I wish...

HisBelovedOne

that jewelers could make things easy on those of us who want to use all of the solah shringar and just make a matching or at least sorta coordinating jewelry set with all of the pieces. This hopping around the internet trying to find a kamarband, armbands, bangles and bracelets to coordinate with a necklace set, not to mention anklets and toe rings, and all of it to go with the sari, is just annoying. The easy part is the makeup!

Sorry. I've been jewelry browsing for two days and I'm not happy with not being able to find some pieces easily, and with having to pay shipping charges from four different sellers just to get all the jewelry I want to use at reasonable prices. I just wanted to vent my frustration a little.

vindaloo

Hi! 
Would you mind sharing the names of the places where you're browsing online?  I'm trying to find a bridal set but haven't seen a great selection in the stores on Devon (Chicago).  I looked online at Benzer, and they didn't have too much wedding-appropriate selection, either.  I'm starting to get pretty frustrated with this!  Thanks in advance for any help. 

HisBelovedOne

eBay, mostly - I'm having about ther same amount of luck between eBay and eBay India. I've found some things on www.bombayfashions.com and www.bombayjewelry.com, and on some of the clothing sites.

HisBelovedOne

Ok. Here is what I've found in the last few days. It all seems to work - for the most part. I'm going for silver to go with my red and silver sari. I've enlisted my fashionista sister to help determine the things that match or at least complement, so she helped me narrow down my choices.

Already purchased: necklace set (includes maang tika, earrings, and necklace) from eBay India, bangles from eBay, nose ring (FI doesn't like the hoop look, so I'm wearing a stud instead) from eBay, and mirror thumb ring from Etsy, and reception necklace set (see link under the picture) from eBay India.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330407539097&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Still to purchase: kamarband and armlets, both from eBay. Those bangles are ones I'm considering purchasing to go with my green reception sari, and they're from www.sareemax.com.




Still to make: hand bracelets and anklets. I've had a heck of a time trying to find these in the color I need and a style I liked, so I;m opting to make them instead. Here's my inspiration:




I'm not 100% sure these really fit well with the overall look as they are, but I am changing the design a little. I'm making it with silver rings (as opposed to the aluminum this artist used). It will have garnets instead of purple pearls and I'm tweaking the placement of the circles. I considered using silver clay with garnets and pearls, but I can't afford the amount of clay I'd need. It's $78 for 50 grams, and I'd need at least twice that, PLUS the stones and findings.

I already own the bindi (well, sorta - I need to get the smaller crystals for around the eyebrows, but I have the center one!), the makeup, and perfume. The sari will have to wait until after my car payment is made, because I plan to order both the wedding and the reception saris at the same time to save shipping.

Here are those, by the way:

raangoli

Wow those sarees are incredible! I checked out the Saree Max website and they seem to have a nice selection. 

Have you ordered from them before? Are they reliable? True to what they advertise and the pictures on their website?

As for jewelry, I saw on another thread that someone used an eBay jeweler and was able to send the woman specific requests for what she was looking for and it seemed to work out well. Here's the post:

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_south-asian-weddings_costume-jewelry?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:430Discussion:7c4c0325-8c31-4dd8-9f2d-1ab1c2a5db5fPost:e6f517ff-5afa-4ff3-b7f6-6150562b892c">Re: costume jewelry</a>:
[QUOTE]I've purchased a lot of jewelry on ebay from the seller "India Trend" ( <a href="http://stores.ebay.com/India-Trend" rel="nofollow">http://stores.ebay.com/India-Trend</a> ).  The lady who runs the store, Parul, is really helpful.  I've sent her pictures/descriptions of things I wanted, and she found them for me if she didn't already have some in her shop.  The prices are reasonable and usually there is free shipping.  Everything is great quality for costume jewelry. :)
Posted by mrs.khan[/QUOTE]

Hope that helps!

Shaily

HisBelovedOne

i have not ordered from them, but the reviews on their website seem reliable. I don't know how to go about checking their reliability - so I'm kinda going on faith here.

HisBelovedOne

...Nevermind on the belt (someone outbid me) or the armbands (turns out they were cuff bracelets meant for the wrist) above. Back to the search!

raangoli

I found some more jewlery sites online and they seem to have decent selections (from a quick glance anyway) and I thought I'd pass them along. Not sure if you've already checked them out, but here they are:

http://www.sonoor.com/index.asp
http://www.carmaworld.com/default.aspx
http://www.indiamart.com/vijay/index.html