Mehndi

If you've been reading my blog, you'll remember that I'm having a mixed religion ceremony...Hindu and Christian. In addition, I'll be celebrating both South Asian and American/UK traditions during the wedding/reception. One such tradition in South Asia is something called mehndi. Mehndi is a 'temporary tattoo' of sorts. You apply henna to the skin, allow it to dry and then keep away from water for a while. You can have all sorts of patterns and colours, though traditionally the colours are a reddish brown to black.

Most South Asian brides have a mehndi ceremony before their wedding, where you get very cool designs on your hands and feet. More likely than not, I'll just have something more simple, as I'll have a friend work with me (she's an artist). I, too, am learning how to do this so that I can apply designs to my bridal party. So...I tried it this past weekend. Nothing too complicated but here's an example of what I did on my left hand:
It's nothing much but I was just curious about what a pre-made cone would do. I think I'd rather mix my own henna and work from there...plus as I'm not doing a ton of designs, I'll use a bottle with a metal tip instead of the bag.

I also put a pattern on my foot though the pic didn't come out well. I've done a lot of reading and found some cool stuff. Here's one pic of mehndi that I really like:

In this pic, the henna is still drying so you don't get to see the darkness of it...but I really like the patterns and would love something like it.

For my bridesmaids, I'll probably take aspects of this and use them to have something a touch more simple (it takes a load of time to do!).