Before 'I do', Delhi couples say yes to air purifiers

New Delhi: Garlands, flowers, food and music… As the air quality plummets and the skies turn hazy, add another wedding must have this season – air purifiers!

From making sure there are enough air purifiers to colour coordinated masks, families are scrambling to deal with pollution and are tweaking their budgets to ensure their guests breathe clean air.

Mohsin Khan, of Vivah Luxury Weddings, has had clients ordering 4 to 10 air purifiers for their indoor events. Other people in the business shared similar experiences.

Khan, who has been in the industry for over 15 years, said people are ready to spend Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 extra for clean air this season.

The rental cost of these purifiers is around Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per purifier, depending on the brand and other factors, he added.

The requests for having air purifiers at weddings is more from families hosting guests from abroad, the wedding planner said, adding that NRIs are even reconsidering their wedding plans in the current scenario.

“They are used to AQI levels below 100, and when they land in Delhi and see it reaching 400, they start asking for purifiers. It is a matter of genuine concern for them,” Khan told PTI.

Concurring with Khan, Megha Jindal of Mega Weddings and Events, noted that the shift in priorities is visible.

Indoor functions, especially sangeets, now come with purifier requests to the hotels where they are being held, she said.

From banquet halls to indoor sangeets, families are renting multiple purifiers and turning their venues into mini clean-air zones.

Several families are shifting their venues from open lawns to indoor banquet halls, Khan said, adding a few others are even opting to move their celebrations out of the city altogether to better AQI destinations like Mussoorie, Chandigarh, and other nearby towns and cities.

Sangeeta, a wedding planner from South Delhi said that even middle-class families are trying to adapt.

“They cannot afford sprawling outdoor lawns, so banquet halls are their safest bet. And many health-conscious clients are asking for air purifiers there too,” she said.

“A lot of them quietly place a few purifiers near the buffet or stage so it doesn't look too over-the-top,” she said.

When it comes to quirky requests, the wedding planners get many of them. Sharing one such instance, Sangeeta said that one of her clients demanded a portable purifier for the bride during the rituals.

"One of my other clients, who is from a family of doctors told me, ‘We do not want to look like we are spending too much, but we really need a few purifiers'. So they sneakily hid three purifiers behind the DJ console and stage backdrop," she recalled.

A wedding planner from West Delhi shared that the issue of air quality has trickled down even into the fashion choices that brides make.

One bride even wore a mask matching her outfit. She wore masks for a few of her functions and made the groom follow that as well, he added.

Guests, too, are coming prepared.

“At a recent early morning function, half the guests arrived with their own masks,” the wedding planner shared.

Despite the smog and toxic air, wedding planners say Delhi’s celebratory spirit refuses to dim.

“Delhi weddings can survive anything, they survived COVID-19 pandemic, and now pollution," he added.