I HAD the pleasure of attending my first Sikh wedding recently and when the wonderful bride mentioned that many of the women would be wearing a sari, I decided to follow suit.

I do the majority of my clothes shopping online and I’m practically on first name terms with most of the staff at the post office as I’m in there so often returning impulse purchases.

With that in mind, you can see why I found the thought of physically going out to look for a sari quite daunting. I had no idea where to go, what I wanted, what size I’d need, how much I should expect to pay, the thought brought me out into a cold sweat.

The thought of buying one online also made me nervous as I had never done it before and as I’d left it fairly last minute, would I be stuck if I didn’t like it?

As time was running out, I decided to bite the bullet and spent one lunchtime frantically searching the internet before stumbling across www.hireasari.co.uk.

The website looked great, very pink, girly and inviting and I found the concept of hiring instead of buying quite refreshing.

Scrolling through the saris available, I was impressed with the variety, there were so many beautiful colours on offer.

I knew red was out of the question as that would be worn by the bride so I instead decided to focus on something that would complement the pink and gold colour scheme.

I was immediately drawn to the pink Bollywood style sari – it was described as being worn by celebrity Shilpa Shetty, lightweight and great for any occasion – perfect!

I’m quite a decisive shopper but if you can't decide which sari to choose from Hire A Sari has a number of style advisers, just a click away, who will be able to recommend colours and styles to suit all body shapes and events.

The rest was really straightforward – I selected my blouse size (there’s a handy size guide that goes on UK dress and bust size) and picked the date I wanted to hire it.

An extra 25 per cent is added at the check-out but that is refundable once the sari is returned in good condition, which is understandable.

Then I just had to wait! The package does require a signature, so unless you are willing to go to your local delivery office to collect it, make sure you pick a delivery date when you will be home.

I was so excited to receive my pink package and when I opened it, I discovered that Hire A Sari had covered all bases – there was a blouse, petticoat, instructions and a beautiful matching bindi, which was free.

The sari was gorgeous, the colours were stunning and the detail was incredible.

The mass of material can be a bit daunting but the instructions are quite simple to follow. My advice would be to practice a lot before the event, make sure you have a lot of safety pins and recruit a friend to help!

I can’t have done a bad job as my sari attracted a lot of compliments at the wedding, with many stopping me to say how lovely it was – result!

Once the wedding was over, I didn’t have to worry about dry cleaning the sari or finding space for it in my overflowing wardrobe, I simply popped it into the returns bag provided and sent it back.

My experience with Hire A Sari was a dream – it was so simple and hassle-free.

I’d certainly recommend it to anyone who has an invite to an Asian wedding or Bollywood themed party to check it out, it was so convenient and affordable.

For more information, visit www.hireasari.co.uk or find them on Facebook by clicking here.