WEDDING WEBSITES ARE A RAGE

WEDDING WEBSITES ARE A RAGE

Better internet access and reduced cost of creating wedding websites has contributed to its demand

    It is the big fat Indian wedding season. And, these days more couples are putting together their wedding websites with info, photos and videos to make friends and relatives living far away a part of the gala. Floating wedding websites is not new, but the trend has caught up now, thanks to better internet access and reduced cost of creating such sites. Newlyweds Mayuri and Shashank Baruah created their wedding web site soon after engagement. “We have our roots in Assam, but we stay in Delhi. We have studied and worked all over the country. Shashank was also in London for three years. So we have friends all over,” says Mayuri. “Soon after we got engaged, our friends and family kept telling us how sorry they were about not being able to attend the ceremony. We realised that the scenario will be similar during the wedding. And we didn’t want to leave out anyone from sharing the moment with us. So we decided to give almost as good an experience through a personal wedding website,” she said.
    The website, with the couple’s name as domain name, looked right out of a movie. They uploaded pictures and video clips of their engagement and all the pre-wedding events, right up to the D-day in Guwahati. Of course, with the bride and groom busy, the responsibility of updating the website on important days was entrusted to a techsavvy cousin.
“Apart from videos and photos, we also gave information on time and venue of all events along with maps so that there was no confusion. Since it was the first time many of our guests were coming to Assam, we also added details such as places to see a ro u n d Guwahati, places to eat, shopping destinations and emergency phone numbers. They loved the package!” Mayuri adds, smiling in delight. 

    Nelly Abraham and her husband, Matthew, created their wedding website and uploaded a video clip of them inviting others for a personal touch. The couple are settled in Singapore, although they hail from Kerala and that is where the wedding was a month ago. “Nelly and I had got two weeks off for our marriage. That’s hardly any time to organise a wedding, Indian style! So we were doing everything to help our parents online — from organising caterers and florists to hotel accommodations,” Matthew says. “But the most important thing, inviting people personally, was what concerned us. So we created a wedding website and made a video clip of us inviting people to the wedding, just like we would do personally, and uploaded it,” he says. Many of the wedding sites also come free, like blogs, but the couple have to do all the uploading and designing. 

    There are the experts, too. Sumit Bhowmick from Bangalore said his team creates hundreds of websites for couples every month. “A wedding website is like an extension of the more traditional wedding card, and much more. If we have details such as venues, dates and photographs, it hardly takes any time to create one. It’s a trend now,” Bhowmick says.