Nice Hogiyah! Top 2022 Trends for Asian Weddings as picked by Mush Studio

So what does 2022 hold for the coolest UK Asian weddings?? Who better to ask than our resident Brit-Asian hip creatives Mush Studio, husband and wife design team who have had a right old Corona Coaster when it came to their wedding - you can see more here. We are so super stoked that they actually did get fully married in October and we KNEW it was gonna be cool, but just look hooowwwwww cool! SO yes we commissioned the fantastic Kush, 50% of Mush Studio, to give her low down on what she is seeing emerging for the most design, fashion and trend led British South Asian Weddings. Illustrated by her own gorgeous nuptials to her Manny not even two months ago.

Images by Dainty c/o Bhavna Barratt - amazing photography team!

Over to you Kush!

Stripped back guest list

So overall when we look at the last few weddings we have been to (and when we have discussed weddings with people in general) one huge thing is how much more intimate they are becoming. Of course Covid had a massive say in this, but since then many more people have been opting for smaller intimate weddings where the couple actually know all the guests - its a massive thing in Indian weddings to have like 300/500 guests, not just for the wedding but the pre events too - as everyone has to be invited! But now a lot more couples - us included - have decided to strip back the guest list and have a much more intimate wedding (even 100 people for an indian wedding is pretty intimate!)

Eco Friendly Weddings

Weddings cause sooo much waste - like with so many events to plan for in the week before the wedding the disposable plates and cups that are thrown away is ridiculous. We personally decided to opt for palm leaf disposables which can be composted and reused. We havent seen this done hugely but with people becoming more eco conscious we think its only a matter of time. Plus so many people commented on how amazing it looked on the day and what a good idea it was so hopefully we have inspired some!

Dried florals and DIY decor + Up cycling

Us being us this was a huge thing- we DIY'd everything and did the same for practically every aspect of the wedding. Because we planned our wedding a month in advance in winter we we decided to buy bulk dried flowers and then handmade our centrepieces. I also up-cycled old gin bottles and coloured them using a tik toc DIY hack - seen loads of this, so many people adding their own special touches to their decor! The great thing about these as well is they can be used after the wedding for ages as the flowers aren't fresh. A lot of our family asked if they could take a centrepiece home as a keepsake. We also spray painted pumpkins as it was October and hand painted these for each table / outside the tent :)

Also I know this probably isnt most weddings but because we had our venue in our garden we handmade most of our decor - bulk bought artificial flowers from eBay and spent weeks painting and fastening them together to make our decor. Just to make it feel even more personal and intimate and super us!

Super quirky cakes and cake pops!

Instagram-able desserts and wedding cakes! Cake pops are huge at weddings now, just as a cute party favour - and usually they're decorated to match the decor or theme!

Our wedding cake was the most gorgeous thing and we've seen and tasted amazing (Made by the amazing Noonchi Cake in Leeds) - we've so many instances of the style of cake on instagram etc but we think it might have been a first for any of our families as people were blown away! Defo think people will be getting something similar as its one of the things people couldn't stop talking about.

Personal Mendhi/ Henna

One tradition with Mendhi is always to have the grooms name hidden in the design somewhere. However these days a lot of brides are opting for totally personalised henna designs, sometimes with portraits of the couples woven into the design, or elephants or even typography! Its another way we're seeing peoples individual styles shown through these traditions! I personally went for a mix of styles, both fun and traditional which included hearts and smilies as well as our initials in the centre of my hands!

Also we've seen a lot of the male guests/family wearing mendhi now which is awesome!

Non Traditional wedding dresses

This has probably always been a trend but i feel like now we are seeing so much more non traditional wedding attire! One wedding we just went to had a Chunni (the scarf the bride wears on her head) that turned into a train which was fully embroidered and looked stunning! This was paired with a super simple red Indian suit for the temple ceremony, and then she changed into a traditional white english dress for the reception.
One amazing thing is to see couples embrace the whole Brit-Asian side of themselves through their attire - choosing to wear outfits that represent both sides of their heritage and nationality.

Me and Manny decided to match our outfits completely. Usually the bride and groom don't see each others outfits till the day but we designed and embellished and styled ours together to they matched - and represented us as a couple. We went for a non traditional colour and paired with with shocking pink accents. We added our own embroidery to both outfits - I embellished clouds, flowers and sun-rays to my dress and veil using iridescent crystals, as well as pearls and every type of bead and sequin you can think of!

We also hand dyed Mannys turban to make it the colour we wanted, and sourced jewellery from as many small independent companies as we could!

Candid photos/videos/ fun wedding shoots

We've seen some amazing photography/ pre wedding shoots which are super candid and chilled, from photographers such as Hark1karan - the mix of old school outfits in an urban street setting we love and are seeing so much of!

We tried this ourselves for our shoot outside a bus stop and at a children's playground.

People are opting for a lot less posed and traditional wedding photos, but choosing to go slightly more "real" with the look.

Gallery images from their photo both by @photoboothguysuk

Illustrations of the couple

Of course we did this- but we've seen a few instances of this where the couple have got an illustration commissioned which is then used on invites, decor, menus etc to give the whole wedding a central image- which is beautiful!