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Henna for Weddings

Bridal Henna should be applied 1-3 days before the wedding to allow the henna stain time to mature and deepen. Traditionally the grooms initials are hidden in the patterns. The groom must search for the initials on the wedding night, if he can't find his initials he is expected to give a gift to his new bride!

This little game of "hide and seek" has served as an icebreaker for generations of couples in arranged marriages. In traditional families where arranged marriage is the practice often the couple has never met before the wedding day and they may be quite young. The hiding of initials among the intricate henna patterns is one of many tricks to help the couple break the ice and feel more comfortable, as well as to initiate intimacy.

An American version of bridal henna
This heart and vine pattern complimented the embossed wedding announcements the couple chose together.

The henna was applied to the brides lower back 2 days before the wedding ceremony and was kept a secret from the groom till the honeymoon. His initials, DG, in accord with an old Indian custom, were hidden in the vining patterns. It was his job to search for the initials on the wedding night.

Sara and Ian, a wonderfully fun and adventurous couple, chose a large floral pattern with small hearts and blossoms to span across both of their palms creating the whole pattern when they joined left hands.

A lovely and artisticbride (and henna artist herself) chose a pattern with floral and geometricelements for her and her fiancee's bridal henna. Each partner has half the pattern on their left hand creating a whole when the face eachother and grasp hands.

Half of the pattern was applied across each of their palms creating a whole pattern as their left hands came together.

This Perian Bride wanted henna for her wedding ceremony to commemorate her heritage. She didn't want the henna to be visible to everyone or for it to distract from her dress. She wanted the henna designs to be a special celebration between her and her husband, their shared heritage and their new commitment to eachother.
Her lower back was a modest yet provocative location.
She mixed and matched several patterns to create this large design that spanned her lower back and included a small Om symbol. Her husbands initials were hidden among the cloud designs for him to locate on the wedding night.

For a summer wedding, this bride chose a structured pattern filled with little blossoms and anklets from our new book "Arabesque".

*Please note, this brides henna has not yet peaked in color. The henna was applied 1 and 2 days before the ceremony so the stains would be their darkest on the day of the ceremony, 24 hours after these photos were taken.

This Indian bride wanted the feeling of traditional Indian bridal mehndi while keeping the patterns a bit lighter and more open than the dense patterns popular for contemporary Indian brides. I added the two-tone details and grabbed a quick photo so she could get back to the festivities.

The less dense but still very traditional application on the feet and ankles incorporated the brides small tattoo.

This amazing Indian bride was marrying into a Polish/Jewish family and incorporated customs from both of their cultures into the wedding. She hosted a henna party that included all the women from the groom's family so everyone would have a chance to experience some of the traditional Indian wedding customs. For her own henna she chose these sophisticated knot and vining patterns.

As the ladies took turns being henna'ed they showed off their new shoes, sari's and Indian jewelry. Another friend had spent the day cooking up traditional Indian foods and served a huge meal for the family. They picked over chicken and bread while choosing their henna patterns.

Kat chose a wonderful cypress pattern from our new book "Arabesque" for her feet. We adapted the pattern to form to her foot for her barefoot wedding on the beach.

Kat, an eclectic bride knew exactly what she wanted on her lower back to celebrate her marriage. She requested a lotus and her and the grooms horoscope signs to be used in a design on her lower back. They were both 'water' signs so the crab and scorpion were combined with water swirls and the lotus blossom.
The grooms initials are hidden among the swirls of water to be searched out on the wedding night.