Anu & Manikantha’s ‘New Normal’ Wedding with a Gift Registry!
“After having said ‘no’ to each other in an arranged marriage, we fell in love”
Anu & Manikantha
Anu and Manikantha started their new journey in the ‘New Normal’ style. While planning an intimate wedding amidst the pandemic, a cousin recommended Wedding Wishlist to them. Incorporating their wedding with technology was one of the best decisions. They had their close family attend physically and everyone else joined them online. As for the gifts, the wedding gift registry was their answer!
“The concept of an online audience was thrilling and we were happy that our extended family could be a part of our big day.”, says the couple.
The couple shares their story and how they planned their intimate wedding with a wedding gift registry.
The Love Story!
Anu and Mani knew each other for almost 7 years before they got together. They met when his family moved into her neighborhood. “When we first met, he was super shy and barely even looked at me. In fact, my relationship with his mom and sister was much closer, while he was just an acquaintance who I followed on social media,” says Anu, as she reminisces about their initial meeting. “He moved away from work and whatever I really knew about his life was through his mother or his Facebook page.”
While the couple never really got close, Anu became a part of his family dynamic and a year ago received a call from his mom, wanting to know if she’d marry her son! “She asked both of us this question and we both declined immediately. Little did we know that there was a spark waiting to be ignited.” They met again on his sister’s engagement and ended up spending a lot of time together. One night, slouched on a couch and discussing life, they realized they were falling in love.
Planning during COVID
Wedding planning was simple and fast for this couple as they were both back in Hyderabad and working from home. They had a September wedding, and the Government had eased most restrictions by then. “Initially, we wanted a small home engagement and a bigger wedding next year when life resumed normalcy. However, our parents weren’t keen to wait that long and so we planned an intimate ceremony then only.”
“A cousin recommended Wedding Wishlist and it made our life so easy!”
A Virtual Wedding
The couple opted to have a majority of their guests attend the celebration online and had a seamless experience doing the same. “It was a really great experience for us. The team walked us through invitation samples and website designs and even helped us create the final website. There were many features like RSVP and live stream that made it easy for guests to use this service, and we got very positive feedback from everyone.”
The Gift Registry
Since a lot of the couple’s guests could not attend the wedding, they chose to do a gift registry. This made it very easy for guests across the world to get the couple a gift that they would love. “We mostly added gift cards to our gift registry so we could have the flexibility to choose what we wanted later. We got everything delivered to us on time and we were very happy with the service.”
The ‘New Normal’ in Weddings
“We were a little sad that our wedding wasn’t the colorful, peppy Indian wedding that we had dreamed of, but we still had our fun. I really enjoyed each moment, we had the attention of everyone there and we were all talking to each other. I feel this trend will stay for a long time as it’s cost-effective and definitely serves the purpose. Since a wedding is a one-time affair, we might get back to a big fat Indian wedding once things get normal.
Advice for other couples
“My only advice is to ignore the current sad scenario, follow safety precautions, and enjoy each and every moment. In the end, the wedding is not about pomp and show but two families getting together. So have fun and create memories.”
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