Wedding in two hours: couples, families frustrated; virtual celebrations catching on

PUNE For Shailesh Kshirsagar, new guidelines issued by the state government yesterday about strict restrictions on wedding ceremonies, are a matter of concern

PUNE For Shailesh Kshirsagar, new guidelines issued by the state government yesterday about strict restrictions on wedding ceremonies, are a matter of concern.

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“Our wedding is scheduled for April 28 and as per the earlier guidelines, we were going to invite only 25 persons from both the sides. Now, it is stated that only two hours will be given for rituals. It is not possible to conduct an entire wedding in two hours. The government should rethink this decision,” said Kshirsagar.

As per the latest Covid norms declared on Wednesday by the state government, the wedding must end in two hours.

Manmeet Kaur’s daughter’s wedding is scheduled for next week. “We have invited only 20 persons from both the families and the wedding is going to happen in a private hall near our house in Kondhwa. It was to be a day-long event where all the safety precautions were to be taken. Limiting the time to two hours is not correct, as weddings cannot happen in a couple of hours.”

Meanwhile, a new trend of inviting guests online is emerging. Families send a YouTube link on social media to their friends and relatives, and on the day of the wedding the link is activated and people can attend the wedding ceremony virtually.

One such wedding, of Swagata Kadgaonkar, is scheduled on April 24 in Pune. Sucheta Kadgaonkar, Swagata’s sister, said, “As we cannot invite more than 25 people for the wedding, we decided to make it a virtually a grand event. An online video and streaming team have been contracted and they have already created a link on YoTube for the wedding day. We sent it to all our relatives, friends and guests and all of them are excited to attend the wedding virtually. From morning till evening, all the rituals will be streamed ‘live’ and people can watch it on YouTube.”