How To Make a Wedding Dress:

I can’t believe that I’m already planning my wedding! It seems like it was just days ago that I would sit in my bed and think about my wedding. One time, my mother yelled at me for day dreaming. “Phulan, stop daydreaming and bring more milk,” she said. The thing that I would think about the most would be my wedding dress. I always imagined that it would be beautiful. I’m sure that I’m not the only bride to be in Pakistan who has to sew their own dress, so I have a few tips for making your wedding dress.

Here they are:

There is lot’s of embroidery on traditional Pakistani wedding dresses, and all of that should be done with silk thread, to enhance the beauty.

Zardozi is the detailed applique that you see on so many wedding dresses these days. If you want your wedding dress to be in the height of fashion, than you should definitely use zardozi.

Cut dana are the small beads that are sewn on as a border or extra pattern.  Cut dana can be VERY hard to use, but it still makes the dress even prettier. When sewing with cut dana, you must loop the thread through the bead multiple times, if you want the bead to stay on.

My last tip is about the shape. It should be a very tight bodice with a very full skirt. It also should have small, short sleeves. The color should be something rich and deep, like red or dark blue. This is to symbolize growing older and being more mature. You can’t use childish colors, like pink or yellow.

I am making my dress with my mother and it has been a great bonding time for both of us, before I have to leave my home.  I hope you all love your wedding dresses!

Diary Entry:

It seems so strange, to be thinking about my wedding. It seems so far away, but so near as well. I have a strange mixture of feelings. I cannot decide which way is better. I cannot wait to leave this place, to start a new life with my new husband! I will get to start a family of my own and build a new life. I will live up to what Mama and Dadi expect of me. I will become a mother. Of boys, I hope. Sharma says I will. But what if I don’t? What if I have girls? Then who will work? I know that I am just being nervous, but what if that happens? What if I end up like Mama? That might not be a bad thing, but what if it is?

I hope that Hamir is kind to me. He is wild, like the wind, like Shabanu.  I hope that I have the same luck that Mama had with Dadi.

Then, the other part of me wants to stay home. I will have to abandon the camels, the mud hut, the chapatis, Auntie and her boys. Mama and Dadi. I will have to leave them. I don’t know how I will be able to deal with that. Then, there is Shabanu. She cares for me in a way that no one else does. ” ‘ Don’t worry.’ I say, smoothing Phulan’s hair and kissing her tears.” She is the only thing that keeps me happy. What if I never see her again?

I want to believe that I will see them again, that that part of my life isn’t over, but I know it is .