AHMEDABAD: Saurin Puranik (name changed to protect identity) and his family was set to hold a destination wedding in Udaipur.
However, with repeated change in guidelines and permitted guest list reduced from 400 to 50 people as per the guidelines issued by state government of Rajasthan, Patel and his family were left with no choice but to defer the ceremony.
“Invitations had already been sent to people. It’s as such a closed circle of family and loved ones and it didn’t seem appropriate to ask some to come and some others not to. We’re now thinking of organizing the wedding in the end of March as the Covid-19 situation eases,” said Puranik.
With a rapid spike in Covid-19 cases, even the Gujarat government recently reduced the cap on social gatherings from 400 persons earlier to 150 persons. Increased Covid-19 cases coupled with stringent guidelines has led many families to either defer or downsize wedding ceremonies.
Ahmedabad-based Trupti Patel, whose daughter was set to tie the knot on January 22 called off the elaborate wedding ceremony which was planned earlier. “A lot of friends and family members have arrived from the US for the wedding and reducing the number of people is just not possible. We decided to cancel the bookings and keep it an extremely low-key affair with both the families alone with the recent change in guidelines. My daughter is scheduled to leave for the US on January 30 so we’re just holding an intimate ceremony with family members.”
City hoteliers suggest that at least 80% of their wedding bookings have either been cancelled or downsized in the wake of changing guideline.
“At least 80% weddings have been cancelled across the industry and this is a big loss,” said Narendra Somani, president, Hotels and Restaurants’ Association (HRA), Gujarat.
Purva Patel, a city-based wedding planner said, “I was working on a couple of weddings planned in Udaipur and Jaipur for my clients. However, the groups have now decided to defer the occasion in the wake of surging cases. Hotels are offering to organize the events at a later date.”
