Shadi Outfits

Mehndi, nikkah, barat or walima: pick the page for your function

A wedding week is several events, and each has its own page here. Customs differ by family and city, so treat this as a guide and ask the host if the invitation names a dress code.

• Mehndi: colour and movement. Choose the cut you can sit and dance in, then the shade.
• Nikkah: coverage and seating. Sleeves, shirt length and a dupatta that stays on come first.
• Barat: weight against hours. Work out how long you will sit in the hall before you pick the fabric.
• Walima: match the host. Some families dress it down from the barat, others dress it up.
• Bridal: the bride's own outfits, function by function.

This page is the wide view. A piece appears here when its title or tags use words such as shadi, wedding, bridal, bride, walima, barat or nikah, so it shows every wedding-tagged piece in one list, while the function pages above show narrower sets. A brand that does not tag a piece for an event will not appear under that event.

Guest, close family or bridal party: your role changes the outfit

Decide your role before you decide a colour, because the same function asks different things of different people.

• Guest: festive but not competing with the bride. Many guests stay away from bridal shades, and some families ask guests to avoid red or white, so ask if you are unsure.
• Close family: the family often sets a colour or a dress code for its own side. Ask early, before you buy, because a brief is easier to follow than to fix.
• Bridal party and sisters: coordinate a palette rather than match. Pick colours that sit with the bride's outfit, not the same one.
• Non-Pakistani guests: full sleeves, covered shoulders and a dupatta are a safe starting point, and a long shirt with trousers or a sharara avoids guessing about hem lengths.

The wedding guest outfit guide walks through the same decision with examples.

Plan the wedding week as one wardrobe

Buying each outfit alone is how people end up with two heavy pieces in the same colour. Plan the whole week on one sheet.

Pick one anchor outfit first, usually for the function you will be photographed in most, and spend the largest share of the budget there. Choose the other outfits so that no two share a colour family or a silhouette, since the same relatives see you at every function. Then plan reuse: a plain trouser or sharara, a neutral shirt and a good embroidered dupatta can be recombined, and a contrast dupatta from the dupattas page changes a shirt you already own.

Write down which outfit belongs to which function, with its shoes and jewelry, and keep them together. The Outfit Builder adds up a top, bottom, dupatta and shoes from up to four brands, which helps when you are mixing pieces.

Fabric by season and city

Choose fabric for the venue and the hour, not only the season. A hall with air conditioning and a garden lawn at night need different layers.

In winter, velvet, jacquard and silk look formal and carry some warmth, and evenings are usually colder in northern cities such as Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar than in Karachi, so plan a shawl there. In warm months, lined chiffon and organza with embroidery concentrated at the neck, sleeves and hem keep the weight down. In humid cities, check the lining, since a heavy base fabric holds heat.

See winter and summer for fabric by weather. Read the fibre and weight on the brand's own page rather than relying on the name of the cloth.

What a wedding outfit costs and how to compare it

Wedding pieces cost more than daily wear because of the fabric, the amount of work and the number of pieces in the set, so compare totals, not tag prices. A shirt sold alone and a three-piece set with dupatta and trouser are different purchases.

Start from a budget on a price page. Under Rs 5,000 and under Rs 10,000 list everything up to their limit, Rs 10,000 to 20,000 lists that band, and luxury starts at Rs 20,000. Add what the tag leaves out: stitching, lining, alterations and delivery.

Use Compare Brands to put two brands side by side. To follow a piece, save it and set a price alert (you need to sign in). It goes out when our recorded price has fallen by at least 3% and Rs 50 since you set it and the item is in stock. Check any sale with how to spot a real sale.

Ordering for a wedding from abroad

Prices on SabKapray are in Pakistani rupees only, so your cost in pounds, dollars or dirhams depends on the exchange rate, the brand's shipping and any import charges. Each brand sets its own shipping and returns, shown on its own site, and we do not know which brands ship to which country, so check before you commit to a piece.

Work back from the first function, not the last. Allow time for delivery, then for stitching if the fabric is unstitched, then for one alteration. Size from your own measurements and the brand's chart, using the size guide, because heavily embroidered pieces are hard to change.

The wedding outfit timeline for buyers abroad and the list of brands that ship overseas cover the steps in order.