The eight-week bridal timeline

Made-to-order bridal work takes six to eight weeks, and that clock starts when the design is frozen, not when you first walk in. Budget two extra weeks for the deciding.

Week eight to six: choose the necklace. Everything else — earrings, maangtikka, bangles — is fitted to it, so it has to be first. Bring the blouse fabric, not a photo of it; gold reads differently against raw silk and against georgette.

Week five: sizing. Bangles and rings need a physical fitting, and fingers change size with the season and with pre-wedding stress. We size twice, three weeks apart, for exactly this reason.

Week two: the trial. Wear the full set with the outfit and the hair, under the light you will actually be photographed in. This is when a haar turns out to be two inches too long, and two inches is a two-day fix — but only if there are two days.

Week one: nothing. If the plan needed week one, the plan was wrong.