Karishma Sidhwani has lived in Gurgaon all her life, but when it was time to plan her wedding, she knew she would have to make multiple visits to Delhi to shop. People fly down to Delhi from all over the country when they’re planning their weddings. The capital city is, after all, the hub for all things wedding-y. Which is why, when Urbanclap, the service expert, decided to launch a wedding planning platform - Urbanclap Weddings - they knew they wanted to launch first with a Delhi wedding shopping guide.
From the most reasonable wedding invitation cards at Chawri Bazaar in Chandni Chowk to housing headquarters of some of the biggest wedding planners in the country -Delhi has it all. Although,when it comes to wedding shopping, there’s nothing like this city. From A-list designers to small boutiques, everyone is selling lehengas and anarkalis and sarees. There’s no dearth of designs, fabrics, and even price ranges. But if you ask any Delhi resident about the best places to shop at, there’s one market that has quickly become a name they’re used to throwing around like everyone should know about it: the famed ShahpurJat.
Bride-to-be, Karishma, had heard a lot about ShahpurJat, but quickly realised that it’s not the easiest place to navigate through. Even if you’ve lived your entire life in Delhi/NCR, you might still not know your way around the lanes of ShahpurJat. There are over 50 stores one can potentially visit, and each one caters to a different design aesthetic and price range. So Urbanclap Weddings took on the task of demystifying this hot, new shopping destination for the brides-to-be.
While ShahpurJat is a place where you can find outfits for all the family members - the mother of the bride, the groom’s sister, the bride herself as well as the groom - it’s also a place that caters primarily to the bride to be. There are a dizzying number of options, even for the bride, irrespective of what kind of bridal style you prefer. There are half a dozen options for the funky bride - from Agunj& QBIK to the cuter AvnniKapur store - and another 5-10 stores where you can find your traditional anarkalis and lehengas at. Some of the popular labels here, Abhinav Mishra & Bhumika Grover, also sell online on Pernia’s Pop Up Shop and at the country’s biggest multi-designer stores.
The variety, while endearing since it caters to everyone, can also be confusing. The team at Urbanclap wanted to help brides with their wedding shopping in Delhi, so they launched a video series in March called “The Bridesmaid”. The first stop in the series is the bridesmaid taking you through ShahpurJat, showing brides where they can buy their reception gowns and cocktail lehengas from. They’ve also created a ShahpurJat wedding shopping guide, which is a complete list of every single store they recommend brides and bridesmaids to shop from. Whether you’re the bride’s best friend or the groom’s cousin, you’ll find everything you need there.
ShahpurJat and Delhi are not the only places Urbanclap Weddings has been helping brides and grooms with. Their content is heavily focused on fashion as couples are mostly found struggling with finding the right outfit. Indian designers, big and small, are always launching new collections and it gets overwhelming for the bride particularly to browse through every new trend. The content makers at Urbanclap are consciously curating the best options for brides, based on not just what’s practical to wear on your wedding day but also what the latest trends are. They’ve understood that most brides prefer to mix it up in their wedding wardrobe - some trendy pieces along with a few classics, such as Benarasi silk sarees, which they can even pass on to the next generation. So, you’ll find not only Sabyasachi’s latest collection analysed and dissected on their wedding blog, but also silk anarkali recommendations and styling ideas to make that silk saree look modern.
Ananya Aggarwal, another bride who is getting married later this year, recently discovered Urbanclap Weddings and has already booked the bridal makeup artist she found on their platform. “I also loved the ShahpurJat shopping video because it helped me discover a new store I had not known about before, and now I’m obsessed with her work,” adds Ananya. The wedding platform is carefully curated to allow brides and their families to learn what is essential for planning the wedding, and match them with verified wedding vendors in their budget. There’s a lot going on at the Urbanclap office behind the scenes, as they prepare to fulfil wedding needs across the country. On any given day, you’ll find workshops being held to train makeup artists while the content team sits through a fashion week to find the wedding fashion trends for the year. If you’re getting hitched, Urbanclap Weddings might prove to be more than just the bridesmaid you were looking for - they are, after all, #YourWeddingExpert.