DIET WEDDINGS IN COVID TIMES
The pandemic has put the big fat Indian wedding industry on a drastic diet
Sambit Dattachaudhuri, 30, and Disha Kapkoti, 28, are not ones to be defeated by a pandemic. Despite Covid-19, the couple are busy checking items on their 2020 to-do list. The homestay they had planned to open in Uttarakhand’s Nathuakhan recently welcomed its first guests, but, more significantly, Dattachaudhuri and Kapkoti were able to get married in Kapkoti’s Haldwani home on July 1. “My parents live in Kolkata, so they could attend the ceremony only virtually. None of my friends were there, but I was represented by the two dogs we adopted,” laughs Dattachaudhuri. The number of guests on Zoom far outnumbered the 25 relatives physically present. The neighbourhood caterer was hired and the plates used were all disposable. “We followed due protocol,” says Dattachaudhuri.
For India’s wedding market—once valued at $50 billion by auditing firm KPMG—impromptu “Zoom weddings” such as those of Dattachaudhuri only compound the losses the pandemic has forced it to incur. Ankit Singh, a Bengaluru-based wedding photographer, has barely found work since India started locking down in March, but, of late, he has heard that some colleagues are shooting again. “Some of these weddings happen in large halls. The 50-odd people attending are wearing masks, being civil, but in smaller living rooms, uncles aged 65-70 have been seen distributing and eating laddoos.”
The new norms of social distancing have not shaken the adamance of other incautious families, too. Ekta Sharma, a wedding planner who runs the company Krafted Knots, says, “We do still get enquiries for destination weddings in the winter. They want 400-500 guests and we have to keep telling them that this can’t happen. People are far more optimistic than we are.”
Having been in the trade for 11 years, Sharma admits she was once convinced of her industry’s endurance. “Be it demonetisation or the slowdown, nothing affected it. I never thought we would see a lean season, but that, of course, changed,” she says. In Indore, wedding planner Ankit Makwana is not used to sitting idle. He has handled the almost impossible logistics of 3,500 guests at a reception, but now, Makwana says, he busies himself with “homework”. “Since most of our clients have moved their dates, we’re looking for new destinations. We have found 20,” he says. Though hopeful, Makwana does worry about his Milaap Weddings. “Business has come down to zero.”
Speaking on the phone from Mumbai, matchmaker Sanjay Kirtania says, “The big fat Indian wedding is now a big size zero wedding.” During the pandemic, popular culture suddenly made matchmaking an unlikely subject of several dinner conversations, but none of that publicity has yet translated to profit for Kirtania. “From 400 matches a year, we have come down to 200 in 2020, but that said, people now have more time. They are at home. Their children are in front of them, so they’re feeling a psychological pressure, and as a result, they’re chasing us.” While Kirtania’s
all-Marwari clientele are happy to meet potential matches digitally, not all of them are willing to commit just yet. “With all the pomp gone, the only thing left in our weddings are the rituals. Not everyone wants that.”
Ankita Sengupta, 29, was meant to marry her partner on December 19, but the Chennai-based journalist believes a wedding only succeeds when it exceeds its rituals. “We wanted our family to come from all corners of the country and have fun. If this occasion can’t bring families together, there’s no point going around the fire a few times and calling it a wedding. We have postponed ours indefinitely.”
Worn on the ramp by the likes of Deepika Padukone and Kangana Ranaut, designer Anju Modi’s bridal couture is a thing of extravagance. Speaking from Delhi, Modi says she is used to dressing 300-400 brides a year, but ever since the pandemic struck, she has designed outfits for only 15. “They have chosen garments that are not so heavily embroidered. Too glittery an outfit would not be suitable for a group of only a hundred people.” Modi, for her part, feels this trend will continue for at least another year. “There is a realisation that stress-free weddings are more emotionally satisfying,” she says. “Look at me. I have cut down my production strength by 80 per cent, and now quality is surpassing quantity.”
According to photographer Ankit Singh, Covid will leave a lasting impression on the wedding industry. Practicality, he feels, will replace opulence: “Rather than judging you for being thrifty, society will now give you brownie points for it.” Having seen her brother marry his partner in a Guwahati living room on August 7, Abhilasha Bharali, 27, says her family is delighted: “So much money was saved! Even if I think emotionally, I feel this is how weddings should be— small, intimate, attended by those who care for you. If I get married, this is the wedding I want!”