Tying the knot during Covid-19

Sudip Khadka and Pooja Rana Magar met eight years ago at her family-run restaurant. A regular customer, Sudip befriended Pooja, and it blossomed into love.

The two decided to get married and made plans for the ceremony in April. However, the pandemic and lockdown put an end to their plans. But the two obviously could not wait any longer, and decided to take the plunge, pandemic or no pandemic.

Many couples across the world share similar stories of postponed weddings as many thought it best to cancel celebrations and hunker down at home with their loved ones to ride out the pandemic. But as the months have dragged into a year, with lockdowns lifted and reimposed, couple have decided that they might as well get on with it.

“We didn’t want to wait any longer,” Sudip said, as he spoke to us on the phone. “Things seem more unrestricted and normal these days.”

The ceremony on 1 December was attended by family members, masks were worn and physical separation maintained. The reception had about 60 close family members in a venue that could fit some 300 people.

“We wanted to be cautious and could not invite all our friends,” Sudip explained. “But the pandemic is not an excuse, so we met and celebrated with friends beforehand." Nepali weddings are always fun, no matter the circumstance,"Pooja adds.

Ultimately, the couple is happy with how their wedding turned out. “We sat around a fire and had a song and dance party during two nights in our houses, we had a great time,” Pooja said.

So, despite a second wave, and a relentless spread of the coronavirus in the community, Kathmandu Valley’s party palaces are brimming with wedding receptions. There are not the usual बाजा brass bands and the जन्ती bridegroom processions, but wedding ceremonies are in full swing across Nepal.

Most people seem to have finally gotten tired of holding their breaths and for the pandemic to go away. Indeed, while some people might still hope to wait it out, others have incorporated a new normal into the weddings. And they are not complaining because they save money by not having elaborate week-long celebrations.

Some Nepalis are even having Zoom weddings, following a worldwide trend. And others have begun to convene at socially distanced themed wedding celebrations. 

Just recently, a fairy-tale-themed wedding took the Internet by storm. A couple in Southern California were led to improvise their wedding to resemble the tale of Rapunzel when the bride tested positive for the coronavirus days before her wedding. So the couple took their vows, one looking up from the ground floor of the house, and one looking down from the first storey.

In Nepal, the lockdown that began after the second coronavirus case was discovered in March saw many wedding celebrations postponed or cancelled. But even as cases continue to rise by the day, the November-December season has seen a boom in weddings even when there were lesser dates this month.

Behind the scenes, wedding-related shops that had been stagnant earlier in the year have seen business rapidly pick up this month as they balanced health and safety with a profession that sees them be in contact with a large number of people.

Professional make-up artist Ashlesha Rana says that this has been her busiest month this year: “A lot of weddings that were supposed to happen during the lockdown have been postponed to this month. A lot of appointments were carried over to December, so I have been dealing with rescheduled bookings as well as current appointments.” On her busiest day she saw five customers in a single day.  

Although this is less than the number she usually gets, her days are hectic because the appointments are concentrated over a few days, coupled with a slimmed-down staff of only her and a hairdresser present during appointments for safety reasons.

Freelance photographer Utsav Adhikari, a 2nd year film school student, has shot four weddings this month so far, and has a front and centre view of the guests and the celebrations. “During one of my wedding shoots, I found out that three weddings were taking place at the same time in the same venue,” he says, adding that it was quite crowded.

“The bride and groom usually don’t wear masks because of the nature of the ceremony, so I think it’s most risky for the couple,” says Adhikari, who has seen most guests wear masks and maintain distance. Still, the safety precautions were largely ignored at parties.

Adhikari also notes that business has become more competitive due to the pandemic. “While people prefer scaled back celebrations over pomp and fanfare at present, hosting weddings at home instead of banquets and party palaces, they at least want a qualified and competent person taking the photographs,” says Adhikari, “So clients and potential clients have become more selective.”

Meanwhile, beautician Rana is not too worried about business during the next wedding season. She says, “The crowds may be smaller, but people still want to look good.”