Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown, our lives have turned upside down. However, Vignesh KM and Anjali Ranjith - a couple hailing from Kerala - had been planning their wedding for over a year and decided to go ahead with the scheduled date. The young couple currently in Pune carried out an eye-catching wedding with more than a hundred guests across the world joining the bash over video conferencing app Zoom.
The wedding ceremony was held in the groom's residence with the assistance of his roommates, one of whom acted as the representative of the couple's family and performed the rituals with them. The young couple got their creative juices flowing and designed an imaginative yet special invitation card for the virtual wedding, carrying a Zoom ID and password to log into the celebration.
"Luckily everything went well. A stable internet and technology enabled our family and friends from all around the globe to join the virtual marriage. It was an entirely different experience but a really memorable one." said Vignesh.
The young couple got their creative juices flowing and designed an imaginative yet special invitation card for the virtual wedding, carrying a Zoom ID and password to log into the celebration.
The couple followed all the traditions and rituals and pulled off the wedding ceremony. The groom, wearing a white shirt with a traditional "white dhoti" and the bride is seen wearing nine yards of white saree with a blue and golden border, exchanged festoon, and a bunch of flowers as the wedding song Mangalyam from the Tamil film Alaipayuthe played in the background.
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Vignesh and Anjali hailing from Kerala were supposed to travel back to their homes for their wedding ceremony but couldn't due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"During the initial days of lockdown we had the hopes of being able to get home at least by the first week of May. But as the days went by, we started to realize +that we won't be able to go, but still, we did not want to postpone the wedding," said Anjali.
The parents of the bride and groom attended the virtual wedding from Kerala, sent mangalsutra (an auspicious thread tied by the groom around the bride's neck), and wedding attire for the couple via speed post when the lockdown restrictions relaxed in Kerala. The couple expressed gratitude and appreciated the Indian Post for the on-time delivery amid the lockdown.
"During the initial days of lockdown we had the hopes of being able to get home at least by the first week of May. But as the days went by, we started to realize +that we won't be able to go, but still, we did not want to postpone the wedding."
The nationwide lockdown due to the contagious COVID-19 pandemic has forced people across the nation to postpone their weddings. According to reports, India's marriage industry is estimated to be worth around $40-$50 billion with more than 10 million weddings annually, according to advisory firm KPMG. The coronavirus scare has hit the wedding industry due to the pandemic those involved in the planning and execution of weddings experiencing huge losses. Many destination weddings have been called off and there is a considerable decrease in international bookings.
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Ritu Yadav is an intern with SheThePeople.TV