Bridal wear, TV style

If you thought getting your man to go on down on one knee is easy, you haven't seen anything yet. Because ladies, it's you and not him who will be the cynosure of all eyes when it comes down to the wedding outfit.

So if you haven't already chosen your perfect wedding sari, why not let TV guide you in the right direction. We're talking reality TV and soaps which revolve around the business of sat pheras. The best part about these shows is that you get all kinds of tips on designs, accessories, make-up and so on.

So let's check out the shows which may just give you your dream wedding outfit. Here goes:

Don't bolt just yet. We're not talking item girl outfits here. While it's hard to imagine this bold and outspoken reality star as a blushing bride, Rakhi Sawant did manage to look hot and classy at the same time, thanks to Bollywood's ace designers Neeta Lulla and Farah Ali Khan.

The duo designed Rakhi's outfits and jewellery for her Sangeet and Swayamvar.

Lulla chose an indo-western fish cut lehenga in bright turquoise for Rakhi to wear to her sangeet. The corset and the skirt were enhanced with silver and swarovski work.

As for Farah Ali, she created intricate designs in diamond to complete the exquisite look.

If Rakhi doesn't do it for you, then how about royalty?

The story of the popular show on Sony TV revolves around Rani Padmimi played by Tejaswini Lonari and her lavish wedding.

Art director Nitin Desai said real ornaments worth more than a crore were used for the wedding scene. The ornaments include Kadas weighing close to 180 gm, three neckpieces weighing more than 400 gm and kundan. Besides jewellery, the bride's expensive lehenga was worth Rs 16 lakh, designed by Neeta Lulla.

We have used real jewellery on this show, hired from PNG jewellers, Pune," Desai says. "I designed the jewellery and sent it to the jeweller. It was then made with their inputs. The jewellery meant for the wedding scene is worth Rs 1 crore."

If you're not quite royalty but still rolling in money then do like Akshara (Hina Khan) of Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, the show on Star Plus.

Her bridal wear and jewellery together weighed around 22 kilograms but Hina didn't mind as she realises that beauty does indeed come with a price tag.

The soap on Star Plus went to great lengths to make Ragini's (Parul Chauhan) bridal look the talk of the town.

The channel rejected 15 other bridal costumes before zeroing in on this one because they didn't think the costumes shown to them were exclusive enough.

Zeba, the costume designer for the show along with her brother, Furqan Merchant, worked on the design and created a ghagra that was finally approved by the channel and the producer. They used velvet kairi (mango) shapes in the ghagra, with sequins, zardosi and beads for the rich and elegant look.

Still looking for the perfect wedding outfit? Why not tune in to NDTV Imagine's take on one of the country's most loved classics.

The bride here is Aashika Bhatia all of 9 years, who plays princess Meerabai. In the story the Rajput princess remains committed to Lord Krishna despite being forced into marriage with another man. 

But back to the bride and her wedding trousseau which was designed by Sheela Sagar, wife of producer Moti Sagar.

Sheela says, "After doing a lot of research I finally designed Meera's bridal wear with a variety of fabrics like velvet, georgette and brocade. I have used net fabric for the chunee to give it a flowing effect. Each piece like the choli, lehenga, chunee is worth between Rs 15-20,000. Right from the colours, fabric to the embroidery, care has been taken to keep the authenticity of that era alive."

Some of the fabrics used for Meera's costume have been brought directly from Jaipur and Rajasthan.

Sheela continues, "The richness of the fabric has been adorned with a variety of embroidered zardosi borders and kundan work. Cost is cheaper because I personally go for shopping and design for the production house."

About the jewellery she says, "The ornaments used are made from silver and are gold plated to give the look of real jewellery. All the pieces are exclusive and have been hand-made. Each piece is worth Rs 13-20000. TV shows cannot afford to use real jewellery because they are very expensive".