Long live tradition: Hyderabadis opt for simple weddings, say event planners

HYDERABAD:  It is not just the clothes, rituals and ceremonies, brides and grooms in the city want a back-to-basics traditional, old-school wedding decor too. Right from the nadaswarams, the fragrance of camphor, marigold garlands to meals served on banana leaves, they want their big day to reek of rustic elegance.

According to wedding planners, gone are the days of flamboyant and tacky theme weddings such as a glamorous ‘Bollywood’ or ‘Shimmer and Bling’. Hyderabadis want to keep it simple, intimate and traditional.

Samuel Ebenezer Pillai, the owner of Wedding Stories, has been working on traditional theme weddings for quite some time now. “Every client wants to go traditional, they want an old Telugu style wedding. They want coconut leaves, coconut/banana matting, marigold and rose flowers. Even the use of ragi and brass items such as gangalam, bindelu and deepanthalu for the Mangalasananam and Pellikuthuru rituals have increased,” he says.

Vamshi Ganagona, another wedding planner from the city, has been organising eco-friendly weddings, in which he ends up using the most traditional items in the decor. “The preference here is given to colours such as white, green and yellow, as these are eco-friendly. I do not use plastic at all in my decor and fibre has become outdated.

In the olden days, people used to tie coconut leaves and hang them outside their houses. Today, our clients want this,” he says. Tradition is making its way back into weddings. For example, clients want to hand-pound turmeric for the haldi ceremony, and they want pure organic turmeric, Vamshi says.

Kenny Salvadi, a Christian wedding planner, says most of his clients prefer vintage themes. “Just before this lockdown, we got an order for a bridal shower and they wanted a village theme. Most of them either want a vintage theme or an old, classic foreign look. In such projects, we need minimal décor to make the church look classy. The colours used are mostly peach and off-white. When it comes to the reception, they want it Nawabi.”