KARACHI: For those not in the know — although I can’t imagine who — the whole of last week kept Karachi in the news for two very different reasons: the cricket match between Pakistan and South Africa, and Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari’s nuptials with Dubai-based businessman Mahmood Y. Choudhry. And both had happy endings.

Even the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing standard operating procedures (SOPs) could not damper the public interest in the toned-down mehndi, nikah/rukhsati and the valima reception that unfolded behind the fortified walls of Bilawal House amid a strictly monitored and limited guest list.

Every girl dreams of the proverbial fairytale wedding, and for Bakhtawar it all started with her engagement ceremony on Nov 27, 2020 which saw the sprawling lawns at Bilawal House bedecked with flowers, with the prized bloom being none other than a beaming Bakhtawar looking every bit a princess cascading in her soft-pink, tone-on-tone embroidery peshwaz and set off perfectly by a customised, bespoke shawl by Karachi-based designer Nida Azwer.

Minute details about the intricate, personalised panels and embroideries are freely found on social media, and how Bakhtawar wanted to have minute influences of her late mum Benazir Bhutto (BB) as part of her bridal finery, something a daughter would definitely want on her big day. For who can forget the image of the engaged couple under a pink bougainvillea tree with a framed, black-and-white sketch of BB carefully perched behind them on the hedge. There was hardly a dry eye in the audience.

There was a lot of speculation that Bakhtawar would follow in her mother’s footsteps and engage the same veteran bridal couturier

Fast forward to the week-long festivities and last week, Jan 27 to be precise, saw yet another memorable image of Bakhtawar filter on to the social media, one that saw her bedecked in a Wardha Saleem outfit on her mehndi, photo courtesy the groom. The designer outfit had the tell-tale design elements of a bride’s mehndi jorra (outfit) — from the choice of candy colours to the Sindhi and minute mirror-work embellishments, and more in the form of an Urdu poem, Woh Larki Lal Qalandar, worked into it as part of the unique design element by designer Zara Shahjehan, dedicated to BB.

For the nikah/rukhsati on Jan 30, however, Bakhtawar went for a full-on blingy, gold-on-gold speckled effect courtesy Karachi-based bridal couturier Wardha Saleem. As the limited pictures went viral on the internet, there was an outburst of emotions with many congratulating the couple and giving them their sincerest blessings.

According to a fellow scribe, there was a lot of speculation that Bakhtawar would follow in her mother’s footsteps and engage the same veteran bridal couturier who had earlier designed her mother’s ivory-and-gold wedding jorra, which BB wore to her reception at Kakri ground in Lyari in 1987 (also seen on Bakhtawar’s engagement invitation), and with hair and make-up by Tariq Amin. Only goes to show that Bakhtawar stepped out of her late mum’s shadow, while retaining some of her aura and personality, to become her own person.

The few valima reception photos clicked and released by PPP stalwart Sharmila Farooqui on her social media site (the latter herself extensively wore outfits by veteran designer Rizwan Beyg), showed Bakhtawar standing beside her brother Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in a resplendent bottle-green ornate gota-embellished outfit with a matching face mask, while in another with the handsome groom, Mahmood, attired in a black prince coat. The designer of the said jorra remains to be named as we speak. But considering that brides generally wear outfits brought by their in-laws in this part of the world, it could be safely assumed that the aforementioned ornate green number served as a break in the bespoke trousseau collection that paid rich tribute to the life and times of her late mother, and her impressive political lineage.

Finally, the princess got her fairytale dream wedding and we wish the couple all the best in their years ahead together.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2021