Sania Nehwal is an Indian badminton player. Currently ranked number 2 in the world by Badminton World Federation, Saina is the first Indian girl to reach the singles quarterfinals at the Olympics and the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championships.

Sania Nehwal made history on June 21, 2009, becoming the first Indian to win a Super Series tournament, by clinching the Indonesia Open with a stunning victory over higher-ranked Chinese Wang Lin in Jakarta. (The Super Series tournament is roughly equivalent to a Grand Slam in tennis.)

She made a good showing at the Uber Cup and thats good enough for me.

Here she is in Pallavi’s bridal outfit.

Coordinated traditional red and gold sherwani with red fusion trail lahenga.

I like this combo for multiple reasons – first of all, there is a purposeful infusion of design in men’s wear; secondly, I like the red trail in the lahenga and lastly, I like the fact that the bridal wear is coordinated and not “matched”.

A lot of the times one would see a detachable trail, I am pretty sure that is the case here as well.

Karismatic Karma designs scintillate the hearts and mind with the detailed luxurious work inspired from the rich traditional fashion. it is a fashion designer brand of Pakistan that provides elegance, innovative , glamour and awesome clothes. Mesmerizing Karma Wedding Collection 2010 is embellished and adorned using the emblematic traditional embroidery work, motifs, dabka work and sitara work.

Setting forth a true paradigm that represents Asian bridal dresses. Graceful Pakistani Fashion model Iman Ali adds further poise to these magnificent outfits. She walks gracefully leaving behind never forgetting memories. She looks true bride.

With all the adjectives used in the press description of this saree, I have run out of things to say except that I like the saree.

I like NC Shania’s work – especially her emphasis on wearing the saree in different ways.

I have advocated that for eons – there are 200+ different ways of draping a saree and I think every woman should know at least five, so she can take the same saree and transform it in to something new and exciting and wear the patina of a different culture.

In the wedding exhibition, NC showed off 36 different ways of wearing a saree. Here she is explaining the drape of one of them.

She is taking the exhibition to Delhi in the next couple of weeks, so I’ll have a second opportunity to emphasize this.

I know, some of you want to see how it is done and I should do my part in explaining some of it. Oh, how much I miss Chantal Boulengere at this time. A few years ago I looked in to getting some high quality videos done, but then I got distracted with something else that was shiny. One of these days, I’ll focus on it again.

Bridal Brocade sarees.

You can see the Seematti show from Washington DC with a tons of sarees on youtube.

Seematti Saree Fashion Show Seematti 100 years celebration
Silk ambassadors Sujatha, Swetha, Divya Unni, Beena Kannan, Sneha, Archana Naiir, 200+ participants, ramping, fashion show
Kerala Cultural Society of Metropolitan Washington

Pretty in pink – gorgeous flowing bridal lahenga.

About $5,000, if you must know.

Rose shade saree features circle motifs ornamented by zardozi and reshem embroidery threads. Border and pallu border patched with green color material decorated by zardozi and reshem threads. Paired with a matching blouse in rose color and sleeve border is similar to the saree border. Rose shade dupatta has similar motifs decorated with a gold patch material. A georgette saree.

From Cbazaar.com, about $1400, if you must know.

I admire Sania; she is a great athlete and thats why I worry about her. I just don’t have a good feeling about her marriage to this weasel Shoaib Malik.

Here is a woman who stopped playing tennis in India because she hated the criticism from the muslim community that a woman shouldn’t wear shorts (I wonder if the clergy knows that it is kind of hard to play tennis with the burqa); and now she marries in to an even more conservative community. It is hard enough for a muslim woman, and then on top of that she marries a weasel who wouldn’t even acknowledge that he was already married and didn’t get a divorce till a week before his wedding to Sania. The really worst part – the bribe that he gave to the other woman for a divorce is less than what he agreed to pay Sania if they were to get divorced.

I bet in their marriage contract (nikah nama) he took away her right to get a divorce and retained his right to get a divorce and like most women, Sania didn’t even bother to read her nikah-nama!

Sigh… the feminist in me cringes…

I want to say “love conquers all”, unfortunately the correct proverb is that “Love conquers all, except in Tennis”.

See our previous coverage of Sania in sarees

So pretty – there are so many customs that I do not know and the once that are hybrid Indian and Western are the most interesting ones!

Love this image.

At the nikah ceremony Sania wore red saree and it’s the same saree which her mother wore on her nikah. Shoaib Malik wore a Black Sherwani which was designed by Shantanu and Nikhil.

I am really happy for them, its just that I didn’t particularly like that the groom, the Pakistani Cricketeer Shoaib Malik, divorced his previous wife just a few days before this wedding. Hope he treats Sania a tad better.

Oh well, I do appreciate Sania’s sentimental “mother’s red wedding saree” at her wedding – very touching.

Can’t tell if this is a saree uniform or bridesmaids dresses – and the fact that I can’t distinguish between the two is not a good thing.

I hate it when they stereotype what saree can a mother wear and what saree can the daughter wear (ok, in this case they wear the same saree, but different blouses)!. But why does one have to be in a different age group to wear different types of blouses; the same woman may feel like an angel one day and a devil the same evening; and she needs to have different types and styles of blouses – one to hold on to her halo and other one to hold on to the horns!

I try to design two or three different types of blouses for each saree; even if it is a “event saree”, designed for a specific place, it is not a bad idea to have different blouses. At times it is better to get two exact same sarees to get all the material so you can experiment.

I do like this saree, by the way. It is from SareeWorld. About $400.

Anyway, in light of the season, here are a few interesting wedding saree designs that I’ve picked out from vasansi.com’s new wedding collection.

I love the long sleeved blouse and the vibrant orange-pink combination. $71.28

A soothing sea green faux georgette saree with a classy resham and gotta border. Again, I love the color combination. $78.04

There is a lot going on with this saree but it meshes together nicely. The vivid colors and detailing would make any lady stand out in a crowd. The cut of the blouse is also unique and flattering. $228.82

We wish the couple the very best!

Sarees seen at Shilpa Shetty’s wedding reception

Shilpa Shetty is going to embark into a new life with her beau Raj Kundra and like any other bride; she too wants to look gorgeous like a fairy. To make Shilpa beautiful, designer Tarun Tahiliani has designed a special saree that worth Rs 50 lakh (about $100k). Shilpa’s jewelry also costs Rs 3 crore (about $600k).

During Mehendi, the bride chose to wear Kaftan instead of lehenga or saree and for the sangeet she wore Anarkali churidar-kurta. The wedding attire will see Shilpa in a traditional Bunt saree colored burgundy and red. For the reception to be held on Tuesday, Shilpa will wear a saree resemblance to a gown with 8,000 crystal work over it.

We wish the newly married couple the very best.

An Archana Kocchar creation featuring intricate beading.

Geeta Basra wearing a simple but sophisticated Archana Kocchar design.

Shenaz Treasurywala in a saree from the Maya Wedding Collection.

Images: timesofindia.com (BCCL/Pradeep Paliwal)