The Coronavirus pandemic has taken its toll on all of us. It has forced us to rapidly adapt to what we now call “the new normal”. Activities outside of the four walls of our houses are limited to the bare minimum; we have had to do away with everything deemed as non-essential. Among the first activities we had to suspend, and probably one of the last few that will return to our lives in the foreseeable future, are grand Indian weddings. Thousands of couples planned to tie the knot in 2020, but they have been left in the lurch because of the obvious risks such large gatherings posed to attendees’ well being.
The solution: intimate, minimalist weddings with closest friends and family, replacing the grandeur of band, baaja and baarat with social distancing, masks, and ample sanitizer to boot. Even as numbers are restricted to less than 50 attendees, there is a great deal of excitement!
For example, attendees are matching beautiful, accessorized masks with their elaborate outfits and lehengas. Moreover, many couples have fuelled their creative juices into sending out innovative and colourful e-vites, which take the form of simple pictures, cute GIFs, or entertaining videos designed with the help of graphic content creators working from home in the lockdown!
One significant bonus of these exclusive wedding plans is that the bride and groom can celebrate with those closest to them, doing away with inviting hundreds or even thousands of guests like social protocol dictates. This raises the opportunity for personalized return-gifts, facilitated by the much less demanding budget of lockdown marriages. Parents can even consider buying many more beautiful jewelry sets and various other useful items for their daughters as a part of the “stree-dhan” ritual of our culture!
While many couples missed out on the majestic affairs they had planned for their marriage, the last aspect of lockdown weddings extends the invitee list way beyond lockdown constraints: virtual celebrations! Apps like zoom lead to endless possibilities in pandemic conditions. Life goes on in lockdown, and intimate weddings are ideal to bring together those in love with safety and certainty, especially in a global pandemic.
