Karuna Ezara Parikh's Handy Guide To Surviving Shaadi Season

The information in this post might be outdated

Shortcut

I’m not sure about you but shaadi season scares the bejeezus out of me. As soon as those unnecessarily bulky cardboard boxes full of stale chocolates begin to arrive, I find myself suppressing groans, and a whole slew of reasons to stress begin to appear on my list; everything from ‘what on God’s Earth am I going to wear to your seven-day bonanza extravaganza’ to ‘there isn’t an Alka-Seltzer in the world that can beat this’.

But over the last ten years of watching friends be extravagantly engaged, married and even re-married, I’ve put together a list of survival tactics. They aren’t secret—not at all, in fact—and I’m delighted to share them with you, in the hope that you, too, will enjoy the season as much as I now do.

Pick And Choose Events

Maybe you’re someone who likes the party part of the wedding most. If you are, then make it to the sangeet. If {like me} you’re big on love and memories, make it to the wedding ceremony. Don’t for one second think you need to be at every single ‘function’ of every wedding. It’s preposterous, and until you’ve figured out how to clone yourself, this is A-okay.

Dress To Impress Yourself And Nobody Else

Oh @Mogra_Designs, why you always gotta be so 😍😍😍 absolutely in love with the new #lehenga collection. Sigh…thanks for the photo @NayantaraParikh 👌🏽🚩❤️

A post shared by Karuna Ezara Parikh (@karunaezara) on Sep 11, 2016 at 4:27am PDT

My biggest shaadi secret for years now—buy a big lehenga and wear with leggings and boots underneath. For frosty 4am Delhi receptions, this works like a dream, and while your friends end up blue-toed in their diamanté sandals and sheer sarees, you’ll dance the night away.

This year my outfit of choice is this red piece from Mogra Designs’ lehenga collection.

Shaadi With A Dash Of Sensibility

The other reason I like Mogra Designs is because they use sustainable fabrics and support the handloom industry.

I’m big on mixing and matching, as well as raiding my mum’s closet for her evergreen silk saris, though if you aren’t into that and are, instead, going to purchase new outfits for the season, make them either sustainable {Raw Mango’s gorgeous collections rekindle the waning interest in handloom sarees, modernise traditional designs and empower more than 450 craftspeople} or invest in a piece you know you will wear again and again over the years. You know, like a Sabyasachi lehenga.

Drive Safe

Do not drive home drunk, and for Christ’s sake, don’t allow yourself to be driven home drunk. There’s nothing that sobers up a wedding faster than a post-cocktail accident. Besides Uber and Ola, there are a bunch of companies offering drivers who will drive your car home after having partied all night {such as homesafeindia.com and driverbulao.com}. If you’re lucky enough to have your own driver tending to you all night, do make sure he gets dinner.

Guide To Gifting

With so many weddings, I always find myself scrambling for presents, seeing as I’m not your 70-year-old aunt who hands you a nondescript envelope with a wad of cash wedged into it. My go-to gifts these days are scented candles, a potted plant, or honeymoon-worthy luggage. After listening to the laments of brides and grooms for years, I’d also say this—always add a card.