A Wedding Tale to Tide over This Corona Pandemic – Athira & Lal
“Finding him was the tough part. Postponing our celebration isn’t.” A bride shares her Corona-hit wedding tale…
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Planning our perfect wedding…
Our story begins way back in 2016 – from strangers to friends to best friends and now here we are – All set to get married! Yes, our Big Day was decided to be on 5th April 2020. We had a lot of time to plan our wedding. We waited for six months after our engagement as we wanted enough time to plan the wedding perfectly. Even though Lal and I wanted an intimate ceremony, our parents were insistent on a big fat wedding with a 1500 people guest list. We are both Software Engineers working for MNCs in Bangalore. So, we spent all our weekends preparing for D-Day. We went together and got our wedding invitation cards ready, purchased sarees, dresses etc. We even set our new house in Bangalore, Lal built a new house in his hometown and the list goes on….
When Corona struck!
We were about to book our honeymoon tickets and that is when COVID19 came into the picture. A close friend of ours advised us not to travel abroad, and that’s when reality began to set in. At the beginning of March, we returned to our hometown to prepare the rest. Around the 17th of March, we got to hear from people that the government will be imposing restrictions on the number of people attending the functions due to corona. That was the first red flag.
We were planning for a wedding of at least 1500 people. Our parents had already invited most of them. Our friends and colleagues had already booked tickets for our wedding. But on 24th March when PM declared lockdown in our Country for the next 21 days, we had to take a call. We decided to postpone the wedding we didn’t want a wedding in such a difficult time. We wanted everyone to enjoy our special moments and it seemed very irresponsible to have it now.
Technology will help weddings in the new world
We’re not sure when things will jump back to normalcy after the corona pandemic, but one thing we do know is that when we plan it this time, it will be different. Lal and I anyway wanted an intimate wedding, and with mounting travel restrictions, the guest list will automatically reduce. As an engineer couple, we also feel technology will become a big part of our wedding planning in the ‘new’ world we emerge in. From live streaming our wedding for guests who can’t make it to opting for e-invites, there’s a lot that can now be done online. We’re even thinking of doing a gift registry for our wedding to make it easier for guests.
On another note, this virus has given Earth a new life, it almost feels like it’s cured our environment. And that is something we need to respect in all aspects of our life, including weddings. In any case, we had banned single-use plastics from our wedding and had contacted an NGO for the donation of surplus food, but now all the more I feel we’ll be conscious of the environment when we plan our wedding.
Advice for other brides going through this:
Breathe. Take a moment. And remember you’re not alone in this uncharted territory.
Safety comes first.
Communicate with guests.
Use this little break as a bonus period to reflect upon all the wedding planning decisions you have made.
Everything happening is way beyond our control, so the only thing we can do is to stay indoors, indulge in some rest and recharge.
Use this opportunity to work-out at home, practice your beauty and diet regimes.
Byline: Athira Gopidas
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