Bride shunned by her family for not wearing make-up on her wedding day
Your wedding day should be something to look forward to but, it can be a major source of stress for brides-to-be.
Aside from the venue, reception and dress, there’s your beauty look to think about. What make-up route do you go down? Should you hire a professional make-up artist or simply do it yourself?
One bride decided to completely shun make-up, going for a natural look instead.
However, her story wasn’t the uplifting one you’d expect.
Tasnim Jara shared a photo from her Muslim wedding that has gone viral for its story of unrealistic expectations placed on brides (and women in general).
“I walked into my wedding reception wearing grandmother’s white cotton saree with zero make-up and no jewellery. Many asked me why. So here is my reason,” she wrote in the caption.
“I was troubled by the singular image of a bride that our society has – with tons of make-up, a weighty dress and mounds of jewellery weighing her down,” Tasnim continued.
She went on to explain how her childhood involved hearing people gossiping about brides, saying: ““Is the bride pretty enough?” “How much gold does she have on?” “How much did her dress cost?”
“Growing up listening to these questions, a bride feels pressured to look for the best make-up artist in town, pays a hefty amount in time, money and energy, and ends up looking nothing like herself; because the society constantly reminds her that her actual skin colour isn’t good enough for her own wedding.”
Tasnim also stated that she had grown up to feel like a bride was “incomplete without ornaments; that her and her families’ status depends on how much gold she puts on on the day.”
Shockingly, she also revealed that certain members of her family refused to take photos with her on her wedding day because she didn’t look like their image of a ‘typical bride’.
Tasnim finished with a powerful statement in which she explained that young women shouldn’t feel the need to bend to stereotypes. “If a girl wants to use make-up, jewellery and expensive clothes for herself, I am all in for that. But it is a problem when she loses her agency in deciding what she would like to wear on her wedding day,” she wrote.
“When society forces her to doll up and look like a different person, it gives a message that the authentic look of a girl isn’t good enough for her own wedding.”
“We need to change this mindset.”
Too right.
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