As the coronavirus pandemic gatecrashes the big fat Indian weddings, soon to be wedded couples are being compelled to reschedule their wedding dates. But with restricted number of auspicious wedding dates aka ‘saaya’ dates in the year 2020, picking a new date has left couples with no other option, but to choose a ‘non-auspicious’ date. Experts reveal that the year-end heavy saaya dates are mostly fully booked in advance, hence others have no other choice this year.
Tina Sethi, an IT professional who was getting married in April, says, “ The original date for our wedding was a shubh vivah muhurat. But now as we are trying to postpone the date, I don’t want to again get into the hassle of getting married on a ‘heavy saya’ date as wedding vendors can’t be changed because we had paid them in advance. So, we will just pick a date available to them and go ahead.” She also adds, “Thankfully, our venue and photographer gave us a credit note instead of charging the cancellation amount.”
Some vendors as well as couples fear that postponing may lead to additional expenditure and added pressure to again to figure out the wedding preparation logistics. “November-December dates are already booked but new customers coming to us with fresh dates. We are asking them to opt for a day wedding like 12pm-5pm, so that the night wedding could go as planned. Couples now have no choice but to go for non-saaya wedding dates as we have promised venues to our previous clients” says, Ridhima Arora from a luxury wedding venue.
“When this crisis will get over, couples would want to get married as soon as possible irrespective of the auspicious or non-auspicious date. The turnaround time for planning will reduce. They might think of reducing the number of guests and altering other expenses. A lot of wedding vendors I know have agreed to adjust the booking amount and advances that have been taken from the clients,” says, Kaveri Vij, a wedding planner.
Pratishtha Sahil Arora, a makeup artist feels that brides are still weighing the date options, and states, “I haven’t received fresh dates from brides yet but some say they’re waiting to confirm the new saaya dates whereas some are willing to get married on any available date. I have previously seen brides getting married during Shraadh which is considered as an inauspicious time but venues are a lot cheaper and helps in cost saving. Saaya and non-saaya dates is just something fed to our minds and at the end of the day and it’s about how you feel about the other person.”
