indian wedding symbols

A marriage is ultimately symbolizes a strong bond being formed between two people. On top of this it also marks the coming together of two families. To celebrate this, some people choose to incorporate special rituals into their wedding ceremony that represent the union. Here is a look at a few commonly used symbols of unity.

Perhaps the most widely used item is a unity candle, the lighting of which is use to signify the matrimonial bond. The bride and the groom will both usually light an individual candle of their own, then holding theirs in one of their hands, use them to simultaneously light a third. Often the mothers from each family will initiate the process by light the candles the bride and groom hold. Sometimes the candles are blown out, but more often than not they will remain lit for the ceremony in its entirety.

Another option may be to use a unity cup. In this case, each family fills it own cup with something, usually red wine, and then the bride and the groom pour half from each cup into a third cup and then each proceed to drink from it. The half empty family cups stand for the uniqueness of each family while the full third cup signifies the marital connection. Again the parents could be involved by filling the family cups to begin with.

A newer tradition is for the groom to deliver a rose to the bride who will bring a vase for it to the ceremony. When the two are combined together it serves as a representation of their unison in marriage.

While these symbols are not a requirement for weddings but they can serve to make your ceremony a more spiritual experience. They can also be an excellent way to involve your family. You might even want to make your own, by drawing from something personal to you such as your culture or heritage.

indian wedding jewellery

Piercings have a long history throughout many world cultures. Nose rings date back at least 4,000 years and were even mentioned in the bible. They are a common tradition in African cultures, reflecting status and marriage within that society. They have come to be known as a sign of beauty across the world.

Nose rings are huge in India. While the practice did not originate in India, it was brought there from the Middle East in the 16th Century by Moghul emperors. Indian women commonly wear a stud called phul or a ring called nath in their left nostril. The left nostril is the preferred choice because it is believed that the left side is associated with the female reproductive system. That position is though to make childbirth easier and lessen menstrual pain.

The rings can be worn in the nostril, septum or the bridge under the nose. Some piercings are so heavily ornamented by jewels that they need to be supported by chains, which are joined to the ear or hair.

There is a strong association of nose rings with the Hindu religion and more Hindu women than any other religion wear the piercings. The first nose piercings that appeared in India were not actual rings. They were small, flat ornamental flowers that were put in place by a screw on the inside of the nose. They are now most commonly made out of 14 or 18 karat gold, but titanium, nickel, niobium, and stainless steel are also used widely in India.

Nose rings became an American accessory in the 1960s after hippies who had traveled around Indian adopted the fashion. They grew in popularity in the 1970s and 1980s as a symbol of rebellion. They came back to widespread popularity in the mid-1990s, a trend that has continued.

indian wedding sari

Indian culture celebrates marriage as one of the most auspicious events, which establishes a holy bond between the newly married couple and sketches a path of new beginnings. This is why the bride and the groom dress up elaborately for all bridal occasions. Bridal dressing is incomplete if the bride is not adorned with sparkling jewels, which enhance her beauty. Indian bridal jewelry is available in a variety of designs and is considered a must-have for Indian weddings. Nothing can beat Indian bridal jewelry when it comes to grandeur, class, and opulence.

Indian weddings have always been special and glorious. The huge spends on bridal jewelry make this celebration even more pompous. A bridal set comprises earrings, necklace, nose ring, hathphool (bracelet and rings), bangles, anklets, toe rings, maang tikka, kamarband (waistband, mangalsutra designs) and bajuband (armlet). Earlier, wedding jewelry was only restricted to gold, but over a period of time, new innovations took jewelry to a different level. Nowadays, Indian jewelers aim at creating new trends; keeping intact the rich history of Indian jewelry and offer best traditional designs and cuts with some contemporary twist. Today, Indian brides are experimenting extensively with other materials like diamonds, Swarovski crystals, kundan, polka settings and mangalsutra designs accentuated with precious stones like rubies, corals, and diamonds.

However, the trend of using precious and semi-precious stones in not new. From the bygone era, kings and queens have been ornamenting themselves in majestic gold and silver jewels, enhanced with pearls, aquamarine, topaz, and multicolored stone beads. Colored stones add a new hue of fantasy to any exclusive piece of jewelry. Besides this, the history of Indian jewelry can be traced back to the presence of kundan jewels, polka stone, and grand jadau necklaces.

Traditional Indian jewelry is widely popular because of its ingenious craftsmanship and intricate designs. Gold and silver plated necklaces and earrings decorated with kundan art have been sported by women since the Mughal calendar. The royal courtyards witnessed elaborately designed kundan jewels - gold foil setting inserted in between the precious stones - to augment the look of the piece. Beautiful jadau jewelry assortment involves multiple craftsmen who excel in different skills like polka settings (uncut diamond work), meenakari (enamel painting), kundan (gold foil design), engraving patterns and finally adding an imperial finish to each piece of jewelry.

Indian jewelry has come a long way. Now, some of the popular jewelry options for the bride as well as other family members are pearls, stone-studded jewelry, kundan and polka settings. A stunning collection of designer sarees online and Indian jewelry in traditional and contemporary designs ranging from fine costume jewelry to mangalsutra designs and traditional Indian bridal jewelry is available at various online stores. So, log on to one of these online stores, and access a wide range of designer and costume jewelry for yourself and your loved ones, and be part of the everlasting memories of the wedding day.

unique wedding announcements

Unique handmade wedding invitations ideas are almost limitless if you stop and use your creative side. The number one thing that will make yours truly unique is you and your future spouse. By placing something about you in the invitations, you will immediately differentiate them from any others your guests have received before.

