The wedding Industry - and the affect of COVID-19
In India, wedding is one of the major events and is one of the most flourishing industry, unlike other businesses its unaffected by inflation and recession. People are drawn towards trending fashion brands, exquisite jewelry designs and exotic vacations. But with Covid-19 and new norms on number of people who can attend an event, weddings have suffered a blow, specially because most of us Indians always look forward to a family event, and marriage is biggest of them all.
The concept of destination wedding specially with new restrictions of limited head count
Destination wedding is a new concept which has recently gained popularity, earlier it was mainly a thing for rich, wealthy or Bollywood celebrities but now it has shown its potential for common people like us. Our parents and families tend to fix aside a budget for weddings in the family since the beginning of our childhood. Now during Covid restrictions, one might use the same budget for a quality wedding with limited quantity of people and can make it enjoyable and worthwhile for bride and groom, as well as family and friends, by carefully selecting a destination within reach.
Destination Wedding clubs Holiday and Celebration
It is an opportunity for holiday and event to be celebrated together with less pressure on everyone, as otherwise, most of the time hosts are just looking at arrangements making, multiple rounds of home and local shops, destination wedding can grant everyone a breather to enjoy the location and celebration together.
It certainly helps effective utilization of the holidays considering its hard for anyone to have separate leaves for vacations to attend a marriage or visit a place. How great it will be that - you can enjoy both in same holidays without worrying about work and planning?
Most of us dream our special day to be superlative and awesome. A destination wedding can be the real deal, it is an event which combines family, friends, dance, drama, fashion, and location to give your wedding a celebrity touch. And the side effect are lifetime memories, with less of hassle, less pressure of trying to please everyone or blowing budget out of proportion, with guest list full of just acquaintances, who come to dine and leave complaining about the food decor etc.
Avoid the inevitable Awkwardness
Let's admit, in wedding we see so many ppl we have actually never met or known before, we just get introduced on the spot like , "hey Beta ye rahul ki saas ki behen ki beti hain. Namaste karo,pair chuoo" . Well why, I never met this person ever before? what is she actually doing in our brother's wedding?
The above situation can be well avoided with a destination wedding where you have the right excuse of not inviting every other person you have came across in your lifetime, while the important people around you enjoy and remembers the incredible location and beautiful moments of quality time celebrations for times to come.
The challenges of Destination Wedding arrangement
However arranging a wedding outside your local realm has certain challenges which are inevitable. If you are planning for a dreamy wedding, just booking the place is not enough. Many other small but important things are required to be arranged on your own.
So you must perform your ground work, build some local contacts so that you don't end up paying extra, for small things like arrangements for ceremony, Holy services, catering, decoration and photography also be at the wedding destination a few day in advance with your family and go thur the list of all the items you might need during he ceremonies with local batch of executors.
Things to keep in mind while planning
I would suggest preparing as soon as the date is finalized and don't restrict yourself to one location, keep finding researching, and avoid unnecessary delays because of indecisiveness, delays can actually cause troubles and you may need to compromise with some place spending more, as the popular ones are already taken.
I am an advocate of offbeat places over popular places, like if you want to plan in mountains find an accessible village near railway station which has beautiful views and some nice lookouts as it will not be harsh on your pocket and guests will enjoy the vibes
Visit the locations few times before and develop local contacts or look for a location where you might have some contacts already, find local pandits, local photographers, local wedding flower arrangements by your own so that you can save tons of commission
Make list of all the ceremonies you want to perform and do a checklist of items, try carrying whatever is feasible and arrange rest from the local markets
Book whatever suits your budget but ensure the place follows covid guidelines and cleaning protocols for guests
Include some local cuisines in the menu and any traditions that are followed, for example, we used a trumpet for the entry for a grand look in palace for our sister's wedding
Include sanitizers and masks as welcome present along with goodies, place sanitization stations at every functions or ceremony.
Arrange local help for ironing clothes, barber services, pooja services, flower services, and taxi services for guest pick up and drop off. Keep a local doctor's contact handy, even keeping a local cook for daily arrangements of serving food to the guest can be much easier than booking a restaurant
Ensure everyone attending the wedding has been tested for Covid -19 if you want to ensure complete safety, as its important for everyone including the people joining, and that should be applicable for local resources involved in help too.