I invited 500 people to my wedding on 23rd August, during rampant corona virus pandemic. They all attended it without any masks on!!
Yep, but they all attended it ‘virtually’.
My wedding ceremony was planned on 25th of May 2020. We had to indefinitely postpone it, due to corona virus Lockdown.
The never ending Lockdown and interstate travel restrictions, made it impossible, to plan the wedding. Towards end of August as the restrictions started to ease, we planned it even though the cases did not decrease.
We decided to make it happen as safe as possible, in the most secure way. Here is what we done.
1. We struck the guest list off.
We did not invite everyone to the wedding! But we wanted everyone to participate ‘virtually’ so no one can contact corona virus by attending my wedding!
But first We arranged for a small venue
A temple with a hall next to it where lot of people don't walk around.
2. No catering services.
With no guests involved, we didnt have to arrange for food and hire services to serve which increases the possibility of transmission of virus. My friends asked me to go for swiggy coupons from safe restaurants. It was something worth exploring!
3. We did most of the tasks ourselves
My Dad and Mom arranged the backdrop for the stage (the stage curtain, our name boards, the sheet underneath). They got those on rent from Madurai. They washed it before bringing it. My sister did the mehendi for me. We arranged for a flower guy to buy all the garlands a day before and sanitized them. Like this we could cut off a lot of contact from outside.
My husband and my sis in law decorated their home themselves and even ironed his wedding attire. My mom in law and her friend took care of all the arrangements within a very short time by coordinating with the people involved and ensured the success of the ceremony.
4. We Sanitised the event before and after the wedding
We called a fumigation personnel who disinfected the entire temple and hall before and after the event.
5. We used Youtube live for the live telecast
I used a streaming software, called Streamlabs. I connected my youtube through Streamlabs and did a few mock sessions with my sister. When you started the live session, your viewers can view it with a 10 second lag at most. But if you click on the end button by mistake, the stream ends. That was the most stressful part. Made sure, there are no goofups and the link we sent to 100s of people actually worked.
We hired a photographer and videographer but we made sure they ensured social distancing. The makeup artist sanitised the area before keeping her things and also wore a mask through out the process.
We had a total of 10 people at our wedding venue and 570 people attended it ‘virtually’ live on YouTube. We had a google meet call with my relatives later in the afternoon. It really felt so good. It was a blast.
