Last year I invited Fannie to the Elegant Wedding Bridal Showcase (ps. it is coming up again soon in November) and when she swung by my booth later with Deep she was elated to have found a Montreal-based Mehndi Artist, Shaista Jalal.

And so almost a year later, I drove up to Restaurant Bollywood for my first ever Mehndi event and was elated with the jewel-toned blue, yellow and magenta walls inside the space. While I did not stay for the whole evening I definitely think that I was able to capture the really relaxed and joyful feeling of the evening — give me a committed color palette anytime. For what it’s worth, I thought this was a great way for a bride to kick off a three-day wedding with something that felt special, with best friends and family there in colorful support, ready to get the henna patterns to adorn their hands and accompany their outfits in the coming days.

After staying for the appetizers, I was saying to Dave (my husband) that we’ll have to go back for a meal… because yum.

BRIDE’S SARI MEHNDI ARTIST Shaista Jalal VENUE & CATERING Restaurant Bollywood ASSOCIATE PHOTOGRAPHER Cody Langshaw