"We did not want to change the date"
Due to the ongoing lockdown, an online Indian wedding took place. It is one of many weddings which have taken place despite the lockdown.
The wedding took place in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. While only a few members from each family attended the wedding, the ceremony was streamed online, attracting 600 guests on YouTube.
Veena Bhootra married Manin Shah. She explained that prior to the lockdown, both families decided that the wedding would be an extravagant one.
However, when the lockdown was implemented, they maintained that the wedding would still take place on May 14, 2020, but on a smaller scale.
Both families also suggested that the wedding should happen online so that other relatives and friends could witness the ceremony.
Veena said: “Our wedding date was set long before May 14. We did not want to change the date, so we decided to get married online.”
The bride went on to say that not all the rituals were done and changes had to be made, including the mehndi, photoshoot and shopping.
In total, seven family members physically attended the wedding.
Originally, 450 people had been invited, however, many of them lived abroad. Due to flight cancellations, they could not attend.
It was then decided that an online wedding should take place.
The wedding was filmed and streamed on YouTube and Zoom. The YouTube stream attracted 600 guests while there were 90 on Zoom.
Veena explained that her brothers-in-law Mitesh and Hetan Jain stepped in as her brothers for the ceremony as her brother could not attend.
During the ceremony, the bride and groom, as well as the guests, wore masks as a safety precaution.
As part of the changes made, photos of the newly married couple were taken on the roof terrace.
Veena prepared the henna herself and had a neighbour apply it for the mehndi. Meanwhile, family members applied mehndi to each other.
For the music, the family played the songs from a website instead of hiring musicians.
The bride said that preparations for the wedding had been going on for a long time, so many of the preparations had been made before the lockdown.
Veena’s online Indian wedding is one of several ceremonies which have taken place amid India’s lockdown.
Marrying couples and their limited number of guests have been taken precautions. From wearing facemasks to maintaining social distance.
Ceremonies are also more improvised, usually taking far less time than usual.
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