The Hindu Business Line : The bride's choice

Planning for your wedding could be a plethora of emotions rolled into one and the run-up to the wedding has the uncanny characteristic of being painfully pleasurable. It would be gross misconception to believe that the bride is usually the cynosure of all eyes, while, more often than not, it is the bridal attire and the accessories that contribute to the active banter at Indian weddings. Which is why wedding planners start the hunt for the perfect colour and the most exotic design much before the set date.

Have you visited every famous saree store in town, carefully sifted through every design and returned to the same stores at least a few times hoping to spot, from their fresh stock, something that remotely resembles your taste and have drawn a blank every time? Relax, don't panic! Take the unconventional, less taken route instead. Design your own silk saree, with the brocades, motifs, embroidery and colours you think suits you best.

Getting stylish

Today, many young women are opting to design their own sarees, says Vidya Balakrishnan of Viba Sarees in Chennai. "Women in the 18-30 age group are very fashionable, open to spending on themselves and are also willing to experiment," she adds. According to her, it is the upper middle-class that is keen to test new waters.

Though the traditional Kancheepuram designs and colours continue to fascinate many, especially the older generation, youngsters opt for the hip look which includes thin or practically non-existent borders. "Customers bring such fantastic colours from a scrap of paper and want us to replicate that. Our weavers use natural, vegetable dyes to bring out the exact colours," says Vidya. Embroidery, worli-paintings and polka dots are some designs that are in.

Wedding sarees are also getting very colourful — with hues of violet, blue, light and olive green catching the fancy of women rather than the usual red and maroon shades.

"Darker shades also take precedence as the zari or embroidery work is more prominent, making the saree much grander and more elegant," says Vijayalakshmi Krishna, who manages Aavarnaa, a designer saree store in Chennai. "People want contemporary designs and whatever said, everyone wants a unique saree," she says.

Not everyone is aesthetically or creatively inclined, but they want their wedding saree to stand out. "This is why we keep altering our designs and experiment to keep pace with the customer's demands. In fact, we do not make more than six sarees in a particular design. This way we ensure that the exclusivity in our weave remains," Vijayalakshmi adds.

These designers have their own looms, embroidery, tailoring and printing unit, and a set of weavers who transform the customer's ideas into a Kancheepuram pattu. Srinivas Silk House and Hayagriva Silks in Chennai have their own factory at Kancheepuram. "We have an album of designs and customers can choose what they like," says S. Varadan of Hayagriva Silks. He adds that orders from places as far-flung as Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat and even the US far outstrip those from South India.

Stores like Tulsi Silks offer to weave sarees in the colours chosen by the customer. Suresh Parekh of Tulsi Silks says, "We do weave our sarees, but in the design we already have. Customers can choose the colour they want... but we would rather they buy sarees off the shelf, instead of placing orders." He reasons that there could be a delay in weaving and this could ruin customer relationship. Hence, they do not encourage custom-made sarees.

Weaving sarees can take anywhere between 20 days and two months, depending on the kind of work you want on it. If you are sure that you want to design your own saree, it is better to place orders much in advance. Even the pricing of these custom-made sarees can start anywhere from Rs 8,000 and go up to even Rs 25, 000.

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