The way ahead for big fat Indian weddings

While it is well known that the lockdown has taken a massive toll on numerous industries, of them, one of the most affected remains the wedding industry. Now, as restrictions are being eased, wedding planners and photographers across the city have come to terms with the fact that the big fat Indian wedding has turned into intimate affairs.

“Since the pandemic hit us in the midst of a busy season, we were able to practice few of the precautionary measures,” recounts Vikram Mehta founder of Mpire Events, an organisation that manages luxury weddings and events. Mehta lists precautionary measures like “temperature check for all guests, details of their past travel, daily sanitisation of the property and rooms, filling of forms for all guests with details of illness, if any, masks and gloves at the hospitality desk and at every event,” as the only way ahead.

As for wedding photographers, these past few months have been uneventful. “We have lost a few months of business but the real challenge is going to be adapting to the new normal. We have to create some new trends and look at evolving our business model to grow and thrive,” confesses onia Dembla, irector of amera Crew. embla adds that “There is roughly an 85% decline in weddings as most of the couples are postponing the wedding to when the situation gets better.”

Mehta, however, feels that it’s only a matter of time before they get back on their feet and get used to the new normal. “There seems little hope for revival before winter, but we have to take this on our chin and wait for the light at the end of the tunnel,” he says.

The same goes for the photographers, as Dembala adds, “Risk can never be eradicated completely, but we can do our utmost best to minimise it. For our photographers and cinematographers going for shoots, use of sanitisers, gloves and masks have been integrated. All our equipment used for the shoot is also being sanitised before and after shoots.”

PHOTO: ANI; FOR REPRESENTATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY

PHOTO: PTI Designer masks have also been in vogue recently ride and groom wear masks during their wedding