Mandap Muhurat & Ganesh Sthapana Outfits
The first rituals of the wedding proper, held at home a few days before: a puja you sit through, photographs in daylight, and the first time the whole family is dressed together.
For mandap muhurat and Ganesh sthapana, wear a traditional outfit you can sit cross-legged in through a puja: a saree, a light lehenga or a kurta set for the women, and a kurta with churidar or dhoti pants for the men. Choose daytime colours — red, yellow, orange, green, pink — and moderate hand work. It is the family’s first photograph of the wedding, so it is worth coordinating.
Mandap muhurat is the puja that blesses the ground where the mandap, the mandvo, will stand, usually a few days before the wedding at both the bride’s and the groom’s homes. Ganesh sthapana installs Ganesh at the same time or just before, so that the wedding begins without obstacles. Many families hold both on one morning.
Nothing about these rituals is grand. They are domestic, in daylight, with the priest, the parents and close family, much of it seated on the floor. That decides the clothes more than anything else.
What the bride wears for mandap muhurat
Something traditional, festive and a register below the wedding: a silk saree, a light lehenga or an anarkali in a daytime colour, with moderate hand work. She will sit through the puja, stand for the aarti and be photographed with every relative who arrives, so the outfit has to be comfortable cross-legged and still look right standing. Many brides choose red, yellow, green or a warm pink; some keep a colour for each puja so the days look different in the album.
What the groom and the men wear
A kurta with a churidar or dhoti pants, in cotton silk or silk, often with a light jacket. Ivory, saffron, yellow, maroon and green are all traditional. The groom’s is worth making with a little hand work at the neck or placket; the fathers, brothers and cousins can wear plain kurtas in a shared colour. The cut matters for one practical reason: a kurta that is too long or too tight at the knee makes sitting on the floor through a puja miserable.
Ganesh sthapana outfits
Ganesh sthapana is usually the opening of the same morning, or a short ritual a day earlier. The same outfits serve it. If it is held separately, families often wear yellow, orange or red, colours associated with Ganesh, and keep the hand work light.
Colours for a puja morning
Red, maroon, yellow, saffron, green, pink and ivory with colour all read as auspicious and photograph well in daylight. Black is usually avoided at a puja, and many families avoid plain white for the women. Beyond that there is no rule we would quote at you; ask your elders, and we will work to their answer.
The first family photograph
This is usually the first time both sides of one family are dressed together for the wedding. A shared colour family for the women and another for the men — not matching, but clearly from one house — makes the photographs of the whole week look composed from the first day. It is far easier to decide when the outfits are ordered together.
When to order, and from where
The mandap muhurat falls a few days before the wedding, so its outfits are due with everything else. Order them as part of the wedding set. Families abroad are measured on a video call of about twenty minutes per person, and the pieces are couriered or carried in.
From the collections Festive pieces from the collections, in the daytime colours a puja morning wants.
Every collection
Questions we are asked
What should a bride wear for mandap muhurat?
A traditional, festive outfit a register below the wedding: a silk saree, a light lehenga or an anarkali in a daytime colour such as red, yellow, green or pink, with moderate hand work and a cut she can sit cross-legged in through the puja.
What should men wear for mandap muhurat?
A kurta with churidar or dhoti pants, in cotton silk or silk, often with a light jacket, in ivory, saffron, yellow, maroon or green. The groom’s is usually made with a little hand work; the rest of the men can share a colour.
What should I wear for Ganesh sthapana at a wedding?
The same traditional outfit as for the mandap muhurat, which is often the same morning. If it is separate, yellow, orange and red are common, with light hand work.
What is mandvo in a Gujarati wedding?
Mandvo is the Gujarati word for the mandap. The mandap muhurat, or mandvo ceremony, is the puja that blesses the ground where it will stand, held at home a few days before the wedding.
What colours should be avoided at a puja?
Most families avoid black, and many avoid plain white for the women. Red, yellow, saffron, green, pink and maroon are all traditional. Ask your elders; customs vary by family.
Read next
Tell us the date and who you are dressing
Bring the date, the occasion and how many people. We will tell you plainly what can be made properly in the time — from the studio in Vadodara, or on a video call from wherever you are.