Lockdown shatters grand wedding plans

Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have become a major dampener on big fat Indian wedding plans, with many choosing a simple wedding

Hyderabad: Celebrating the wedding of your loved one along with your near and dear, and making fun-filled memories for a lifetime is a dream for many. In India, performing the wedding of their children in a grand way is a huge aspect of a person’s life.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have become a major dampener on big fat Indian wedding plans, with many choosing a simple wedding with limited number of guests and even the rituals, which make up for a major part of an Indian wedding, being tweaked.

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According to Chintalapudi Bhanu Chander, a purohit from the city, people are taking extreme care in lockdown weddings, to the extent of slightly changing some rituals to make them symbolic, all to ensure safety. “There’s a ritual where the mangalasutram is shown to everyone and they touch it as a form of blessing the bride and the groom. But now we are requesting the attendees to just see it and do a ‘namaskaram’ instead of touching it. In some cases, purohits are just showing it from afar, akin to the way it is done during holy kalyanam rituals,” says Bhanu.

With Wednesday being an auspicious day due to Vaishakha Pournami with Anuradha nakshatram and Abhijeeta Muhurtam, many weddings were scheduled on this day and one such wedding was performed in a house with a limited guest-count. In fact, Sree Vishnu Ayyagari, a city-based techie who got married last week, also cancelled the venue and opted to get married in a house.

“We originally booked a banquet hall and were expecting around 200 people but after the lockdown was announced, we chose to conduct the function a quiet affair at a relative’s house. We decked up the place and had a wedding with only 15 people,” says Sree Vishnu.
Others, like Vishnupriya Davu, changed their wedding plans and omitted several events.

“We cancelled the reception, mehendi and sangeet and instead, had only the wedding. Originally we expected over 1,000 people but brought it down to just 40 people, adhering to the protocol issued by the government. We followed measures like sanitising the place thoroughly and arranging sanitisers at the entrance,” says Vishnu Priya, adding, “In fact, my sister came from the USA for my wedding but had to go back just a couple of days before because of the travel restrictions.”

Another aspect that is common to all lockdown-weddings is live-streaming. As Sree Vishnu shares, “With only 15 guests, we streamed the wedding live for all of our loved ones and they watched it from their respective homes.”

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