#BTExclusive Here Comes The Bride Who Designed All Her Bridal Ensembles

Designer Sonaakshi Raaj is all set to tie the knot with her longtime beau Nikhil Mehrani in a gorgeous tropical wedding in Thailand.

And, the bride-to-be is designing her own outfits for all the major functions, including her bridal ensemble for the wedding.

“We started with smaller functions at home for which I wore a Pakistani designer Mohsin Naveed Ranjha. For all the others, I have envisioned myself as a Sonaakshi Raj bride. This is the best platform for me to showcase my creativity on myself. After dressing up so many brides all these years, it’s finally time for me to be a bride,” she says.

Since the wedding is tropical themed, her outfits, as well as décor, have followed the same theme. Not only that, but she has also planned a rather special bridal entry!

“We have matched the décor to my outfit because I always knew what I wanted to wear rather than the other way around. My mandap is a recreation of a forest with trees and a bridal pathway carpet stitched with real flower petals. The highlight is going to be my bridal walk with singer Jasleen Royal doing a live performance of Dil Shagna,” she says.

Here is a sneak-peek at her bridal trousseau:

Cocktail

“For the Cocktail, I am wearing my own creation – a beautiful deep red, bodycon ball gown with off-shoulders with crystal embellishments that is perfect for a fairytale wedding.'

Mehendi and Sangeet

“I have created a mint green lehenga with floral applique details, motifs of butterflies and crystal highlights for the Mehendi. My sangeet is on the same night and I am wearing my own creation again – a silver crystal encrusted lehenga with rose highlights, from handcrafted appliques of the flower to the rose-detailed stonework on the blouse. Even the straps have cutouts of roses encrusted with crystals. It’s a very indo-western, flirty, sexy and glamorous outfit.'

Wedding

“Over these years I have curated outfits for various brides but I have never done an out and out traditional wedding lehenga. I attempted this for my own wedding for the first time. It has turned out exactly as I had envisioned it to be,” she says.

 “I was always sure that I would be a pink bride rather than a red bride. It is baby pink lehenga featuring a lot of floral elements with lotus being a vital part here. I feel that lotus embodies beauty, elegance and purity…Goddess Lakshmi sitting on the flower. The unique feature is that I have customized the outfit using my fiancé and my initials embossed and embroidered in the motifs. Then in the blouse, I have cut-outs of his and my name in Hindi on the back on the dori. Basically my name and his name gets joined with a dori and that is symbolic to the essence of a Hindu wedding where a bride and groom are taking pheras and tying a knot to each other. So our names are united with the dori on the back.”