Three hours before one of my brides walked down the aisle, she started to cry. I’d travelled to be there with her, and by then we’d spent hours talking through how she wanted her wedding to look and feel. She’d chosen incredible vendors and had a family who was behind her. What she wanted from me was someone she could think out loud with, who would understand why a detail mattered and help her see it through. When the nerves caught up with her, we hugged. I think about that moment often. By the time a bride is getting dressed, I want her to trust the choices we’ve made together and feel comfortable telling me how she’s really doing.

My eye for those details started at home. My mom and aunt would buy fabric in Canada and send it to India, where my aunt made me clothes I could never have found in a store. My grandmother cleaned her jewellery like each piece was one of her babies. My dad took looking sharp seriously, and my mom could make the simplest, most modest outfit look regal. I wanted to see what I could make with that same care, so I spent a year sketching my graduation dress as if I had a red carpet to get to. The designer took one look and told me it was insane. He made it anyway. When I put it on, I felt like myself in a way I’d never quite managed before.

For 15 years, people have hired me in branding and marketing to do something similar for their businesses and personal brands. Some come to me with a clear sense of who they are and need help expressing it. Others ask me to build an identity from the ground up. I’m good at hearing what someone is trying to say, even when they’re still finding the words, and making decisions that bring it to life. My friends started calling me a curator because they saw me do that over and over. I still do that work, and it shapes the way I style every bride.

When we sit down together, I want to know what you already love wearing, which traditions matter to you and what you’ve always wanted to try. Maybe you want to wear your grandmother’s necklace, but every neckline you’ve tried competes with it. We can start with the necklace. I can sketch a blouse around it, help you find a designer who can make it and carry that same thoughtfulness into the rest of your wedding wardrobe. Sometimes the most important decision is the one that lets a piece you already love feel like it belongs to you.

By the time you catch yourself in the mirror, I want you to see all the things we paid attention to, from the way the blouse sits to the way you move in the dupatta. And when it’s time to walk out, I want you to feel safe, stunning and entirely yourself.