An easy way to achieve this is by adding one, or even a few of your favorite pictures to your handmade wedding invitations. These can be just about anything. It can be a picture you took from a vacation you took together, one that you took while out with friends and a special moment was captured, you can use one of your engagement photos if you had these taken, or you can even make a small collage of many of these pictures.

The key is to choose pictures that stand out to you while you are reviewing them, something that captured the essence of you two as a couple and radiates out of the picture itself. By choosing a picture that stands out to you and brings back fond memories, you will give your guests a window in to your life together through the use of your unique handmade wedding invitations.

To run with this idea you just need to take a few simple steps. The first is reviewing your pictures and choosing what you will use. Once you've chosen your picture, or pictures if you've decided to make a small collage, you need the stationary that you will add them to. For this you can either go to your local stationary store, or you can search through the many options available for photo invitations online. Either way, just make sure you get stationary that is specific to adding pictures.

If you are deciding to make your invitations at home, you will be using your home computer for the text part. Just search through the options available right on your computer for text fonts and styles to make it look nice. There are a lot of options available for this on your computer so this should be easy by testing a few versions on scratch paper.

Now you just need to put it all together. For this step you can either visit your local craft store and get the supplies you will need to complete your project, or you can use one of the many do it yourself kits available online. These kits come with all the supplies you need to complete your unique handmade wedding invitations, including the stationary. Make sure you download a template typically available with the kit to make printing easy and you will see great results with your finished invites, especially when you add your unique pictures to them.

printing own wedding announcements free

Have you seen the latest in black and white weddings? You still use the basic theme of black and white but add lime green accents throughout. What a gorgeous combination! I have seen pictures of wedding cakes with lime accents, bouquets of white roses with lime greens and lime ribbons. I have seen black martini glasses with lime wedges, black tablecloths, with white linens and lime green table runners. I could go on, but you get the idea.

Intrigued? Let's play with the idea by using the first thing your guest will see which is the wedding invitation. It is here that you can first introduce this color scheme. Following are three suggestions for elegant and inexpensive wedding invitations:

1. Black Invitation Style: There are many different styles you can choose from but two that are popular are pocket folders and layered invites. Pocket folders are tri-folds with a side pocket or a bottom pocket for the response card. Black pocket folders can be found in a linen paper, a flat smooth paper, or a shimmer paper. Collect samples of side and bottom pockets in each of the aforementioned papers and see which one gives the "feeling" of your wedding. A layered invitation is "layered" with different types and colors of 80 lb. card paper. For the type of invitation we are talking about, you would have a black card for your bottom layer and a white card for your top layer.

2. Clip art and Colored Ink: One way to save 30% to 50% on the cost of your invitations is to print them yourself. You can purchase DIY printable wedding invitation kits from a variety of internet stores all which come with easy to use printing instructions. But then, this is where the fun begins! There is so much clip art available on the web that you can literally create unique masterpieces with your invitations by adding a clip art design to your printing process. And as we are using the black, white and lime green theme, why not use lime green or green ink on your invitations? You can either print the whole thing in green or the clip art in green and the invitation in black. Using clip art and green ink will give your black and white invites a unique but professional look at a considerable savings.

3. Lime Green Ribbons: Fastening your invites with lime green ribbons is a wonderful way to introduce your color theme of black, white and lime green. You can use a love knot or a bow when using ribbon to fasten a black pocket folder or a layered kit. You can also combine the ribbon with a seal if you don't want to tie that many bows. Either way, it will be an elegant look and complete the theme.

So if you are planning a black and white formal wedding consider using lime green accents for a breath of spring. Start right by using lime green ribbons to accent your black and white wedding invitations and create your own, unique variation on a traditional theme.

wording for wedding announcements free

Using free wedding invitation templates is the perfect way to create inexpensive wedding invitations. But, you may think that free equals cheap, that is not the case if you consider the following points.

1. Give Yourself Plenty Time

Give yourself plenty of time to get it right. You don't want to rush and make your invitations - it will show in the end product. And the more that you experiment with different layouts, text and colors the more ideas you will get which will only improve the look of the finished invitation.

2. Use Good Quality Printer Supplies

For the best results when using your printer use quality inks or toner for your invitations and set the printer to the highest print quality before printing, you will use a little more ink/toner but the results will be worth it.

3. Experiment with Different Paper Types

Purchase a small quantity of different paper types and experiment by printing out sample invitations to see which papers gives the best results. Once you are happy with a particular paper type then purchase enough to complete your wedding invitations.

4. Select a Template Style That Matches Your Wedding Theme

To give your guests a glimpse of your wedding style, select an invitation that matches your wedding theme. For example a black and white invitation with a simple clean uncluttered look would be ideal for a formal wedding style.

5. Proof Read Invitation Wording

You must proof read your invitations several times and to be doubly sure have someone else proof read too, then make the necessary corrections before printing. What I would suggest is that you not print out your invitations for a few days after proof reading. When you are ready to print proof read again, you may be surprised at what you have missed the first time around.

Well after all the time and effort that you have put into creating your invitations you don't want to have to throw away a hundred invitations (it will only cost you money) because of an error that you missed.