The wedding saga in a pandemic

A panel discussion conducted by 1524 Delhi recently brought some wedding planners together who shared their  perspectives on how this segment is likely to unfold and what innovative practices hotels could adopt to attract more weddings. Most agree that when they eventually do, weddings will be back with a bang!

Vandana Mohan, Founder, Wedding Design Company & Backstage Productions

Destination weddings will take a backseat this year and the segment will eventually see a V-shaped recovery. Indians are resilient and are risk-takers, and I’m sure that when the demand returns, it will be back with a flood. What hotels must look at is to conduct virtual tours for planners and list down specifications that are available for them to use during an event.

Sushil Shamlal Wadhwa, Founder & CMD, Platinum World Group

Hotels stand to gain in the first wave, but the wedding planner may not have a big role to play. It may not be a viable proposition for us to put in that much effort for 50 people and not make that sort of revenue. So, hotels might be the bigger gainer. We will need to gear up with adequate resources and team members to be ready to handle the V-shaped recovery. I think we will see the real upswing from October 2021.

Dinaz Noria, Founder, 3D – Design & Décor by Dina

In South India where I live, everything happens according to the muhuratam. We have already started getting inquiries for weddings in August and October, which are the two key months for weddings. Due to the restrictions here, a lot of these families are asking to do it outside India. But the big question is how and where. Charter flights are one option, but sanitisation is a question and so is hotel safety.

Mahesh Shirodkar, Managing Director, Tamarind Global

There are weddings in November and December, but the window of finalisation is going to be crunched. What could happen also is that wedding ceremonies might take place in India but couples may look at short-haul destinations in Southeast Asia and Middle East for post-wedding events. Flexibility in contracts and shortage of time in terms of confirmation from hotels is going to be the order of the day.

Karan Singh, Chairman & Co-Founder 1524 Delhi

Encouraged by feedback from some of India’s leading wedding planners, we are optimistic that the Indian wedding industry will experience a V-shaped recovery post COVID-19. Ultra-wealthy clients will continue to favour destination weddings. In the early part of the upcoming wedding season, we expect the demand to be largely for short-haul
destinations requiring no more than one flight.

An industry voice

Rajeev Jain, Director, Rashi Entertainment

Technology is a great value addition, but it can never substitute the real thing. A Zoom call versus taking a selfie with Alia Bhatt, which one would you choose? Of course, it is happening now, but these are substitutes. Don’t worry, keep the faith – the real thing will be back, albeit with safety measures in place.