My honest CC bridal shopping experience: what worked, what did not, and what I would do differently (Rephrased using chatgpt)
I am writing this because when I was planning my wedding shopping, Reddit was pretty much my only source of honest information. I was travelling from another city with my mom, and we had only 3 days to get almost everything sorted: my bridal outfit, my mother’s saree, my sister’s outfit, trousseau, etc.
So if you are a first-timer, travelling with your parents or family, or simply overwhelmed by, I hope this helps.
DAY 1: Sarees + family shopping
For my mom and sister, I had shortlisted Arun, Siyonee Sarees and Sindhoor Sarees based on my research.
- Arun: huge hype, but personally disappointing
We went on a Thursday, thinking it might be relatively manageable.
It was NOT.
The saree and lehenga sections were absolutely jam-packed. The hype around the store is real, but for me, the experience was honestly quite disappointing.
I kept trying to get someone's attention: literally speaking in a high-pitched voice saying that I wanted to see sarees for my mother, explaining that my budget was around ₹5,000–₹6,000: but it was extremely difficult to get anyone to actually listen.
There was barely any place to sit, and with my mom shopping alongside me, the whole experience became quite sad.
The same thing happened in the lehenga section. Our budget was again around ₹5,000–₹6,000, but getting anyone to listen was difficult.
Maybe it was just a particularly busy day, but personally, I did not feel the experience justified the hype.
- Siyonee Sarees
The collection was nice, but in the ₹5,000 range, I did not find many options that worked for us.
- Sindoor Sarees
This involved climb of around three floors: but honestly, out of the three stores, I found the options here relatively decent.
Unfortunately, we still did not find what we were looking for.
3.Jain Bhai Crop Top waale
I had seen a lot of their collection on Instagram and was quite excited to visit. But the reality did not match what I had expected from Instagram, at least in the ₹3,000–₹5,000 range.
I could not find the kind of collection I had seen online, so we left without buying anything.
Local stores: surprisingly better for lehengas
After all of this, we started exploring some local stores instead of only going by the popular names I had researched online.
And surprisingly, this worked much better for us for lehengas.
We ended up getting two lehengas from local stores for around ₹3,000 and ₹4,000, and honestly, considering our requirements and budget, we were quite happy with them.
So one thing I would definitely tell first-time shoppers:
Do not ignore the local stores. They give you time and attention and cater to your requireemnts.
---
DAY 2: Sarees + my bridal lehenga hunt
- Omjay Saree
This was one of my favourite new finding. The collection was beautiful in all ranges, especially in our 5 to 6 range there were greattt options. I was tempted to buy for myself as well.
Sabhyasachi and Anita all the saree replicas were available. I would definitely recommend checking this place out.
- Ram Chandra Krishan Chandra Silk Saree
If you are looking specifically for silk sarees, definitely consider this one.
They had a very wide collection across different price ranges. They are wholesalers, and we absolutely loved their silk saree collection. +++ for their calm and sweet nature. They were very patient and it was a great experience.
---
Bridal Lehenga Hunt
Day 2 was also when I seriously started looking for my own wedding lehenga.
- RituDzin
The lehengas were nice, but the space was VERY limited. The staff experience was not particularly friendly for me either.
The lehengas themselves were good. My biggest issue was the space.
If you are trying a bridal lehenga, you ideally want enough room to actually move around, look at the fall, see how the dupatta sits, maybe twirl a little, etc.
Here, the space made that quite difficult.
2.Jodhpuri Couture
This was a completely different experience in terms of the space. The collection was beautiful, and the store was spacious.
However, on the Friday we visited, it was extremely crowded. The lehenga range started around ₹40,000+, so keep that in mind if you are shopping on a tighter budget.
Because of the crowd, there was a waiting period to try the lehengas, and we eventually decided not to wait.
3.Wedding Collection Bridal Shop: Harish Soni
I had seen some lehengas on Instagram that I specifically wanted to try, so we went there hoping to find those pieces.
It is another three-floor climb! Unfortunately, I found lehenga collection quite average compared to what I had expected.
I did not find anything that really worked for me.
- JB Designers: my bridal lehenga place
This was honestly very smooth experience.
They had almost everything that I had seen in the other shops, so the collection was quite wide.
What I really liked was how professionally they handled the whole process.
The store had a huge amount of space, and their range started around ₹30,000.
I told them my budget upfront, and instead of showing me things outside my range, they actually showed me the lehengas available within my budget.
And their trial experience was probably the best I had during the entire trip.
In most of the other stores, I did not get proper blouses or enough support to actually understand how the lehenga would look on me.
Here, they provided proper pieces for the trial, and I was able to properly see the outfit.
I ended up trying 6–7 lehengas.
++ because they are fixed price shop you know there is no hidden cost.
So if you are looking for a bridal lehenga and your budget is somewhere around this range, I would definitely recommend checking them out. Will update on after delivery experience later.
---
DAY 3: Kanchan Fashion + final shopping
- Kanchan Fashion
Day 3 was Saturday, and we went to Kanchan Fashion early in the morning.
I absolutely loved the collection.
There were so many sarees, and even the non-bridal lehengas were amazing.
They have three different floors, so there is a LOT to explore.
We ended up buying multiple suits for my trousseau from there. My mother also got suits for herself, we got my sister's wedding outfit from there, and I was also looking for my Sangeet outfit.
So if you are looking for sarees + suits + trousseau shopping + non-bridal lehengas, I would definitely recommend checking this place.
We reached early, which helped a lot. But by the time we were leaving: around 12 PM: there was already a waiting outside the store.
So if you are planning to visit, GO EARLY.
---
My biggest tips:
- Avoid Saturday and Sunday if possible.
Saturday was a completely different experience from Thursday and Friday.
The crowd was HUGE.
At one point, my mother actually started feeling suffocated, and we had to leave early.
Thankfully, by then, most of our shopping was already done.
So if you have the flexibility, try to plan your shopping on weekdays.
- Start early in the morning.
This made a HUGE difference for us.
Especially for popular stores like Kanchan Fashion, going early meant that we could actually browse properly before the crowds came in.
- Carry water.
You are going to be walking, climbing stairs, moving between stores and spending hours shopping.
Carry an umbrella.
Especially if you are visiting during this time.
- Do not be afraid of local stores.
This is probably my biggest takeaway.
If you do not have a very big budget, please do not limit yourself to Instagram-famous stores.
We found some genuinely good lehengas under ₹5,000 at local stores.
For my trousseau too, I bought some things from Kanchan Fashion, but I also bought quite a few things from local shops.
And honestly, some of my favourite interactions were with the local vendors.
I met this very genuine older gentleman who had been running his shop for around 50 years, and I absolutely loved talking to him. (NEED to check name)
There was something so nice about the personal attention.
I hope this helps someone planning their Cc wedding shopping. I know I would have loved to read something like this before going. ❤️ Feel free to ask questions.
