Knot now- The New Indian Express

Express News Service

BENGALURU: The wedding scene in Bengaluru is seeing a tectonic shift. As the fear of a ‘possible’ third wave of Covid-19 still persists, many families are opting for a one-month window period to plan the D-day. Thanks to the changing Covid-19 protocols ranging from restrictions on social gatherings to travel guidelines, families are finding it hard to plan big days. Therefore, what used to be planned for six to seven months has now been reduced to just 30 days or less, find wedding planners.

According to Lakshmi Keerthi, founder of Lakiru, a wedding planning company, she has organised over 12 weddings with one month’s notice. Hosting a three-day wedding with a one-month window time would start at Rs 4 lakh. “The fear of a possible third wave is forcing families to wrap up the wedding plans in a month’s window. The three-day ritual, however, remains intact, but as wedding planners, it is a challenge to organise personalised themes with such short notice,” says Keerthi, who is planning the rituals for five more weddings this month.

However, wedding planners also point out that booking venues is a major challenge at such short notice. More so, if clients are keen about a particular kind of decor, make-up artist, and photographer, it becomes difficult to make personalised arrangements within a month. What comes as a challenge is also finding the ‘right date’ which matches various aspects.

But what the second wave of Covid-19 also caused was the postponement of wedding celebrations. According to Vithika Agarwal, co-founder of Divya Vithika Wedding Planners, couples who have legally completed their marriage formalities are opting for post-marriage parties to make up for the loss of celebrations during the second wave of the pandemic.

“We have over four such parties lined up in the month of December and we are in talks with many others. This informal party is usually a two-day affair and sometimes includes mehendi and sangeet sessions, a DJ night and also a small set of rituals, in case certain family members missed out on them due to the lockdown. They are organised at resorts and hotel ball rooms depending upon availability,” says Agarwal.

Vachan Chopra, a wedding planner and the founder of event planning company, Colours 360, says “For an upcoming wedding this week, the client has asked for a Rajwada royal theme with a window time of just eight days. Likewise, we did about 8-10 short-notice weddings in the last three months. These are couples who couldn’t tie the knot owing to the lockdown during the second wave.”

Highlighting the logistical and functional challenges, MC Aly, wedding consultant at Quebec Wedding Planners, says, “The budget has shot up by at least 70 per cent compared to pre-Covid times. For weddings of high-net-worth individuals, what usually required just a little less than 100 members in the logistical team now requires over 250 people. The labour shortage is also a challenge to execute such large scale events in such short notice.”