Beyond red — and why red still wins: choosing your bridal colour
Twenty years of brides have taught me that colour is the decision families argue about most. Here is how we settle it in the studio.
Every year a magazine declares that brides have moved past red, and every year most of our brides — after trying everything — choose a red. Both things are true, and there's no contradiction. Red carries meaning your grandmother recognises, photographs magnificently against fire and gold, and flatters nearly every Indian skin tone. It wins for reasons.
But "red" is not one colour. There is sindoor red, rani pink leaning red, deep maroon, brick, vermilion. The right one depends on three things we always check:
1. Your venue's light
A daytime outdoor wedding washes out deep maroons and rewards brighter vermilions and pinks. An evening indoor wedding under warm light does the opposite — deep colours turn regal, pale ones turn beige. Tell us where and when you're marrying before you fall in love with a colour.
2. Your jewellery
Inherited polki wants warmer reds and ivories; diamond sets can take cooler pinks and wine tones. Bring the jewellery to the consultation. The outfit is designed around it, not the other way about.
3. The colours you already live in
Look at your wardrobe. The colours you reach for every week are the ones your face has already voted for. A bride who has never worn orange should not discover it on her wedding day.