Indian wedding clothes are elaborate set of clothes worn by the

bride A bride is a woman who is about to be married or who is newlywed. When marrying, the bride's future spouse, (if male) is usually referred to as the '' bridegroom'' or just ''groom''. In Western culture, a bride may be attended by a maid, bri ...

bridegroom A bridegroom (often shortened to groom) is a man who is about to be married or who is newlywed. When marrying, the bridegroom's future spouse (if female) is usually referred to as the bride. A bridegroom is typically attended by a best man ...

, and other relatives attending the

wedding A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...

Clothing culture

Attire is extremely important in an Indian wedding, not only for the marrying couple, but also the guests attending, the family, and the relatives. The bride is usually dressed up in auspicious colors, whereas the bridegroom is dressed to exude a regal aura. The

bridesmaid Bridesmaids are members of the bride's party in a Western traditional wedding ceremony. A bridesmaid is typically a young woman and often a close friend or relative. She attends to the bride on the day of a wedding or marriage ceremony. Tradi ...

s and

groomsmen A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony and performs the first speech at the wedding. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be s ...

are often dressed on par with the bride and the groom, but not as elaborately as the bride and groom. Many of the guests attending the wedding wear gold

jewelry Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry ( U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a w ...

including the bride and sometimes the groom. The women are additionally adorned with

henna Henna is a dye prepared from the plant ''Lawsonia inermis'', also known as the henna tree, the mignonette tree, and the Egyptian privet, the sole species of the genus ''Lawsonia''. ''Henna'' can also refer to the temporary body art resulting fr ...

patterns on their palms, hand, forearms, legs, and feet. Sometimes henna patterns are replaced with alta designs which are short lived and easily removable. In some cultures, the groom also sports henna, although it is often less elaborate or muted. Indian weddings generally tend to continue for several days and new attire is worn each day. All these dresses and the colour symbolize the meaning of marriage and the period that follows it. An Indian wedding is one that gives more importance to details like different rituals and the various attires one wears to attend them.

Hindu weddings

Indian

Hindu wedding A Hindu wedding, also known as Vivaha (Devanagari: विवाह; Kannada script: ವಿವಾಹ; ''Vivaaha'') (), Lagna (लग्न), or Kalyanam (Devanagari: कल्याणम्; Kannada script: ಕಲ್ಯಾಣಮ್; ta, க� ...

s continue for several days. India is a country that defines diversity and this is visible even in the wedding and its different styles. The ceremonies, the rituals, the formalities are all different between each region and culture. Unlike the Christians, Hindus wedding ceremony does not resemble the western marriages and are quite elaborate. In the North, Starting from the Tilak ceremony, each function has significance in the marriage. Tilak, Sangeet,

Haldi Haldi may refer to: * Ḫaldi, an Urartian god * ''Haldi'', Hindi/Punjabi/Bengali/Urdu/Gujarati name for the spice turmeric * Haldi, Estonia, village in Estonia * Haldi, Baltistan, a village in Pakistan * Haldi River Haldi River is a tributary o ...

, Baraat and the Shaadi, all necessitate the Bride and the bridegroom to wear new attire at each occasion. All these above ceremonies are known by different names in the other parts, e.g. ''Simant puja'' in the west, or ''Mangalasnanam'' in the south and so on.

Bridegroom's clothes

Many communities of South, West, and Eastern India adhere to their traditional costumes, i.e.

Dhoti The dhoti, also known as veshti, vetti, dhuti, mardani, chaadra, dhotar, jaiñboh, panchey, is a type of sarong, tied in a manner that outwardly resembles "loose trousers". It is a lower garment forming part of the ethnic costume for men in the ...

and

Mundu The mundu (Malayalam: ; ) is a garment worn around the waist in the Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, the Lakshadweep archipelago, and the Indian Ocean island nation of Maldives. It is closely related to sarongs like dhotis and lungis ...

by some communities of the South.

Kurta A ''kurta'' is a loose collarless shirt or tunic worn in many regions of South Asia, (subscription required) Quote: "A loose shirt or tunic worn by men and women." Quote: "Kurta: a loose shirt without a collar, worn by women and men from South ...

or a shirt may be worn or sometimes just an angavastram may be used to cover the chest. On the other hand, in the Northern parts, the bridegroom usually wears a

sherwani Sherwani is a long-sleeved outer coat worn by men in South Asia. Like the Western frock coat it is fitted, with some waist suppression; it falls to below the knees and is buttoned down the front. It can be collarless, have a shirt-style collar, ...

, Jodhpuri suit, or a Western suit. The groom’s face is veiled with a curtain of flowers which is called sehra in the North, which is not the custom elsewhere. It is also customary to wear a Taqiyah all through the ceremony in Muslim marriages. The ensemble for bridegrooms include sherwani, blended Indo-western suit and ethnic Jodhpuri suit. The shirts, coats, and jackets are designed with extra care and touch to bring out the magnanimity out of the bridegroom on the marriage day. Precious embellishments are studded into the collars and the cuffs of the bridegroom’s dress. Available both in simple cotton and splendid, royal raw silk, these

kurta A ''kurta'' is a loose collarless shirt or tunic worn in many regions of South Asia, (subscription required) Quote: "A loose shirt or tunic worn by men and women." Quote: "Kurta: a loose shirt without a collar, worn by women and men from South ...

are preferred mostly by the bridegrooms.

Bride's clothes

The bride wears a

wedding sari A wedding sari is the traditional wedding dress of South Asian women. The sari is traditionally a combination of red and green, with golden brocade. Hindu wedding sarees are predominantly red, a colour associated with married women, and never w ...

lehenga The ''lehenga'', ''lehnga'' or ''langa'' (also known as a ''ghagra'' or ''gagra'', ''chaniya'', ''pavadai'', or ''lacha'') is a form of ankle-length skirt from the Indian subcontinent. Different patterns and styles of traditional embroidery are used ...

according to the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

. In Indian culture, the wedding dress of bride comes from groom's side as a shagun. Red is considered to be the most auspicious color among Hindus. While the sari is preferred as the bridal dress in

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union terr ...

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

East India East India is a region of India consisting of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal and also the union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The region roughly corresponds to the historical region of Magad ...

, traditional wear such as the mekhela sador is preferred in North-east India and brides of the North of India prefer Lehenga, Gagra Choli and Odni as bridal dresses.

Christian weddings

Christian marriage in India is mostly an adaptation of

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

wedding ceremonies. Here the bridegroom wears a western suit or

tuxedo Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element ...

. The bride usually opts for a red silk sari or a Western

gown A gown, from the Saxon word, ''gunna'', is a usually loose outer garment from knee-to-full-length worn by men and women in Europe from the Early Middle Ages to the 17th century, and continuing today in certain professions; later, the term ''gown ...

, or wears the gown for the church ceremony and changes into the sari for some or all of the reception.

Bridesmaid and family

The typical Indian Hindu marriage ceremony does not usually have the concept of bridesmaids. But in many Hindu weddings, women in the family often prefer to wear either a

sari A sari (sometimes also saree or shari)The name of the garment in various regional languages include: * as, শাৰী, xārī, translit-std=ISO * bn, শাড়ি, śāṛi, translit-std=ISO * gu, સાડી, sāḍī, translit-std ...

, lahenga, Anarkali Salwar Suit or simple

shalwar kameez Shalwar kameez (also salwar kameez and less commonly shalwar qameez) is a traditional combination dress worn by women, and in some regions by men, in South Asia, and Central Asia. ''Shalwars'' are trousers which are atypically wide at the w ...