Shubh mangal with thhodi saavdhaani

‘Uninviting’ guests, changing menus from dinner to lunch, revising décor plans, trimming down number of functions – planning a wedding just got a little trickier for Amdavadis, to-be grooms, brides and organisers tell Shruti Paniker and Asik Banerjee

‘Uninviting’ guests, changing menus from dinner to lunch, revising décor plans, trimming down number of functions – planning a wedding just got a little trickier for Amdavadis, to-be grooms, brides and organisers tell Shruti Paniker and Asik Banerjee

If the concept of ‘big, fat, Indian wedding’ could be explained by example, all one needed to do is experience a Gujarati lagan. The rogue virus already sent major wedding plans for a toss – fewer muhurat dates in this season didn’t help either – and then came government’s dilly-dallying over restrictions, curfews and more recently, the number of guests reduced to 100. Organisers and soon-to-be-married individuals tell Mirror how the situation has escalated their stress and anxiety levels, even more than usual.

KRISHMA MEHTA, 27
CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT
FIANCÉ: Arthav Gajjar, 28, Deputy Manager, Axis Bank
WEDDING: Nov 30
MAJOR CHANGES: No refunds, dividing guests over two functions

MY WEDDING IS NOV 30, with the Ganesh sthapna function a day earlier. On Nov 3, the government gave permission for 200 guests and we went ahead and planned accordingly – from booking banquet hall to distributing invites. With only a week to go, the government has thrown us a curve. The banquet is refusing to refund the deposit or accept that there’ll be fewer number of guaranteed guests now. Invites have been sent out, too, how do we ‘uninvite’ them? Moreover, police permission is another hassle, with each police station having its own set of rules. We the guest list right now, calling and asking details including their age, since we have to submit this information to the police. In the next few days, what if the government says we can only have 50 guests? We are petrified at the thought. As of now, we have divided the guests over the two functions. Hopefully, relations manage ho jaayenge.

KRUNAL SONI, 29
OWNS A TRAVEL COMPANY
FIANCÉE: Shipra Shrimal, 27, Marketing head of family’s jewellery showroom
WEDDING: Dec 7, morning
MAJOR CHANGES: Pruning the guest list, changing décor, food, artistes for the pre-wedding functions

TO BE HONEST, our wedding is fraught with full-on Bollywood drama. Right now, I am down with corona, stuck in a room, revising and undoing and redoing all our work. I was insistent on having my stag party and went with seven friends to Udaipur 15 days ago, and that is where 4-5 of us contracted the virus. So, yes, it is pretty stressful right now. I am also stressing over the two functions – mehendi on Nov 5 and sangeet on Nov 6, both in the evening. Now, we have to revise everything from décor to food with change in time. I am turning out to be the groomzilla, while Shipra is calm. She told me we will work with whatever we have and within restrictions. So, we may have guests spread across 3 functions, provided we are able to manage the two pre-wedding dos.

JINAL SHAH, 27

WORKS AT AN MNC
FIANCÉ: Nirav Thakkar, 30, works at an MNC
INITIAL WEDDING DATE AND TIME: Nov 30, 6pm
NOW: Nov 30, 2.30pm
MAJOR CHANGES: Cancellation of two of five functions, number of guests came down from 850 to 400 to 200 and now 100, venue shifted from party plot to home backyard

Ours was to be a grand one, complete with 850 guests and five functions. But from five functions (mehendi, Ganesh sthapna, sangeet, marriage and reception), we are down to three, choosing to cancel sangeet and reception. Thankfully, reducing the number of guests wasn’t too difficult for us because people do understand that we can only have 100 invitees and we’d prefer to have close family and friends. To have a party plot for 100 guests seemed strange, and so we shifted the ceremony to our bungalow’s backyard. I am yet to finalise on the décor since the venue has changed and so will the decoration now. It should be ready by Thursday evening and should be something that’ll work for all three functions. Earlier, the food was to be served 7 pm onwards but now, we have to wrap it all up by 8.15 pm. Then again, there is no point serving food before 6.30 pm either, right? Our families have gone into panic mode, but the two of us are happy as long as our wedding is on, considering it took us time to convince my family to say yes. So, we are definitely calmer than them.


KIRTAN CHAUHAN, 31

ENTREPRENEUR
FIANCÉE: Reena Chavda, 29, HR professional
INITIAL WEDDING DATE AND TIME: Dec 1, 9.30pm
NOW: Dec 2, 10.30am
MAJOR CHANGES: Dinner changed to lunch

It is of course a little chaotic, now that we have changed the dates of our engagement (Nov 30 to Dec 1) and wedding (Dec 1 to Dec 2). We had a trim guest list anyway as both my parents are diabetics, and we didn’t want to take a chance. Now, we may only have 15 or so close family members from each side. We are holding the wedding on the terrace of my house in Ghatlodia. Obviously, the relatives are shocked, but better safe than sorry, right?

The major change was in the menu, since earlier my muhurat was at 9.30 pm and now it is in the morning. So, our dinner is now a luncheon. We had cheese kofta, subzi, soups and live counters for dinner. We have scrapped that but haven’t decided on the new menu yet.

DEEVANGANA GOYAL, 27

CONSULTANT FOR NGOS AND CSR FOUNDATIONS
FIANCÉ: Sunny Bhatia, 28, Real estate agent
INITIAL WEDDING DATE AND TIME:Dec 7, 6-7 pm
NOW: Dec 7, before 6 pm
WEDDING: MAJOR CHANGES: Dinner to hi-tea, wedding shifted from Udaipur to Ahmedabad after lockdown was announced

Our wedding muhurat is between 6 pm to 7 pm, followed by a relaxed dinner. But now, we will have to rush through and ensure that pheras are done by 6 pm. Dinner has been changed to hi-tea snacks and our guests will get free by 8pm-8.30 pm, in keeping with the night curfew timings.

It was a little stressful and upsetting initially, since our wedding was supposed to be held in Udaipur in December, but we chose to change venue due to the pandemic and lockdown. As for the guest list, we played it safe and had a slim list of 100 guests only. I have a younger brother, and I told my parents they can have a big, fat, wedding for him, but my fiancé being the youngest in his family, they wanted it to be a grand affair. But we are not taking any chance since we do not want to ruin our beautiful experience.

JAY PARIKH, 33

OWNER, EVENT MGMT COMPANY
FIANCÉE: Aashka Raval, 32, HR Manager at ADC Bank
WEDDING: Nov 30, noon

MAJOR CHANGES: Mehendi function and baithak have been cancelled There are a lot of question marks right now. The number of guests was increased from 100 to 200 and then back to 100 now. ‘Uninviting’ people has been tough, I’ve asked my friends to come minus their spouses and children. When we had booked the banquet at the hotel on Ashram Road threefour months ago, we thought everything would have be subsided by now. But it has only gotten more chaotic. Aashka is also perturbed by the goings-on, and we are as confused as we are scared.

Our baithak has been cancelled, so has the mehendi function at her place. I think our wedding would end by 4pm, and I’ve a client whose nuptials follow mine. So, we have decided on sharing the wedding décor, since changing everything is time-consuming. We had planned to jet off to Goa on December 2, and we are not sure how it will all work out.