The mehndi night is typically the night before the wedding or just a few nights before. South Asian weddings are known for their many rituals. In fact, the beauty of a South Asian wedding is the numerous traditions that are filled with dance, music, and lots of laughter. Indian weddings are not a one-day ceremony. Pre-wedding ceremonies, like the mehndi night, are quite typical and can sometimes be a week long of celebrations. On the mehndi night, the bride to be and usually the bridesmaids or any other female within the bridal party will have mehndi applied on their hands and feet. The groom is also at this event, but usually, he will just have a small design was done and nothing as elaborate as the brides.
The belief and significance of mehndi
The common belief is that the darker the color the mehndi leaves on the hands of a new bride, the more she will be loved by her husband. Besides adding more color to the wedding, mehndi is a very powerful medicinal herb. Weddings are super stressful and the days before the wedding are extremely stressful. When mehndi is applied to the body it cools the body down and can prevent someone from becoming too stressed. Mehndi is not only used at weddings but at other religious and festive events throughout the year. Although times have changed a lot most families choose to keep the mehndi ceremony apart of the typical pre wedding festivities. A mehndi night will likely have lots of music, some dance, and of course lots of food. I have normally been to weddings where the mehndi night is held at the bride’s parents house.
What kind of outfit to wear to a mehndi night
For the celebration, the bride will always be adorned with a stunning outfit but as a guest, you can pretty much wear whatever you would like. South Asian weddings are super colorful and vibrant and you should not shy away from color. Most of the women will wear a Salwar Kameez or an Anarkali. I choose to wear a sari as I find them the most flattering on any body type. For colors, most women tend to wear the mehndi colors – which include green, red, burgundy, yellow, etc. But you are not limited to these colors, you can honestly wear any color in the rainbow because like I said before each wedding event will be filled with color.
I don’t want to publish pictures of the bride, but rest assured, no matter what effort you put into your outfit, we did not look as stunning or as breathtaking as she did. This is the case for every Indian wedding. You can put on as much color or even wear the same color as the bride, but rest easy knowing that you will not be over dressed. With South Asian weddings more is alway better!
