You can still have a big fat wedding. Tip: Get a fast internet connection

The biggest hurdle with online weddings is convincing family elders to forgo their ideas of a grand event

On April 19, Mumbai-based Sushen Dang and Bareilly-based Keerti Narang tied the knot. Holed up in their respective homes, the bride and groom proceeded to get married — 1,430 km apart. Narang donned her mother's wedding lehenga and Dang wore a cheery mustard kurta with a floral turban as over 100 guests made their way to the wedding venue — Zoom, the cloud-based video-calling app. While family members, friends, relatives and the priest, Prius Sharan Tripathi, watched the wedding on Zoom, those who did not know the couple (such as this writer), joined the festivities on Shaadi.com's Facebook page, where the wedding was live-streamed.

The hour-and-a-half-long affair included a pooja, dhol and sangeet celebrations. Most Indian weddings are tedious and long; this online wedding, though briefer, replaced boredom with surreality. The pandit recited mantras and issued directives, on a screen. The bride and groom nervously complied, nodding their heads at their screens. Guests from all over the country marked attendance from their homes, some dressed for the occasion and others lazing in bed. The couple even took their sacred vows, perambulating their respective centre tables, unaccompanied by each other or by the sacred fire. Instead of the usual shushing from family members during the pheras, the pandit urged guests to put their mics on mute so that the couple could hear him clearly.

Dang and his mother, Mamta, dancing during the sangeet

The novel coronavirus has upended the usually recession- and inflation-free Rs 33,000 crore Indian wedding industry, despite its being the fag end of the wedding season (loosely October to May). But this couple was certain they wanted to get married anyway, even if online. “We had done all our bookings at a resort in Corbett National Park for the same dates. But with so much uncertainty about when things will improve, we thought this would be the safest way to celebrate with our loved ones,” says Dang. 

Dang decided on an online wedding when a friend told him about Shaadi.com's Weddings from Home initiative. The online matchmaking service has artfully assumed the role of online wedding planner, organising everything from e-invites to make-up tutorials for the bride and groom. A clever move during an economic lull, since all of this costs under a lakh of rupees. And as the couple had been dating online, the idea of getting married online didn't seem that much of a stretch either. Thanks to the wedding broadcast on Facebook Live, a bunch of other couples is now in conversation with Shaadi.com. One such wedding is lined up for sometime next week.

Friends and family attending the wedding on Zoom

“Through Weddings from Home, couples can continue to get married on the auspicious date without violating the lockdown,” says Adish Zaveri, director marketing, Shaadi.com. While Mumbai-based makeup artist Chriselle Baptista has been roped in to help with makeup, Faridabad-based singer and performer Vanita Sharma plays the dhol during the sangeet. Religion is no bar either: the team claims it can organise any kind of wedding online. 

The biggest hurdle with online weddings is convincing the family elders to forgo their ideas of a grand event, admits Zaveri. But once that is done, all one needs to do is host the call on Zoom. At a time when most people associated with the wedding industry — caterers, vendors, freelance makeup artists, photographers — are out of work, those who are managing to earn online are not complaining. “I was booked till May but I have had no work the last two months. Then, these online weddings started and I am grateful for the chance to perform and sing,” says Sharma, to whose tunes the entire wedding party danced for close to half an hour in their respective bedrooms. 

Pandit Prius Sharan Tripathi

Despite the growing popularity of online wedding services, Delhi-based wedding photographer Ramit Batra isn't worried about it becoming the norm. “These online weddings are a fad. Weddings will make a comeback as soon as the situation improves, though the budget and scale will reduce,” he predicts.  
 

Batra is currently conducting online shoots with his existing clients, by guiding them about the lighting, the costumes they should wear and the like. Similarly, WedMeGood, an online platform for ancillary wedding services such as makeup artists, photographers and caterers, is urging would-be couples to continue planning their dream wedding. Meanwhile, Dang is waiting for the day he can bring Narang home.