11 Tips On How To Host A Wedding During Lockdown

Bhavdeep Kaur, a #CoronaBride, shares 11 unique tips on how to host a wedding in unprecedented times, keeping the government's directives in check.

In the first week of May 2020, the Indian government issued an order stating marriages in India could take place, with no more than 50 people present. On May 17, 2020, Bhavdeep Kaur and Harkaran Singh Vaid tied the knot in an intimate ceremony, following the government's directives, maintaining social distancing, and getting creative with every detail—decor, makeup, and even the bride’s lehenga! For#BTDigital#1001Ideas, Bhavdeep shares 11 unique tips on how to host a wedding in unprecedented times—and making it a truly memorable celebration.

“Our wedding date got fixed on April 19, and the final date was decided for May 17—right in the middle of the lockdown,” shares newly-wed Bhavdeep Kaur, a fashion designer who tied the knot with Harkaran Singh Vaid, a Councillor with the Municipal Corporation in Ludhiana, this month.

“My first concern was my outfit and how I’d make it, since my team wasn’t working. So, I thought of exploring designers who’d have ready-to-wear lehengas, because I barely had 28 days to get it all together… But I couldn’t find anything that truly defined me and my personality,” she recalls. After five days of searching, she decided to make her outfit herself, under her label Youngberry. “I started sketching it and thought I’d go for a basic red anarkali with literally no embroidery, and pair it with heavy jewellery and a fully-embroidered dupatta. With much difficulty we found a tracing paper and I began the process,” says the 27-year-old. “Since Covid-19 was playing a major role in everyone’s life, I thought I’d depict the situation on my lehenga so that it would relate to the current scenario—that we were all locked in and nature was reviving itself.”

Having improvised from the get-go—right from their wedding clothes to the décor, food, and music—the couple and their families hosted a wedding that would truly be memorable forever. If you, too, decide to tie the knot in times of social distancing, here are 11 tips that will ensure your wedding is within the Indian government's directive, while also being truly special and memorable.

1. IMPROVISE WITH THE OUTFITS’ DESIGN

“ I wore two dupattas on the day of the wedding, in order to make the outfit look more bridal. One dupatta—that was fully-embroidered—went over my shoulder, and the other one—with lighter embroidery—was be placed on my head,” she reveals.

Kaur also took inspiration from her husband’s hobby of photographing historical architecture, and embroidered large mansions on her lehenga in which she placed both of them, locked-in, dressed up, and wearing their masks. “And outside the mansion, I showed nature coming back to life and reviving itself. I depicted birds flying freely, clear skies, clean lakes with ducks, trees in full bloom, peacocks sitting on locked gates, elephants on roads, deer, and more.”

2. WORK WITH AVAILABLE RECOURSES

Once the sketch was ready, she decided to use fabric that was already there at her studio, which would also be ideal for summer. “I didn’t want to use silk since the weather was too hot. Plus, we already had pure georgette, net, and organza at the studio, so that’s what we used.”

The material was sent to the dyer’s house through a delivery boy. “He was too sweet in agreeing to work from home, and dyed my fabric in his kitchen. This was then sent to my embroidery karigars, who started working on the trace with available resources,” she says. Each karigar worked maintaining the social distancing norms, even though they live together. “They kept sending me pictures to keep me in loop, and I loved how it was coming out.”

3. HOST SMALLER FUNCTIONS

Since wedding venues aren’t available right now, the couple chose to host their functions in their own homes. While the haldi ceremony was held at the groom’s house, the mehendi was at the bride’s home, both in Ludhiana. And the main wedding function was at the Sarabha Nagar Gurudwara, where social distancing was carefully practiced. At all these ceremonies, only their close friends and families were present.

4. DIGITALLY INCLUDE EXTENDED FAMILY AND FRIENDS

“I always wanted an intimate wedding, with only my immediate family and close friends. But when I realised that getting married during lockdown means an even shorter guest list, I wasn’t very happy about it,” Kaur states. Luckily, the Internet came to the rescue! “We came up with the idea of having zoom calls and letting our family join in on YouTube Live. We interacted with them throughout all the functions. Everyone was dressed up, and had even prepared dance performances and speeches that were delivered virtually. It made us feel like they were actually with us,” she shares. They divided the guests occasion-wise, so that the list for each function had a different set of people.

“For the haldi we used our iPad to zoom call family and friends. For the mehendi, we had a huge screen (10x15 feet) set up by a local DJ, that was attached to my laptop. And for the wedding we streamed the ceremony on YouTube Live for everyone to watch.”

5. TRY DIY DECOR

“We didn’t have any décor on our wedding day since the ceremony was held in the Gurudwara. For the mehendi, we added a lot of DIY details and re-used a lot of pretty things already lying at home,” she explains. For instance, the backdrop during the haldi was created using the groom’s mother’s Phulkari and parandis, his sister hung her own kaliras (from two years ago) on the trees, and their nieces and nephews created signboards using watercolours and fresh flowers from the garden.

Similarly, at the mehendi, the bride’s mother decorated with fabric, garment racks, and props from the fashion studio. And cushions in brocade and velvet were stitched with the existing material.

6. ENSURE SOCIAL DISTANCING

During the Anand Karaj at the Gurudwara, they placed plastic mats at a 6 feet distance from each other inside the wedding hall. At the entrance, a sanitising foot wash was placed, and each guest was asked to wear foot covers on entering the wedding space. “We had also placed masks and bottles of sanitiser on a table for everyone to use,” she states.

7. INVOLVE YOUR FAMILY

From doing up the house to preparing the food, request the members of your family to contribute with something that they’re good at and will be able to handle. “For the mehendi, friends and family brought puddings, cakes, fruit cream, and other dishes prepared at home. And during the haldi, the food was cooked by my husband’s staff,” she informs.

In fact, her brother even turned DJ at the mehendi—by connecting his phone to a large speaker. And the groom and his sister applied mehendi to her hands—“He drew a landscape representing the place he would like to take me to once the situation improves,” she shares.

8. KEEP YOUR MAKE-UP SIMPLE

“I did my own makeup for the haldi ceremony,” says Kaur, “but for the mehendi and wedding, I had a makeup artist. We both made sure we were home-quarantined for about two weeks before the wedding, and she took all the safety measures while applying it—she wore a mask, gloves, and kept sanitising,” Kaur explains. “I didn’t really plan my make-up according to each look…I just went with what I felt would look nice.”

9. COORDINATE YOUR MASK TO YOUR OUTFIT

As the bride, your entire outfit should be special, and that includes your face mask. Use the extra fabric from your lehenga to stitch the mask, and duplicate the embellishment onto it. If the embroidery is too heavy on the skirt, use a smaller version of the motif on it.

10. DECORATE THE FACE MASKS

To brighten up the mood (and get great photographs!), Kaur embellished all the bridesmaids’ masks with kundan, pearls, and sequins. “I picked up blue surgical masks already lying at home, and hand stuck small stones onto them. Thankfully, all my friends had blue lehengas, which they coordinated for the wedding,” she explains.

11. WORK WITH YOUR BUDGET

“Reuse, recycle, and come up with DIY ideas—it will be such a different and memorable wedding to cherish later,” says the young bride. “Plus, it promotes the concept of simple weddings. Let’s not burden our families and instead, use this as an opportunity to change the ‘big fat Indian wedding’ trend.”

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