While weddings are supposed to be about a couple vowing to spend the rest of their lives together and sharing this moment with close friends and family, they inevitably turn into a very bride-centric event. The moment guests turn up, the first question that pops into their heads is, “Dulhan kaha hain?” (Where is the bride?). The whole ceremony becomes about the bride and not in a good way. She has to smile the whole time (but not too much) and look pretty and graceful. There must not be any moderation in her embellishments and she should be the most sparkling person in the room. But does anyone care what the bride wants for herself?
Bangladeshi bride Tasnim Jara decided to take it upon herself to do away with this common occurrence. Tasnim showed up at her wedding reception with no makeup or jewellery and a white-coloured cotton saree which belonged to her grandmother.
“I was troubled by the singular image of a bride that our society has- with tons of makeup, a weighty dress and mounds of jewellery weighing her down,” states Tasnim in a Facebook post. According to her, there is no true value to spending a huge amount of money on appearance that would do nobody any good and would also prove to be a financial setback.
Tasnim blames the society for these sad state of affairs which push people to go out of their way and splurge on one giant party. “I have hardly attended any wedding where I didn’t overhear people gossiping: ‘Is the bride pretty enough?’ ‘How much gold does she have on?’ ‘How much did her dress cost?’,” says she. Questions like these compel a bride to put extra thought and money into her super-heavy, extortionate wedding dress and makeup only to “end up looking nothing like herself.”
“Don’t get me wrong, if a girl wants to use makeup, jewellery and expensive clothes for herself, I am all in for that. But it is a problem when she loses her agency in deciding what she would like to wear on her wedding day.”
The decision wasn’t easy as family members did not agree with her choice. Some even went as far as saying that they would not click photos with her, but Tasnim braved through it. Check out Tasnim’s full Facebook post below:
For interesting trending videos from InUth, follow us on Youtube.com/InUthdotcom
