Forty-odd years ago, weddings weren't the circus that they eventually turned out to be. Money was limited and extremely dear, events focussed and to the point, a guest list comprised close relatives of both parties and an entire village. Yes, such was the norm—if there is a celebration such as a wedding—the whole village was invited and no kitchens were to run on that special day.
The local tent house ensured that with limited resources—mostly flowers, canopy and dancing lights— the wedding home turned into the brightest attraction around. Food was cooked in the backyard or the courtyard by an army of men (called Maharaj or Bhats) who were trained to cook especially for big celebrations and the wedding trousseau may not have been 'designer' but ensured that the bride and groom looked their most adorable self amidst the gathering.
Getting a picture with the bride and groom was a great deal, the wedding shoot was a one-man affair who knew his job to the dot, and hence, the job of holding upright, the best and colourful bedsheet as a backdrop for images, was assigned to the most responsible children at hand.
The final pictures may not have made their way to Twitter, Instagram or Facebook but they still tuck neatly in photo albums for generations to admire.
As villagers turned to towners and eventually city-people, money grew more, so did the pressure to look the best, dress better than the rest and slowly, the charm of experiencing the coming together of two people and probably the only big event in a year turned into a pompous, big circus.
But after almost four decades, due to the pandemic, many found their way back to the charm of age-old traditional wedding style to cherish their big day. No pointlessly expensive wedding invites, opulent function halls or hotels, designer outfits, made-up bride saga—brides are back to adorning the nine-yard of precious silk, guestlist is short and precise and the focus has shifted to wedding bells from wedding bills.
Recently, on June 4, actor Yami Gautam married director Aditya Dhar in an intimate wedding in their hometown. Yami was much appreciated for her simple and raw wedding looks and the decision to keep it low-key, away from the hustle-bustle of the city. While Yami hails from Himachal Pradesh and was brought up in Chandigarh, Aditya is a Kashmiri Pandit settled in Delhi. The location of their wedding was a quaint, mountain setup with deodars in the backdrop.
On June 5, another TV actor Mayur Mehta tied the knot with social media influencer Purnima Rawat in a court marriage with close-knit functions held at home.
In 2020, almost around a year ago, Digital Marketer Chaitali Puri tied the knot with Nitin Arora at her home wearing her mom's saree and jewellery. While she missed her actually-planned big fat wedding a bit, at the end of her lockdown wedding, she realized how fulfilling the event had been.
Sharing her experience on the social media page, she had written:
Never did I ever imagine to get married in my own house with 10 people, wearing my mom's saree & jewellery, with my friends/family watching my wedding at their homes on video calls.
It made me realise how over the years we've associated weddings with fun, dances, food, alcohol, clothes & jewellery rather than cherishing the smaller things in life. It took a pandemic to make me realise that spending my life with my best friend, who I've been dating for years, is what I actually wanted.
There are so many people that I know whose weddings were cancelled or postponed due to covid-19, but God had some other plans for us. I am so happy we got married the way we did, with people closest to us."
