Headline October 10, 2018/ '' 'RIDE-SHARE -BRIDAL- RICKSHAW' ''

'' 'RIDE-SHARE -BRIDAL- RICKSHAW' ''

MY FIANCE AND I would have an army to help us wade through the sea of bridal gowns, lehengas and achkans, the knee-length jacket worn by north Indian grooms, and we could also get wedding invitations made for less than we'd pay in the United States.

The Caveat : Since we were in his parents' old stomping grounds, they would discuss the order of operations, which is why, within 12 hours of landing barelling through the streets of Old Delhi in  bicycle-rickshaws-

Trying to find an alley that my father-in-law promised was lined with wedding invitation makers. Our goal : design the invitations and get them into production as soon as possible, so they'd arrive in Los Angeles by early January.

The seventh shop we went into, R.K. Cards, had a chick, book-style invitation in the window, its blush pink cover embossed with a gold tree of life.

A flurry of Hindi broke out as my father-in-law haggled over its price with the shopkeeper and my fiance and my mother-in-law tweaked the design. [Not knowing Hindi, I sat on a stool, sipping a paper cup of instant chai.]

The price went down to the equivalent of $3.75 per card. My father-in-law stood up to leave : ''It's nice, but let's check out a few more.''

On we went, my bladder slowly expanding.Starbucks has yet to invade Old Delhi and indoor plumbing remains a luxury. In the putrid-smelling bathroom of a second -floor card shop.

I decided the search had gone on long enough.I pulled my fiance aside : ''I think we should just do that one with the the tree,'' I said, eyes pleading. We hopescotched back to the R.K. Cards, put a down payment on the order and tore into potato-and-green-pea samosas at Haldiram's cafeteria-style vegetarian joint that specializes in snack foods.

Clothes shopping came with other obstacles. Dressing room photos provide crucial points of  comparison and between outfits, but many stores prohibit the taking of photographs for fear that shrewd shoppers will take the images to a tailor and have the garment recreated for less.

Some confiscate phones before letting you try anything on. In Shahpur Jat, a New Delhi district packed with independent boutiques, my fiancee and I figured out a workaround,

 I emerged from the dressing room of inchee - Tape in a drapey, silk gown with with a crochet bodice and ambled around the couch where he sat with his phone, pretending to check ESPN but actually snapping half a dozen photos.

No matter. It wasn't until his younger sister arrived in India that I tried on an outfit that made my heart swell.

The three of us took an Uber car to the chicest mall in New Delhi, DLF Emporio, ostensibly to browse the bridal collections of India's high-fashion designers but also to get some space from the apartment we were sharing with five more members of my fiance's family.

The mall might have been airdropped from Beverly Hills : all marble corridors and surfaces of mirrored gold, redolent of musk and masala. At Monisha Jaising, I tried on a $5,000 gown appropriate for J.Lo - plunging mesh V-neck, gold beads, figure-hugging skirt.

A poofy pink train framed the hips in a manner that recalled Marie Antoinnette. It was the type of gown that, worn to the Oscars, would turn heads; worn to our wedding, it would turn my mother against me.

Across the hall, a lehenga in the window of Falguni Shane Peacock caught my eye : the palest hue of lavender, with a blouse covered in tubular silver beads and a skirt splattered with silver appliques.

It slipped on easily  than expected I had heard women wax poetic about trying on a wedding dress and instantly knowing it was ''the one'', I assumed they were being overly romantic. Nope.

Never had I felt so bridal so quickly. My fiance's praise was succinct : ''I love it.''

With loving and respectful dedication to all the Parents, Students of the world and then Professors and Teachers.

See Ya all ''register'' on : wssciw.blogspot.com - The World Students Society for every subject Twitter-!E-WOW! - the Ecosystem 2011:


''' Bridal Outfits !WOW! '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless