Event planners and proprietors of marriage halls have recorded an increase in weddings in December compared to the ‘drought’ when the pandemic was at its peak. Many are of the opinion that couples, who had cancelled their weddings earlier this year, are now tying the knot in the presence of a limited number of guests.
While the season for Hindu weddings is drawing to a close in a few days, the number of Muslim and Christian weddings are seeing an increase. After a lull of several months, wedding planners say the tide turned for the better in October. However, the number of events being hosted is still a far cry from last year.
Savitha Shivaswamy, proprietor of Namma Event and Tavare, both event management companies, said that many families have embraced virtual events given the government’s cap on the number of attendees.
This has spawned a whole new business, one that caters to virtual guests. A video of a wedding feast neatly packed in hot boxes and delivered to homes of invitees who were not able to attend the event has been going viral on social media over the past few days. The door-delivered package came with banana leaves and an instruction manual on serving and placement of different items that were packed.
Event planners in the city said many clients are opting for such services, apart from seeking live streaming of events that has become the new normal.
Manisha Porwal Chouraria, founder of Color Palette Productions, said that clients are seeking delivery of customised gift packages, such as saris and clothes, sweet boxes and dry fruit baskets, to invitees. “We are also customising masks and distributing them to attendees,” she said.
Dawood Shariff of Servel Riyaz Caterers said, “Some clients have asked for food packets, apart from the catering for the event. Clients engage a separate service provider for the delivery of food packets that mostly contain Shaadi ki Biryani and an assortment of kebabs,” he said.
Anjali Ratnam from Rings and Roses, an event management company, said the delivery of food packets for invitees was an add-on service that some clients are opting for. “Everything on the main course menu, barring live counters, is specially packed. These are delivered to invitees across the city,” she said.
Wedding planners say that despite the increase in overheads, owing to arrangements to be made for sanitisation, having extra masks on hand, many clients ask for a “COVID-19 discount”.
Scaled-down weddings and virtual events seem to have come as a blessing in disguise for some families. A wedding planner remarked that many families were using this opportunity to have low-key weddings, cutting down on cost.
