Pandemic slims the big fat Indian wedding

COVID-19 social distancing rules prompt boom in pared down online marriages

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Chaitali Puri, center, and her groom Nitin Arora, left, at their scaled-back wedding in New Delhi on May 2. The couple celebrated the day with only 15 guests, instead of the planned 400. (Courtesy of Chaitali Puri and Nitin Arora)

NEETA LAL, Contributing writer

NEW DELHI -- Chaitali Puri, 26, and her groom Nitin Arora, 27, a New Delhi-based digital marketing couple, had always dreamed of making their wedding unique. And it was. Just not in the way they had envisaged it.

Instead of 400 guests assembling at a plush resort for two days of cocktail parties and a 10-page menu, the couple tied the knot over the video conferencing app Zoom. Their May 2 wedding, fixed according to the Hindu astrological calendar, fell during India's national shutdown to halt the spread of COVID-19.

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