Covid has cut the big fat Indian wedding to size, literally, taking the cheer out of celebrations. Limited guests, smaller venues and sanitized rituals are leaving the bride, groom and their families craving for more and an army of service providers — wedding planners, event managers, caterers, banquet owners, photographers, DJs and choreographers — ruing the loss of business. However, some well-heeled families, still keen on making the wedding an affair to remember, are skirting pandemic restrictions by spreading out the celebrations over several days and inviting guests in batches while a few others are going for custom-made packages inside “bio bubbles” at star hotels and resorts.
The ministry of home affairs guidelines, applicable from October 15, has capped the number of wedding guests at 200 and made wearing of masks mandatory. Besides, there should be strict adherence to social-distancing norms and provisions for thermal scanning, sanitizing and hand-washing at the wedding venue.
“Business has taken a huge hit as weddings are being scaled down drastically. Earlier, we would have separate theme parties for mehendi, sangeet and other occasions apart from the main wedding and reception. But now, several of these events are being clubbed together,” said Preksha Chhajer Choudhary, a city-based wedding planner.
Banquet owners are among the worst-hit with large-scale cancellations or re-scheduling of bookings, either due to an infection in the bride or groom’s family or because their wary relatives are not too keen on attending crowded events. “While cancellations and cutting down on function days mean loss of business, expenses have increased manifold due to sanitization drives,” said the banquet manager of a popular city hotel.
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