The way ahead for big fat Indian weddings

The Covid-19 pandemic has put a stop to celebrations that are otherwise full of grandeur

While it is known that Covid-19 has taken a massive toll on numerous industries, of them, one of the most affected remains the wedding industry. This is true, not just for the country but around the world. Now, as restrictions are slowly being lifted, wedding planners and photographers across the city have come to terms with the fact that the big fat Indian wedding has turned into intimate affairs.

“Since the pandemic hit us in the midst of a busy season, we were able to practice few of the precautionary measures,” recounts Vikram Mehta founder of Mpire Events, an organisation that manages luxury weddings and events. Mehta lists precautionary measures like “temperature control for all guest arrivals, procured details of their past travel, daily sanitization of the property and rooms, filling of forms for all guests with details of illness, if any, masks and gloves at the hospitality desk and at every event,” as the only way ahead.

As for wedding photographers, these past few months have been uneventful, just like any other industry. “We have lost a few months of business but the real challenge is going to be adapting to the new normal. We have to create some new trends and look at evolving our business model to grow and thrive,” confesses Sonia Dembla, director of Camera Crew. Dembla adds that “There is roughly an 85% decline in weddings as most of the couples are opting for postponing the wedding to when the situation gets better.”

The same goes for the photographers, as Dembala adds, “Risk can never be eradicated completely, but we can do our utmost best to minimize it. For our photographers and cinematographers going for shoots, use of sanitizers, gloves and masks have been integrated. All our equipment used for the shoot is also being