Band members during a wedding function. Express photo by Jaipal Singh
With the coronavirus set to stay for the foreseeable future, wedding planners are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the coronavirus does not crash the party. From finalising wedding themes on Zoom meetings, to thermally screening guests at the venue entry, to welcoming them with special wedding theme style printed masks with a 50 ML sanitizer bottle are all part of the packages offered by wedding planners.
“Due to the pandemic, to minimise personal contact, the concepts of the wedding are now discussed on Zoom meetings with the clients. The vendors for decoration, catering, DJ, lighting, etc come online on Zoom application, where the client finalises the concept initially as per their requirement. After finalising the concept, a team wearing PPE kits visit the client, to confirm the final order to be taken,” said Bobby Bhardwaj, Director of Pearl The Organisers.
At present only 50 guests are permitted to attend weddings, which includes relatives from both sides, the DJ, the catering staff and its manager. To allow families to invite more people, planners ensure that decorations are completed two days before the event and the DJ is also set up a day ago.
Weddings are now conducted with only one DJ, five serving staff members, and one singer on karaoke if the client wants. The event management team gets the entire venue disinfected, and the guests are screened through a thermal scanner, added Bhardwaj.
“Masks given to the guests at the entry are based on the wedding theme colour, with a logo of bride’s and groom’s name,” said Bhardwaj.
“We managed a wedding function at a hotel in Kurukshetra (Haryana) on May 24, where the expected guests were 50, but less than 25 arrived. The event was a short one, under guidelines of WHO and the government,” said Dharambir Chaudhary of the Red Tag Events and Wedding Planners.
“Since we have been dealing with wedding planning and catering work too, the guests at entry were given small hand sanitizer bottles and masks. The staff in the kitchen was made to wear masks and allowed to work only after a thermal scan while the waiters serving at the tables were dressed with PPE kits,” he added.
“To our future clients we are proposing usage of mud made utensils which can be used once and thrown, or using the old times banana leaves for eating. Though it looks odd, but it is the new normal, and our clients want it in the package,” he further added.
Nitin Vij, of Espousal Planners, said that the coronavirus cannot stop people from celebrating their special occasions.
“Masks at weddings are the new jewels, and intimate weddings are the current trend, for which now packages are designed for clients suitably. The changes are made as per demands of the client, matching with theme of event,” said Vij.
Giving details of their 50 persons package, Varun Kumar Verma of The Perfect Beginning wedding planning firm said, “In our Rs 2.29 lakh wedding package, we offer all the regular services, apart from food for 50 people, e-invites, thermal screening of guests, a UV hand sanitisation station, 50 bottles of hand sanitizers of 50 ml each, and 50 N-95 masks.”
“Even if the event participant restriction is increased to more than 50 in the coming days, we will continue proposing the Covid-19 precaution package to our clients till the virus threat ends,” added Verma.
Vimal Roy Bhola of Rudra Events and Wedding Planners, who also deals in holding destination weddings, said that they are waiting for the government to announce new guidelines to allow for restrictions for the number of participants in wedding to be lifted.
“At present we have confirmed destination wedding bookings for November and December in Thailand, and we had a wedding for March at Vietnam, but due to Covid-19 outbreak the event was moved to a luxury hotel in Jaipur. Thus, before finalising packages for destination weddings, we are waiting for the new government norms,” said Bhola.
“For weddings in India, we are proposing to set up of sanitizer tunnels and other unique hygiene methods at venues, but only if the client accepts and is ready to pay for it,” added Bhola. The wedding planner further said that at least 50 products are offered to the client, and demanded the package is made.
On the other hand, marriage bands have also restricted their attendance of band men from 30 to only nine.
“Earlier our 30-50 band men used to go to wedding functions. Now we have restricted it to 9-11 maximum. Our band team has been trained now to keep a minimum three-foot feet distance from each other and wear masks when not playing the band,” said Sanjay Sihaan, owner of Krishna Bands in Chandigarh.
The musical instruments and their uniforms are sanitized every time they leave for the event, he added.
Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, hundreds of big fat weddings have been cancelled or postponed since March onwards, causing loss to resorts, banquet hall owners, and the wedding planners, but many are evolving with time
and coming up with unique ways to keep their businesses running.