Engaged? Here’s what comes next on the bridal planning checklist

Table of Content

• The Bridal Planning Checklist
• Shagun ceremony
• Haldi ceremony
• Choora ceremony
• Mehendi-Sangeet ceremony

Congratulations are in order - you’ve found your soulmate, and it’s going to be a happily ever after. For many, it’s an adventure of a lifetime. But that’s post wedding. It’s the very stressful period that falls between the roka/sagai and the wedding day that gives any bride-to-be the jitters. Whether you’re a bride in the US, UK, Canada or India, a bridal planning checklist is going to ensure you are on the top of the wedding game. Not only does the checklist ease out the wedding planning, it helps you stay focused and prepared.  A well-organized bridal checklist is the key to a stress-free bridal experience. For instance, in the wedding packing list for bride, get the terrific trio of custom made trousseau trunks from Pataaree as a packing essential, and adorable favors for your friends and family. That’s just a start. So, go on, take out your iPads or diaries and type or ink in your wedding packing list for the bride.

The Bridal Planning Checklist:

• Indian/Punjabi Weddings, be it Canada, UK, US or India, take at least eight to nine months of planning. So, the first thing to do is get your budget in order. How much do you want to spend? Once that’s sorted, the wedding list for the bride rest starts falling in place.
  
  
• Budget sorted, the next is the guest list. While you let your folks take care of the family list, pen down the friends and colleagues you want to invite. Get that number cleared because it will help smoothen out their travel, bookings, stay, transport, favors later on. A bridal checklist must.  
  
  
• Now comes the venue. Make sure you choose more than one, have an idea about the weather details, the packages being offered, whether the venue can do justice to your theme and accommodate the guests. Always double check the venue - be it domestic or international. 
  
  
• Food is at the heart of every celebration. So, in the wedding planning list, the food and beverage, the caterers have to be booked, but before rounds of tasting.  You don’t want relatives and friends talking about bad food forever! This is a serious tickmark on the bridal checklist.  
  
  
• The wedding list for bride gets a stamp of approval once the Sahe Chitthi is sent to the groom’s house to solemnise the wedding. It’s a memorable event, one that calls for something special. So, for the first wedding invitation and wedding invites, check out Pataaree. Don’t forget your ‘save the date’ note too.
  
  
• Photographer and videographer - find and book the ones who know their job, are professionals and make you feel and look like a queen. This team will be responsible for your portraits, album, reels, short videos, pre-wedding shoot, wedding and post wedding shoot - so make sure they are excellent. Note that down on your bridal checklist.
     
• The bridal planning checklist has to cover wedding essentials for all ceremonies, and each ceremony will demand exquisite attires that have to be finalised and fitted way in advance to avoid any last minute blunders. Remember, a bride any day has more ceremonies to mark and celebrate than the groom. So, if you’re in Canada, UK, US or India, here’s a bridal checklist for the same:  

Shagun ceremony

 Although the shagun comes from the groom’s side, there are shagun ceremony essentials like trays, thaals and bowls, thaal posh, the shagun envelopes, mithai boxes, jewellery boxes, ring box, kada box, lap covers, etc that have to be accounted for. Pataaree has a stunning shagun ceremony collection, one that can be customised too as per your thematic colour scheme. 

Haldi ceremony

Haldi/maiyan is a big ceremony, for it’s a blessing and to ward off any evil or negative energy. So, on checklist should be brilliantly designed haldi ceremony set of peedi and fatti, thaal and bow, and oil bottle. Usually, clothes after this ceremony are given away to the help or worker, so choose your attire wisely.  

Choora ceremony

One of the most emotional and sentimentally charged ceremonies, where the maternal uncle and aunt bring the chooda (red and white wedding bangles) for the bride. The friends tie the kaleere, and elders tie the gaana (sacred thread). Pick your choora-kalire ceremony from Pataaree - mark this essential on your bridal planning checklist.

Mehendi-Sangeet ceremony

Bridal planning checklist is incomplete without the mehendi ceremony and a rocking sangeet. Book your mehendi experts in advance because wedding seasons are packed and you’ll never find a decent one. Then comes sangeet-jaago night. So, Dj has to be booked, song lists have to be prepared and Jaago essentials have to be collected from Pataaree.

• For sangeet or cocktail night, then another bridal planning checklist is brainstorming over the favors - from potlis, bindi packets, bangles to Punjabi parandis, Sajra attar boxes, choose your favorite favor bundles for friends and family. You can also, as a bridal checklist, add fun things like DIY kits, photo booth, special bar counter, and yes, don’t forget to hire a choreographer for at least one performance from the bridesmaids and cousins! 
  
  
• A girl’s trousseau collection begins the day she is born. Heirlooms of love, jewellery, clothes, household items, utensils - things she will need for her new phase of life. Trousseau trunks have to top the wedding packing list for brides, and you can find handcrafted beauties along with suit/saree covers and potli bags at Pataaree.
  
  
• Make a smashing entry under a beautifully handcrafted bridal chadar or a bridal umbrella with a very regal air - if you are to be the queen for the day, then be treated as one when you walk down the aisle. Check this on your bridal planning checklist.
  
  
• For the endless ceremonies, customs, rituals, there is also endless gifting during weddings. So, on your bridal planning checklist should be sweet boxes, suit-saree covers to pack those milni suits, potlis to stuff in coins or sweets, etc etc.
  
  
• The beauty regimen begins the day you get hitched. Bridal planning checklist number one task is to book your spa-beauty treatments, your hair and make-up artist, and pick vintage chic vanity boxes from Pataaree.
  
  
• Most bridal checklists forget this essential - the first night suitcase. Whether you are in UK, US or Canada, or India, post marriage your first night will probably not have access to those massive trousseau trunks. So as a bridal planning checklist, carry a night suitcase with your make-up, clothes for next three days, shoes, bags, phone, charger, i-pad, even naughty stuff among other things. 
  
  
• On the day of the wedding is one bridal planning checklist item that we think is a must - a purse or a smart carrybag that will have your phone, quick make-up, some safety pins, tissues, and sweets/chocolates to munch on. Did you check out Pataaree’s mini trunk? It’s perfect for this.
  
  
• Little things like renewing travel documents, passport, insurance for the jewellery especially the engagement ring, going for your fittings and make-up, ensuring your transport and driver, breaking in your wedding shoes, testing the make-up, staying hydrated - all these have to make their way on your bridal planning checklist.  

The wedding list for bride is her bible. It begins the day she gets engaged. One thing on the bridal checklist should be a wingman or wingwoman - your confidante, assistant or friends/sister - someone whom you can rely on for any kind of emergency or delegation of work. It has to be someone who has your back and doesn’t kill the mood or confidence of the bride and can calm down those nerves. That set, have a good night’s sleep before your wedding day, eat well, rest well and just enjoy.