Tuesday 27 March 2012

A weekend of Saree Shopping and Tea Parties!

So, off we went to London again (this is becoming a bit of an addiction, considering it was somewhere I was never that bothered about until I came to visit I have developed a bit of a crush on London) this time together to see Nik's family and get our outfits sorted for his brother's wedding which is now only 5 weeks away!!!  Time has flown since Ishan and Izzy got engaged in Autumn and we're super excited for the big wedding weekend!

They are having a Hindu ceremony on the Saturday followed by a church ceremony on the Sunday so we had 2 outfits each to plan.  Nik is best man so he was being fitted for a suit for Sunday and has decided to borrow his cousin's outfit again that he wore to our own wedding.  I can't wait to see him in it again!!  I have chosen to wear a Saree to the Saturday wedding and am extremely excited to wear one!  They are so stunning and flattering and come in such gorgeous colours with beautiful embroidery or embellishments.

We all headed to Wembley on Saturday following an evening in Camino enjoying Tapas and wine.  We met Nik's Dad and Auntie S there and once the boys were sorted I began looking for my Saree.  I hardly knew where to start!  They come in all kinds of colours and a range of fabrics and prices to match!  I was a little surprised how expensive some of them can be!  There is a lot of fabric involved and there can be a lot of embellishment and detail.  The ones I saw that day ranged from £72 all the way up to £404!!

The first shop looked promising but they only had the colours I liked in the cheaper price range made from polyester and we all felt they didn't sit or drape as nicely and did look obviously cheaper quality.  I did find one I loved made from chiffon but it was a bit too blingy as the beading was very sparkly.  We went next door and despite thinking we wouldn't find anything in there at all they persuaded me to try one on which actually turned out to be lovely!  It was cream fading to emerald green with green flowers on the cream bit and draping over the arm. We decided to think about it (after some super impressive haggling by Auntie S!!) and tried one more shop before lunch where I spotted this...


I had actually been thinking I would avoid my signature colour since everyone will be expecting it, plus I wanted to wear my emerald earrings from my grandmother-in-law.  I thought a deep dark pink or maroon would be nice with green accessories but didn't see one that I loved. When seeing this olive green one I was just attracted by the colour at first as I though the pattern was way too OTT and flowery but it turned out this was only on the piece that drapes over the shoulder so the flowers were down the back and over the arm.

Image from How to Drape your Saree tutorial

The rest is much more simple but with a few small black beads across the main bit with the simple edge you can see going all the way round and along the bottom.  It hangs beautifully and everyone agreed it was the nicest one we'd seen so again the amazing Auntie S stepped in to sort things out and make the deal as the blouse needs to be made and the petticoat sorted, etc.  SO glad she was there as I wouldn't have had a clue about any of it!  I can't wait to wear it and will of course post pictures after the wedding!

As soon as I was measured, I had to say goodbye to everyone and skoot off to get the train back into town to meet up with all the girls at the Florence Finds Tea Party at Drink.Shop.Do near Kings Cross.  I had such a lovely time and got to meet so many new people, some of whom I recognised from twitter or comments on the same blogs I read.  It was lovely to catch up with those I did know already as well including the lovely Anna K and Anna (and the ring).  I also met 2 new Annas there - we were surrounded!  I was also one of 3 Rebeccas!

The food and cocktails were amazing, we were served sandwiches, scones with cream and jam (although I was very good and restrained myself a little!), chocolate truffles (including chilli ones which I did eventually try and loved!), sweets, macaroons (specifically a green one which was placed facing me - SURELY fate!), tea and cocktails or cava.  I chose to try a bit of a random sounding cocktail as it had Chambord in it which I love and I decided to be brave and go for something different - it also had basil and black pepper in it!





Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of any of us girls but I noticed Rebecca took quite a few photos and I'm sure she won't mind sending me one over (if I remember to ask!)

After much nattering, eating and drinking, we all moved on to Camino for a few drinks and more mingling.  Ialways regretted not mingling and moving round meeting more people when I went down for Any Other Party (also in Camino - really like that place and such a good choice of venue!) so made an effort to try and go round speaking to more people and getting to know as many as I could in one evening!  It was SO MUCH FUN!  Everyone there was lovely and as I mentioned in yesterday's post, I was getting lovely comments from people having noticed my weight loss!  :)


Sadly the night took a turn for the worse as the last of us were saying goodbye and were all heading off to the station to go our separate ways Gemma realised her bag was missing from the pile of bags, coats, shopping that we had all piled up in the corner where we were standing.  Unfortunately it contained her phone, money and keys and all were gone!  Not only that but the bag itself belonged to her Gma and was a gorgeous vintage clutch with sentimental value attached!  I am gutted for her!  There was a slight panic when she remembered that her husband was away up in Scotland for the weekend so she wouldn't be able to get back into her flat and without her phone couldn't ring any local friends (how many of us can actually remember friends' numbers these days - not me!)  Of course we wouldn't have left her in that situation and the lovely Rachel gave her £20 to get a new travel card and I called Nik's brother and cousin (they were all waiting for me by this point as they'd booked somewhere for dinner) to ask if they minded if she came along for dinner and could she stay with us that night at his cousin's flat?  Of course they were happy to help (I am so lucky to have such amazing in-laws who are so helpful and lovely) and Gemma was temporarily re-homed!  We actually had a blast and I was so impressed by her amazing positive attitude and not letting it spoil her weekend.

Luckily it turned out my clothes fitted her OK (baggy of course but with a tie waist my new grey dress looked pretty good on her!) including my spare flats (I had brought flip flops as well due to optimistic weather forecasts!) so she was sorted for the next day and didn't have to wear her party dress and shoes which had already caused a blister (as such amazing shoes tend to do!)  She managed to get in touch with her letting agent who agreed to meet her that evening (lucky since it was a Sunday) with spare keys so Gemma tagged along with us for our day in Covent Garden.  Us girls hit the shops while the boys sorted out suits before meeting up again for lunch and a walk along South Bank followed by a stop for more tea and cakes (I had a yoghurt) although they all resisted the cakes as they'd had Gellati on the way.  I was very well behaved in the shops and only bought a pair of sunglasses in M&S as I had forgotten to take any with me and I spotted these amazing green ones which were extremely useful in the lovely sunshine we had!

M&S Sunglasses

It was nice having a more relaxing Sunday in London as we left later than usual in the evening.  I am happy to report that Gemma is back home safe and sound and will hopefully get most things covered on insurance but it's very sad about the special bag and I hope whoever took it (possibly the suspicious looking man at a table apparently!) gets their share of karma as a result!  >:-[

Come back at 12.30pm today for the 'what I wore' edition!  (Just for you Mum - recent pics for you to examine me!)  ;)

5 comments:

Lynky said...

Sounds like a great weekend and I love the saree colour. Looking forward to the pics later today. Sorry about Gemma's handbag, make sure locks are changed Gemma! Love Mum xx

Rebecca@Florencefinds said...

Lovely write up Bex :)

Katielase said...

Sounds like such a fun weekend! Very disappointed I couldn't make the tea party :-(

Looking forward to Sari photos in the future though. They are such beautiful and flattering garments!

K x

twisha patel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Nice weekend and party. Green color saree is looking very great and hot. I hope you look good in this saree. We are also manufacturer of indian sarees and sell worldwide through our online shopping site. www.libasb2bonline.com

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