior to his family coming to my house, just to break the ice a little bit so that’s what they did. I remember that day I was so anxious. I just wanted them to like him and vice versa. Once that was done a date was sorted for his family to come round to mine. I guess you could call this the cinipaan/ dekha dekhi aka the mediocre engagement I would like to say. Only because at the end of the seeing day you usually know if this wedding will go ahead or not.

So much preparation goes to make this day perfect. From the cooking, cleaning and going around the house doing those odd jobs you’ve put off forever. It was like it was never ending. But thankfully it was all worth it. The house looked spick and span, food was cooked to perfection (thanks mum and bhabi). Another stress was finding THE outfit that they were going to see me in for the first time. Luckily I found one in Shiffons, Green Street. It was not bridal at all, but I wanted to keep it somewhat simple. I know some opt for a saree, but I can’t walk in one to save my life so thought no way! Let’s leave that for another day. Same with my make up, I kept it really simple and didn’t want to catfish anyone.

It started off with the ladies of his family coming up. They seemed more nervous than me! Then I went down to show my face to the men of the family. Alhamdulillah it all went well. Everyone was lovely. Loved learning new things about his family and loved hearing about how the husband is at home from his little sisters. 

It felt really natural, the conversations weren’t forced and it was just a nice evening. Any nerves that I had, had well and truly disappeared by then.
They bought mishit (mitai) and lots of it. The hubs also bought the most beautiful bouquet of flowers. I’m a sucker for flowers and my husband knows this so he did so well with this bouquet! 

Stay tuned for part two… it will be all about the crucial DATE and VENUES! See you then.