The bridal outfit is, without question, the most important and often the most emotionally complex purchase a bride will make. It is never just an expensive, big day garment but a symbolic expression of identity, tradition and transition. Every choice carries weight. The silhouette must flatter and feel authentic, the craftsmanship must honour heritage, the colour palette must speak to personal style and the detailing must weave in family sentiment. Add to this the pressure of permanence. This is the look that will live on in photographs, memories and heirlooms long after the wedding is over.
What makes the process even more nuanced is that this challenge is universal. It cuts across cultures, aesthetics and even professions. Even brides who are fashion designers themselves, armed with trained eyes and technical expertise, grapple with the same questions of meaning and emotion. Here, we follow seven designers who found themselves in that very moment of “brides first, designers second” when it came to crafting their own wedding outfits. Each created her outfit by thoughtfully blending her brand’s signature, personal style and the personal stories she wanted to honour.
Shubhika Sharma Karia
Shubhika Sharma Karia wed creative entrepreneur Harshil Karia in a serene celebration at Oleander Farms in Karjat, where calm, colour and spirituality defined the weekend. Known for her Papa Don’t Preach label’s bold use of pop colours, 3D embellishments and playful maximalism, Shubhika translated that signature aesthetic into her bridal trousseau.
For the pheras, she ditched predictable reds with a sandstone-orange lehenga that looked undeniably Papa Don’t Preach. “I decided on this lehenga just 10 days before the wedding – after weeks of being completely undecided about the colour,” she said of her thought process. The custom look was accentuated with glass beads and sea-foam embroidery inspired by Indian architecture. “Every panel felt like it belonged to a story of love and monuments of love. The double dupattas, one in a sandstone orange tissue and the second a blush-pink organza scalloped dupatta softened it perfectly. In the end, it became everything I hoped for: traditional, radiant, and deeply personal.”
Masaba Gupta
Designer Masaba Gupta married her longtime beau and actor Satyadeep Misra in an intimate court ceremony in Mumbai in January 2023. For the milestone moment, the couple wore pieces from Masaba’s bridal collection from her eponymous label, House of Masaba. She designed a barfi pink raw silk lehenga with intricate gold embroidery and paired it with a lime green dupatta printed with delicate wallflowers, making a bold case for the return of colour in bridal wear.
Known for blending contemporary edge with traditional roots and unconventional prints, Masaba’s signature aesthetic shone through in the playful yet meaningful ensemble. She styled the lehenga with minimal makeup, simple hair, and layered her mother’s vintage jewellery, making the whole look deeply personal and unmistakably her own.
Arpita Mehta
Designer Arpita Mehta married fellow designer and longtime partner Kunal Rawal in a multi-day celebration in Mumbai in 2022 that brought together friends and family from fashion and film industries. For her wedding, Arpita designed a bespoke ivory lehenga that stayed true to her brand’s love for mirror work, texture and handcrafted detail. The ensemble featured thousands of mirrors and intricate embroidery, balanced by a soft, fluid silhouette that felt celebratory yet effortless.
What made the look especially personalised was how she seamlessly wove Kunal’s design language into it too, adding his signature French knots, personal motifs and thoughtful details. Styled with layered polki jewellery and a restrained beauty look, the outfit became a meeting point of two design worlds and one shared vision.
Shweta Kapur
Shweta Kapur’s wedding to entrepreneur Raghav Gupta in New Delhi was as full of personality as the playful friendship that led to three proposals before a delighted “yes.” As the founder and creative force behind 431-88, her signature aesthetic celebrates modern, effortless draping, crisp tailoring and contemporary ease that has made pre-draped saris a cool-girl staple. For her bridal wardrobe Shweta chose pieces that felt intentional and unfussy, later explaining that “Shwet means white in Sanskrit and everyone who knows me knows how much I love that,” which is why she incorporated pristine tones and pearl-accented elements into her wedding looks. While her main wedding lehenga was a sage-green embroidered ensemble by Jade by Monica & Karishma, she made her own designs central to other events. She slipped into a 431-88 draped skirt with scallop-edged silver blouse for the after-party and later donned an ivory sari with pearl-embellished cape for the cocktail reception.
Krésha Bajaj
Designer Krésha Bajaj celebrated her own wedding by turning her bridal outfit into a narrative masterpiece. Known for her brand’s playful yet elevated aesthetic that blends contemporary silhouettes with rich embroidery and storytelling, Bajaj created the first Love Story Lehenga as a personalised piece that became iconic among brides everywhere. For her wedding she worked one panel at a time, hand-embroidering names in hidden zari and illustrating every milestone of her relationship, from early dates and the proposal to shared dreams. The bottoms of the lehenga and dupatta were finished with a hem of jumping dolphins, a motif symbolising how their story began. What started as her own bridal project has since become a cult favourite, with Love Story lehengas celebrated by celebrity brides and wedding clients for their expressive embroidery, detailed motif work and emotional depth.
Vera Wang
Industry legend Vera Wang designed her own wedding dress when she married Arthur P. Becker in 1989, long before she would redefine modern bridalwear globally. Known for pushing boundaries with modern romance, dramatic silhouettes and masterful draping, her personal vision reflected the same instinctive elegance. Vera wore an ivory silk gown with clean lines and sculptural fluidity, followed by a second reception look, setting the now ubiquitous trend of bridal outfit changes. The ceremony itself blended her Chinese heritage with Baptist and Jewish traditions, underscoring her belief that weddings should be deeply personal. Though the marriage ended years later, the dress endures as a blueprint for individuality, restraint and forward-thinking bridal design.
Laura Lowena-Irons
Designer Laura Lowena-Irons, co-creative director of Chopova Lowena, married her partner Daniel Lowena-Irons in an intimate Somerset, England ceremony at the Temple of Apollo after two pandemic-delayed dates. She chose to design her own wedding dress with co-designer Emma Chopova, embracing her brand’s singular approach that reinterprets tradition with thoughtful detail.
Inspired by a silhouette from Chopova Lowena’s spring/summer 2021 collection, the gown featured a fitted lace bodice, full skirt and large collar, with hand-beaded floral embellishment on the collar and a dramatic bow at the back that brought playful structure and couture spirit to the look. “Wearing a white dress… made it feel like a special occasion,” she said of making the design her own.
