Was Bakhtawar Bhutto's wedding dress embroidered with gold and diamond?

There have been a lot of speculations about Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari's wedding dress ever since she got married to Mahmood Choudhry last month. 

"Neither did we use a gold wire nor did we put in diamonds on this dress," said the designer Wardha Saleem, laughing as she spoke to BBC Urdu.

Saleem said that her brand uses the most decent designs for bridal dresses. She revealed that Bakhtawar's bridal dress contained the most high-quality and decent material from local markets in Pakistan.

Saleem said that Bakhtawar's chiffon was handmade locally. "As a brand, we make use of the best local material [for bridal dresses] available in Pakistan," she said. 

When asked whether she felt nervous on designing the dress for Bakhtawar's big day, Saleem said it wasn't true. "You can say were excited and not under pressure," she said, adding that the team enjoyed working on the dress knowing how much confidence Bakhtawar had on their brand.

Saleem referred to Bakhtawar as a "dream bride" for any brand, saying that in the very first few meetings held between the two to discuss the dress, Bakhtawar told them that she didn't have any doubt on their capabilities.

"We did hold a few discussions on the customisaton of the dress," she said. "However, Bakhtawar never interfered in our work."

Saleem revealed that it took 45 craftsmen to work on Bakhtawar's bridal dress, adding that they spent a massive 7,000 hours in making the dress.

"The reason why this dress took so long is because it is handwoven and we used the finest material available. We worked on it for 7 months and for two to three months, we worked double 24 hour shifts," she added.

Wardha again described Bakhtawar as a "dream bride", saying that she exhibited full trust and confidence in her to make the dress. "We finalised the details in our very first one or two meetings. After that, our approach was so strong that anything else wasn't needed," she said.

"It often happens that when bridal dresses are being made, clients often ask their designers to send them pictures of the dress. However, I personally think this happens when clients do not trust their designers," she added.

"I think another reason this happens is because everyone has dreams about his/her big day and they want everything to be perfect. However, Bakhtawar wasn't like that at all and trusted us completely," said Saleem.