Banquet halls in Noida get bookings as weddings resume

Noida: Sector 77 resident Prathamesh Singh was to get married at a banquet hall in Noida’s Sector 62 on May 21 this year

Noida: Sector 77 resident Prathamesh Singh was to get married at a banquet hall in Noida’s Sector 62 on May 21 this year. However, with the second wave of Covid-19 striking the country in April, he had to postpone his wedding.

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Now, Singh is planning to get with 50 of his close family members at a banquet hall in Sector 71 on June 28.

“We have been hearing about the possibility of a third wave of the coronavirus disease and are uncertain how long relaxations will continue. Now that some restrictions have eased, we thought of using this window of opportunity to get married in a small ceremony,” he said.

Like Singh, many couples had postponed their weddings which were scheduled in April-May this year owing to the spike in Covid-19 cases. Now, with young and old alike getting vaccinated against the virus, families are opting to go ahead with earlier plans.

“My wedding was scheduled for May 13 but we had to postpone it because of the restrictions. At the time, only our grandparents had been inoculated. Now, while the grandparents on both sides are fully vaccinated, our immediate family, including uncles and aunts and cousins as well have got their first dose. Though we are aware that vaccination does not ensure full safety from the virus, we feel the risk is lower,” said Vibha Joshi, a resident of Sector 19, Noida.

With new cases going down and restrictions getting relaxed, banquet hall owners say bookings have started coming in.

“At least 20 weddings were supposed to be held at our banquet hall in the last two months. However, all of them were postponed. Now, we have again started getting at least one query a day and have been booked for three weddings, which are going to take place in the last week of June and the first week of July,” said Shashank Gupta, who runs Rajdhani Party Hall in Sector 104.

According to Gurnam Sethi, owner of a banquet hall in Sector 51, most bookings are at very short notice.

“Generally bookings for weddings are done months in advance but these days, we have been getting queries asking if the banquet hall is available in the next two-three days itself. Since we have been out of business for the last two months, we are happy to take such bookings as well,” he said.

However, with the night curfew still in place – from 9pm till 7 am everyday – weddings have to be wrapped up by 8pm.

“We have got around four bookings for weddings and all of them are day weddings, as we have to shut down the hall latest by 8.30pm because of the night curfew,” said Vikas Kasana, who owns a banquet hall in Greater Noida.

To control the surge of Covid-19 cases that started this year in April, the Uttar Pradesh government had issued tight restrictions, including on weddings, besides imposing night curfew, which spoiled the wedding plans of many. The restrictions were eased in Gautam Budh Nagar on June 7 after the number of active cases fell below 600, but night restrictions are still in place.

On May 19, revised guidelines from the state government restricted wedding ceremonies to 25 people. Now, as per the latest guidelines issued on June 19, weddings can be held with a maximum of 50 people in a closed or open space. All Covid protocols, precautions and social distancing need to be followed and organisers will be solely responsible for any violation.