Pandemic sets wedding trends

With guidelines limiting guests to 50, marriage ceremonies have become smaller affairs. Brides prefer it this way, say wedding planners

The big fat Indian wedding has been scaled down a considerable amount due to Covid-19. During the lockdown, many weddings were cancelled and postponed. With the ease on restrictions, wedding planners say many whose nuptials were scheduled for April and May are ready to take the dive. However, from the tradition of inviting thousands of guests to having to cap the list at 50, the ceremonies have become smaller.

Intimate weddings trending
“Many of my clients have always wanted a smaller wedding but have been unable to do so because of how we view weddings in India,” says P Abhilash, co-founder of Taarini weddings and events.

He says brides in particular are happy. “Almost every bride has complained to me about having to stand on a stage and smile for hours and take photographs with people you haven’t met in decades. The pandemic seems to have paved the way for intimate weddings to be more on trend,” he adds.

Rosemary Ratnam, who runs wedding planning company Rings and Roses, has had another experience. “Many clients have wanted to go beyond the 50 people limit. They say they have special permission and such but we don’t entertain such requests,” she explains.

While many are compromising with a smaller ceremony now, all of Abhilash and Rosemary’s clients are looking forward to a throwing a big reception later this year.

Venue confusion

The cap on guests allows better social distancing measures and helps control crowd. But Abhilash says the rules are unclear. “There is no clarity on where the weddings can take place. Whether hotels are allowed or should they be held indoors or outdoors. The best bet is to have it at home but not everyone can do that,” he says. He adds that these restrictions will not be removed rashly and needs to be in place until the pandemic is over.

Rings and Roses have their own wedding venue and have been getting calls from multiple hotels that want weddings to be conducted on their properties. “Some have offered to show us their safety measures through video calls. Others are offering to do catering for weddings that are not on their grounds,” says Rosemary.

Rosemary adds that during the lockdown, weddings that could be officiated at home were conducted. “Church weddings couldn’t happen during that time, so we have seen a rise in requests for those,” she says.

Safety measures

With events being scaled down, the number of people working behind the scenes has also come down. “Apart from us, the vendors and caterers we’re hoping to add only 10 more people to the crowd,” says Rosemary. All those involved will undergo regular safety checks.

Venues are sanitised before the event. Rings and Roses goes so far as to restrict the number of cars at the venue to 15.

“We’re creating health desks outside the entry point. In addition to handing out sanitisers, our staff would be distributing a bag of safety equipment. This includes gloves, masks, sanitisers and a list of do’s and don’ts,” says Abhilash.

He adds that one of the couples has asked for custom masks. “Our in-house tailor is very excited to make those,” he says, laughing.

Single day ceremonies

Rosemary says that ceremonies that went on for days at a time are now coming down to just a day. “The muhurtham happens in the morning and a reception happens in the evening and that’s it,” she says.

Abhilash recounts an extravagant four-day destination wedding they had planned in Goa for April.

“The clients had a smaller ceremony in place of that in their own homes. They have although told us to keep the advance and plans in place for a later date,” he says.

But even those who are having a smaller wedding now are keen on
closing everything up in one day, he
says.

What about the money?

“Financially the business is definitely not viable. The scale has come down drastically,” says Rosemary.

Both companies receive advance payments for confirmed clients. “We have had half our clients ask for their deposits back and the other half have said that they’d prefer us to keep it as a retainer of sorts,” says Abhilash.

He says this has also helped him pay their employees.

“We do everything in-house so we don’t have vendors that depend on us,” he says.

This is not the case for Rosemary. “Most of our vendors and employees are not from the city, so we decided to shut shop on March 16 anticipating a lockdown. It gave them enough time to go back to their native places so the strain on their finances was reduced,” she says.

Now that business is picking up, many of her vendors and employees are coming back with the promise of case-by-case payment.

Spare no expense

While the scale might have come down, Abhilash says that no expense is being spared. “Most parents have money saved up for the child’s big day and with guest lists coming down drastically, their focus has moved to decor,” he says.

He says clients are gravitating towards the over-the-top decor as seen in intimate celebrity weddings. They are happy to pay for it because apart from the people, decor stands out most in photographs.

Rosemary is more cautious. “Everything about these weddings would be last-minute as intercity travel itself can be complicated. Getting vendors and guests to travel to the venues and doing so safely is a challenge,” she concludes.