With the spread of coronavirus, Indian weddings may no longer be the same. While in the short run, people organised virtual weddings or postponed them, in the long run, the pomp and show that Indian weddings are known for may give way to smaller, intimate and personalised ceremonies.
Some wedding planners say people have started asking them to organise smaller ceremonies with limited guests and other safety measures in place.
Soumya Raghu, co-founder of Taarini Weddings, says they will plan future weddings as per government guidelines and will make sure every person entering the venue is tracked and checked for safety.
“Our primary concern will be the guests as well as our team, which will be exposed to the crowd. Apart from social distancing, we will also have strict intervals between people entering the venue,” Soumya, who has a wedding planned for the next month, said.
Post-Covid-19 weddings will need sanitising, masks and more but without dampening the spirit of the occasion. According to Soumya, this may mean innovatively designed face masks, personalised notes from the couple asking guests to use sanitisers in cute packages and other novel methods.
“We will try to give masks a fun twist,” she says. There might even be quirky masks with ‘Bride’s family’ or ‘Groom’s friends’ on the lines of badges worn at some weddings.
Pradeep Gowriraju of Happy Retreats, which offers celebration getaways for weddings, birthdays and other events, agrees that the new situation has led to unique scenarios. “Social distancing will figure in our agreements with clients from now on. We will be looking forward to hosting socially responsible clients as it’s a matter of health and safety. We will have a gap between bookings to ensure the venue and rooms are well sanitised. The number of guests will also be limited,” Pradeep says, adding they already have bookings for their speciality, off-beat weddings, in the coming months in three locations.
“Many who had budgets of Rs 15-20 lakh are now spend around Rs 5-6 lakh for these smaller weddings, which is in fact giving them the feel of a destination wedding,” he adds.
There are some positives too. For one, intimate weddings are helping families bond like they would on such occasions decades ago. “Families are coming together to set the mantap and decorate the venue. It has turned into a bonding exercise,” says Pradeep.
However, there are some like Divya Vithika Wedding Planners, which isn’t encouraging any weddings till November or December. “We have to wait and watch the situation till July or August. The tricky part is we have some clients whose families stay abroad, and they are unsure if they can travel,” Vithika Agarwal, co-founder of the company, says. She suggests local weddings by November-December 2020 and March 2021 for international clients.
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