Saturday, April 2, 2011

My Indian Wedding - Bridal Mehindi

Six weeks before my wedding day I had a trial mehendi (mehindi/henna) done on one of my hands to see how my skin reacts to henna. The trial was done by Rachna from "Henna and Beyond".

I was so impressed with her technique and speed that without any hesitation I asked her to do my wedding henna design as well. Already during the trial session we shortly discussed what I looked for: a simple, elegant, slightly asymmetric pattern that will complement rather than completely cover my skin. Rachna totally got what I wanted and she showed me several pretty patterns from which I picked the one that I liked the most. But the best thing about Rachna was that she did not blindly follow the pattern I picked, but instead she asked me if I would have liked to have it modified in any way. I was very happy about that and I asked her to include a drawing of Ganesh, we she did extremely skillfully (you can see his head on my right palm).

Other designs that you can easily find on my hands include peacocks (for luck), sketches of Anil's and my heads, and many floral/geometric designs. Rachna also hid Anil's name within the pattern as apparently (in some families) there is a custom that a groom needs to find his name on the hands of the bride if he wants to get lucky on the wedding night :)

If you are thinking about having mehindi done, I would definitely recommend Rachna. She is not only a very skillful henna artists, but also a super-nice and knowledgeable person to talk with. And I think that's very important as you are going to be spending many hours with your henna artist...


Henna application (done one and a half day before the wedding ceremony):

Anil's head on my left palm:

Final results:



During the party many of my friends were interested in my henna and they also tried to find Anil's name on my palms: