Wedding is one of the craziest and exciting times for any bride! Right from the day our parents start talking about marriage, the thing that would run in our minds would be the wedding shopping. Every bride would have imagined herself in a number of dresses, but the first thing would always be a saree. I remember jumping up and down when I got my first saree to wear for my school farewell. Whenever I wanted to wear, Amma would say, You are too young to wear saree to a function now. Go wear your half saree! Huh.. Only when we want to do something the most, will the parents come and say noooo! Anyways, after that, I atleast got a chance to wear saree to every college symposium. For the one day event, my friends, my mom and I used to shuttle between shops to choose the best saree and that too 2 months in advance. Since day one, saree has been my favourite attire, not withstanding the difficult part of wearing and carrying it out perfectly. Ok, I hear you! Enough of saree flashback! Coming to my wedding sarees, imagine how much we would have searched for the perfect sarees for my big day. Yes, you are right! 4 5 months in advance!!! n I am not kidding! I should admit that I am very choosy, especially when it comes to sarees. I wanted to make sure that each one of my sarees was different and unique. The first stop for shopping sarees in Coimbatore has always been Shree Devi Textiles. You can say that I am addicted to that shop! Their theme song is mele mele mele, adhai vida mele aasai adharku mele! And trust me, they stand true to their words. Each saree is beyond your expectations and you always want MORE, MORE AND MORE!!! What's my favourite thing about Shree Devi Textiles?
- They have got the best collections of silk sarees. Each piece is exquisite. You would just want to buy EVERY damn saree.
- Reasonable prices. I always feel that I am paying for whatever it is worth. You never have to worry about the quality of the saree.
- Excellent customer service. They treat you like a family member. (Special mention to the owner Mr.Shiva , who is always smiling, the simplest business man anybody could see and the best at hospitality.)
I took one whole day to go through each saree. The sales people so patiently trial draped me in each saree and I finally chose my favourites from the whole lot. Here's a pic of me in my Shree Devi sarees. 
Oonjal saree , worn in the morning of the wedding, is always expected to be the most traditional saree of your wedding. I had always imagined myself in a nice green colour saree and didn't want to change my mind. I searched, searched and searched everywhere. Never found the one I was looking for! The final stop was Mahaveers, the silk people. They are known for their classy sarees, both in terms of silk and fancy ones. I have always loved their silk collections. A lot of friends had brought their wedding sarees from them. I looked around every corner of the shop, hoping to get the one I was yearning for. The lady, who was showing me all the sarees, suddenly took me inside the store room and asked me to check from some special collections that had just arrived. And lo behold! After half an hour of unbelievable search, there was my oonjal saree! Yaaay! I found it.. While searching for this saree, I also found a lot of other traditional sarees like temple design ones, that would steal anybody's heart. If you are looking for some unique Kanchipuram sarees, that would make you look royal, then pay a visit to Mahaveers. Here's a pic of my oonjal saree! 
Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention about my madisar. I got it from Shree Devi, as it has been my lucky charm in soo many ways! Just for the record, RMKV and Tharakram also have some good collections of madisar! In all these shops, you can even check out if they would be able to design your madisar according to your taste. You can choose your colour, border design etc. I did not have time as I got my madisar at the last minute. If you want to buy as per your wish, then plan atleast 3 months ahead. I got another saree for my engagement and that was from Sundari Silks. My god! What collections they have!? I was soo confused as to which one to choose, with numerous colours, materials and designs! If you are looking for something traditional, yet colourful and trendy, my choice would be Sundari Silks,Chennai. 
And finally for my reception wear, I was really very confused between buying a lehenga and a designer saree. I went and searched in every possible shop in Chennai. The lehengas were all expensive, of course, for the work and the designs! I didn't want to spend all my money in it as I knew that I would hardly get a chance to wear it sometime later. So, I went with the designer saree in Kalaniketan. Everybody wanted me to get some bright colour for the reception, but I was keen on wearing something light ad subtle. I decided on a yellow saree, with full crystals work in it. I must say, it looked sparkling on my reception night and looked amazing in all the pics! 
The brocade blouses, the latest trend for any saree, were my choice too! I got them for my reception saree, madisar and other designer sarees as well. I have looked for brocade blouses in a loooot of places. My suggestions would be: 1) RMKV 2) PSR 3) Mahaveers 4) Some small shops in Uppu kenaru street. I have to mention about Shresht, a boutique in R.S.Puram, that has been my favourite right from the day of its opening. That shop is my choice any day to shop for designer wear, especially anarkalis! They also have exclusive collections of kanchipuram sarees, that are way too graceful. Here's a pic of me, wearing an anarkali from Shresht! 
I spoke to my friend Preethi and here's what she had to say! I started my saree shopping for my wedding from PSR. When my dad said it was an auspicious day to buy saree ,we decided to go to PSR. Initially I was a little disappointed because I wanted to do all my wedding shopping in Chennai. But my parents assured me that we need not buy anything if I was not satisfied. My mom also told me that she liked the shop as she had been there before and that the collections were good. This was a huge relief because my mom has a great collection of sarees and she has an excellent eye for good designs and colours. When I went there I was impressed with their collections. They had lovely collections in all price ranges! The salesmen were co -operative and pulled out all the sarees on my request until I selected what I liked ( which was very difficult trust me!! I liked a lot of sarees there!) Finally I was stuck between two sarees and did not know which to select. The salesmen were patient enough to drape both the sarees for me a number of times till I made my decision!! They have their shops in Coimbatore and Erode. They have an online website too. All I can say is you will not be disappointed here!! While shopping for the saree, just make sure that you choose different colours and specially bright ones, that would make you dazzle in each wedding picture. There are so many types of sarees that are in trend now! Lets have a look at them in the coming days. If you are a bride-to-be, share your comments as to where you are heading for your wedding saree shopping. If you already relished your wedding shopping experience, share with us your shopping areas! Happy Shopping, for now and forever!