Here's What I Wish I Knew Before I Went Lehenga Shopping ...

You know our favourite people at WMG right- apart from the WMG Bride, its all you real brides who share all those best kept secrets with us and let us in on your glorious weddings. So when one bride wanted to write a piece on all the things she wishes she knew before she went lehenga shopping , we were all ears. Over to her.

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Hi, Im Sanjana - a bride to be, corporate slave and just recently completed my lehenga shopping after roaming around the streets of Shahpur Jat, Karol Bagh & Chandni Chowk to find that perfect elusive shade of blush pink. I finally have the lehenga of my dreams (and budget) with me but here's what I wished I knew before I went lehenga shopping:

1.) I wish I had worn a camisole inside my shirt while shopping for lehengas

For some reason, I assumed trying lehengas would be like trying out outfits in Zara. Yknow- a trial room where I would wear stuff and come out and choose. Well, it wasn't - specially because I wasn't going to high end designer stores - I was expected to just wear the skirt over my jeans and hold up the blouse. Had I worn a cami inside, I would have been able to remove my shirt and see how the blouse color looks against my skin

2.) I wish I had carried an album with reference images on my phone

My phone battery died while shopping and I couldn't really explain my vision to the shop owner. Thankfully my sister had the WMG app so we quickly looked at that and pinterest and on it to show them what I wanted. But if I had had a small little album on my phone with a few things saved , it would have saved us a ton of cash.

3.) I wish I knew how much a second dupatta would cost.

Okay so, I just assumed a second dupatta wouldn't add much to my overall lehenga cost - like maybe 10k right? I was SO wrong- in all the stores in Karol Bagh and even Old Delhi, getting a second dupatta added almost 16-20K to the cost. They said because it was almost like making a heavy saree but still- I didn't factor that in. Eventually, I just ended up getting my own dupatta made by buying borders from Kinaari Bazaar

4.) I wish I had taken a fabric swatch of my finalised lehenga

When we went shopping for fiance dearest's sherwani, I realised that while my lehenga was pink- I had no clue what exact shade of pink. And we were looking at a beige sort of color for his sherwani- with a bit of pink embroidery. Now that pink embroidery color would look off it didn't look somewhat similar to my lehenga color. We had to zoom in and out of photos like a freaking doctor doing X rays to figure out what the exact color was.

5.) I wish I had taken fewer people along

You know how it gets being a bride to be- everyone wants to go lehenga shopping with you. "Why not", I thought . Well WRONG. I had four other people besides me present and everyone had their own points of view. I just felt like even if I loved something- two would say no and that would color my judgement .

6.) I wish I had gone earlier to shop for lehengas

I ended up going shopping pretty late and so one of the lehengas I had loved- I couldn't even buy because the shopkeeper said it took 2 months to make + time for first trial and fitting. Girls, go shop for your lehenga 4 months before please. I kept it to like 2 months and it turned out really less for some cases.

7.) I wish I knew that the same lehenga is available in multiple stores

So I fell in love with this blush pink lehenga and I finally placed an order for it. Only to realise, the next store I went to had the same piece and was willing to work around the double dupatta at a much more affordable rate. A lot of the stores in these markets have the exact same pieces and i think its advisable to take a peek at them before.