Hello loves!
This post is a long time coming! Many of you who had been following my bridal series not only wanted to see more photos of my bridal lehenga but also wanted to know about my bridal lehenga shopping experience at Sabyasachi.
When I first started thinking about getting married, I dreamed of being a Sabyasachi bride. I think he is a designer who has taken traditional Indian clothing to another level by giving it a modern touch with his distinctive style. And ever since I saw her designs on the ramp during my early years as a fashion blogger, I absolutely fell in love with her design aesthetic and always imagined wearing one of her designs.
So, last December, when I decided to take the plunge, the first thoughts I had in my mind were about the bridal lehenga. Having just two months till the wedding date, I was in a dilemma whether I would get a lehenga on time or not as it usually takes a minimum of two months for designers to deliver a customized lehenga.
My First Visit for Bridal Lehenga Shopping :
So, in the second week of January, I decided to pay a visit to the bridal couture paradise, Mehrauli, where all the leading designers have their stores; with my mom and my best friend.
When I called to make an appointment at Sabyasachi, Anita Dongre and other designer boutiques around, I was told that no appointment is necessary and you can visit any time of the day to view the collection. (PS: Sabyasachi store is closed on Sundays and they don’t do Billings after 6 pm)
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| Sabyasachi Store in Mehrauli |
I visited a couple of multi-brand boutiques like Kayra and Carma, but didn’t find any bridal lehenga to my liking as they had designs more suitable for a mehendi or engagement function.
So, we finally decided to visit Sabyasachi before seeing other designers in the area. Now, I had been to the flagship store before (for the launch event) but little did I know then that I would be visiting the venue again to finalize my wedding lehenga.
The Sabyasachi Mehrauli space is nothing short of royalty – the opulent space has two wings – one for bridal couture and jewellery, while the other wing has sarees, kurtas, menswear and other ready-to-wear collections from the designer.
While the ground floor of the bridal wing has lighter lehengas and a stunning array of sarees, bridal heaven is on the first floor with all the designs you’ve seen on the ramp or on their social media accounts available there.
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| The lehenga I tried during my first visit. |
Price range:
Now, here’s a bummer, if you have always wondered what is the price of a Sabyasachi bridal lehenga – you should keep in mind before visiting the store that Lehengas suitable for D-day are priced above Rs 3,00,000.. So, in case you have a smaller budget than this, you would ideally want to visit Aza Fashions or Carma – both multi-designer boutiques stock Sabyasachi’s lowest-priced lehengas (priced between Rs 1.5 to Rs 3 lakh).
Even bridal lehengas at Mehrauli store have two price ranges: Raw silk lehengas with intricate zardozi work are priced between Rs 300,000 and Rs 700,000.. But if you are looking to buy their famous velvet lehengas, prices start at Rs 7,00,000 and go up to Rs 20,00,000 or more for its exclusive haute couture pieces.
Designs:
Everything you see in the store is all you get! Precisely because all the designs launched by Sabyasachi are available in store and no major customizations are made. You’ll find each design in two or three color options and the sales assistant will help show you more designs that may be available to order on your iPads. But don’t expect a completely new design or major customization of a design you like (at least that’s what I’m told, since they only offer size customization, but no other modifications are allowed).
After going through the collection, I finalized the following lehenga which is from the designer. devi collection. I always wanted a lehenga that had complete work in a monotone color. While this lehenga was also available in deep red and wine, my mom, my best friend, and even the sales assistant agreed that I looked much better in this bright pink color.
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| Final test of my lehengas |
Now after selecting this lehenga, we decided to visit the other designers too on the same day. We visited Anita Dongre, Manish Malhotra, Sulakshana Monga and Carma, who have their flagship stores in Mehrauli, but honestly, no other lehenga caught my attention and my heart kept going back to the Sabyasachi lehenga.
Also, knowing that we didn’t have much time available, we decided to book my lehenga on the same day and returned to the Sabyasachi store.
Measurements and Reservation:
This was my second visit to the store that day and long before taking measurements I was told to first purchase a full cup underwire bra for the correct measurements of the blouse. We rushed to the M&S store in Select Citywalk, bought a new bra just for measurements and returned to the store to reserve the lehenga.
Finally, the measurements were done on our third visit to the store on the same day and we were told we would receive the lehenga on February 24, just 10 days before my wedding. Their team usually takes two months to deliver the lehenga, so I was lucky that they decided to make mine in 45 days.
(But honestly, I wouldn’t recommend you wait until the last minute to book your lehenga as I was stressed till the time I got my lehenga because it was so close to the wedding day).
**Also, if you are a UK size L or above, you would have to shell out an extra amount for the lehenga, a fact I was not aware of before visiting the store and which I did not read even in the posts I had previously read about the designer’s bridal collection. The additional cost could be around Rs 50,000 and can even go up to Rs 100,000 or more depending on the additional amount of kalis that would need to be added to the lehenga.**
Anyway, after a long day, I finally realized that I was going to be a Sabyasachi bride, a dream I had imagined for many years.
Just 2-3 days before the lehenga was due, I got a call from the store saying that my lehenga was finally ready and I could pick it up from the store. Excitedly, I went the next day to pick up my lehenga and to my surprise, it fit wonderfully. I had lost a few kilos in these two months, which made the lehenga a little loose from the waist, but the laces on the lehenga ensured that I didn’t have to worry about that.
To my surprise, they even made a beautiful potli bag to match the lehenga and my outfit was packed in this beautiful red trunk with the Sabyasachi logo on the top.
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| The Sabyasachi lehenga arrived in this beautiful trunk |
Without a doubt, I received a lot of compliments on the beautiful lehenga, but honestly, it was not just because of the compliments that I bought this outfit, but because of the dream that every bride-to-be has: to look the perfect version of herself on her big day.
Here are some more photos of my wedding lehenga and some shots from my D-day:
Before ending this post, I would surely like to mention that it does not matter whether you wear a designer wedding lehenga on your D-day or not, but you should choose something that not only makes you feel confident but also makes you feel prettier.
Also, don’t go by what online magazines or stylists recommend, as there is no single style or dress you should stick to, just because it’s in or out of fashion. You should always go out, explore different styles in the places you have selected and decide only once you have tried everything on. This is one of the top tips I would give to upcoming brides.
I’m really sorry for the length of the post, but I hope you enjoyed reading it and that it helps you on your journey in choosing your bridal lehenga. If you have any further queries regarding my shopping experience at Sabyasachi, you can leave a comment below or contact me on instagram.
Love
nitica
UPDATE: As I have received many queries about my Sabyasachi bridal lehenga, I have added more photos of the lehenga on my Pinterest account, you can check them out. HERE.
