MEHENDI

Mehendi is the function where nobody is standing. Guests sit, lean, sprawl across low seating for hours while henna dries, and the design has to be built for that rather than for a formal photograph.

So: open shade rather than a closed hall, cushions and daybeds instead of rows of chairs, marigold and jasmine because they hold up in daylight heat, and surfaces that can take turmeric and henna without anyone worrying.

It is also usually the first time both families are properly in one place, which makes it the function that sets the temperature for everything after it.