Groom wear, safas and petas in Bengaluru

The wedding look depends on the family. This is how it usually goes, and your family's own custom comes first. At many North Indian weddings he wears a sherwani with a churidar, a dupatta, a safa and mojaris. At a Kannadiga muhurtha, a silk panche with a shalya over the shoulder and a Mysore peta. At a Tamil wedding, a pattu veshti with a silk shirt and an angavastram. A Maharashtrian groom wears a pheta, and a Sikh groom a pagg (question 6). For the reception most change into a suit, a bandhgala or an indo-western set.

Ask the bride's family first. In some families, the bride's side gives the groom his wedding clothes, often the panche or veshti and shalya at a South Indian wedding. If that's the custom in her family, a big part of your budget is already covered.

Match the bride lightly. Her outfit is usually fixed first. Pick up one of her colours in the safa, the stole or a border, so the two of you go together in the photos without looking the same.

Count the whole look. The sherwani is only one of six things to pay for:

Spend on what he'll wear again. A bandhgala or a suit from the reception gets worn again at other weddings, but a heavy wedding sherwani rarely does.

Think about the heat. A heavy, fully embroidered sherwani is hot for six hours at a noon mandap. Ask what the cloth weighs and try it on for ten minutes in the shop.

The two rental prices are for different lengths of time. Outfit Rental Shop's ₹950 to ₹3,999 is for 36 hours. PoshRobe's ₹4,000 to ₹8,000 is for three days and for different outfits, so compare them for the same number of days.

A tailor makes sense for the fit, the cloth or the embroidery. Ask your own tailor for his stitching price. One doorstep service starts at ₹7,000 plus 5% GST for the stitching alone, more than Kuberan Silks' cheapest ready-made set, and a neighbourhood tailor may charge less.

Where to go on a Saturday. Chickpet for silk, panche sets, ready sherwanis and petas. Jayanagar and Kudlu for rentals, with a trial at the shop or delivery. P N Rao's stores in Koramangala, Jayanagar, Indiranagar, M G Road and Malleshwaram for a ready bandhgala, and Basavanagudi for made to measure.

GST. A price tag on ready-made clothes includes it: 5% on a piece up to ₹2,500 and 18% above that. A tailor's or designer's quote may leave it out. Threads Tailor adds 5% to its invoice, so ask whether GST is in any quote.

At one shop, the hand work sets the price. Kuberan Silks' own petas, plain to pearl:

Who they are. Sudarshan Family Store, on Chickpet Main Road, has sold wholesale and retail since 1944. Kuberan Silks, also on Chickpet, says it has been there 60 years. Some of its colours were sold out, so ask before you go.

The same question for a sherwani, at one atelier. Chirag Parmar Signatures prices a sherwani from ₹20,000 to ₹1,20,000 and more. It says the price moves with the cloth (raw silk or brocade), how the jacket is built inside (a half or full canvas, the stiff layer that gives it shape) and the hand embroidery in metal thread (zardozi) and needlework (aari). One of its wedding sherwanis has "300+ artisan hours of handcrafted Zardozi and Aari". Ask any designer which of the three your quote is paying for.

Leave slack for wedding season. Express stitching exists, but tailors and designers fill up in the wedding months, as it usually goes, and a late fitting needs room before the date. The longest wait above is twelve weeks, so start three to four months before the wedding.

If your weight is changing, tell the tailor. He'll leave room to take it in or let it out, and the last fitting should be close to the date.

Try the whole set together, once. Each piece can fit on its own while the whole thing doesn't: the churidar bunches, the dupatta slips, the safa sits too low. Sit on the floor in it if there's a muhurtha.

Pay the advance against a written receipt that carries the delivery date.

Is it clean? PoshRobe's rent includes cleaning. Ask any shop how it cleans an outfit between wears.

Will people know it's rented? The fit gives it away more than anything. Outfit Rental Shop asks you not to alter, so pick the one that fits at the trial.

Cancel early. Outfit Rental Shop refunds a booking cancelled at least 24 hours ahead.

A safa rental service can do the whole job. Safawala, with its head office in Delhi and a service in Bengaluru, rents the safa, fits it before the wedding, ties it on the morning and collects it after the function. It quotes on WhatsApp once it knows the date and the style. Its listings show a barati safa (for the groom's party) at ₹3,999 to ₹4,499 and a groom's safa with a stole and brooch at ₹6,999 to ₹7,499, without saying whether that's to rent or to buy, so ask which.

How tying is usually paid. By the head or for the morning, plus travel, as it usually goes. Ask for one number that covers every head and the time the person will be there, and what happens if they're late.

A pheta is tied like a safa in the Maharashtrian style, so ask whoever ties it whether they do that style. A pagg is very often tied by someone in the family. If you'd rather book someone, ask early.

Exactly 50 of the guest safas works out to ₹6,098 with a pack of 30 and two of 10, about ₹122 a safa. Two packs of 30 cost ₹7,000 and give you ten spare.

Buying beats renting for a crowd. Renting a turban starts at ₹299 a head for 36 hours.

If you want them tied by hand, 50 heads need more than one person. Ask whoever ties them how many people they'll bring.

One colour for the groom's side. A better safa for close family and plain ones for guests is common, as it usually goes, and one colour across the side counts most in the photos.

Petas for the elders. A plain ready peta is ₹350 at Sudarshan Family Store in Chickpet. Ask them what 10 or 20 would cost.

Groomsmen on a budget. Outfit Rental Shop rents kurta sets, some with a stole, at ₹950 to ₹1,200 for 36 hours, and runs a rent-two-get-one-free offer within a category, with a deposit on all three. For the haldi, ready kurtas start at ₹799 at Kuberan Silks, so matching needn't mean a tailor.

Who pays. It differs from family to family. Often each man pays for his own outfit and the groom's side buys the safas or stoles. Say it in the family group before anyone shops.

The father usually wears a bandhgala or a sherwani in a colour that goes with the groom's side. Some designers make the whole family a coordinated set:

For six or more, set a date by which everyone sends sizes, and get the cousin abroad to measure a shirt that fits him. Someone always drops out or changes size, so keep one spare.