Sundowner weddings galore: Are celebs the inspo for Delhiites?

A typical #DilliWaliShaadi would have the bride and groom posing for photos all night, entertaining their relatives, and staying awake for pheras and rituals. But that’s no longer the case, as recent wedding ceremonies of Bollywood celebs including Athiya Shetty-KL Rahul and more recently, Kiara Advani-Sidharth Malhotra have ignited a craze for sundowner weddings.

The motive? Aesthetic, love-dovey pics with sunset in the backdrop!

“Seeing the weddings of Alia-Ranbir and Anushka-Virat, I knew I needed those sunsets shots,” says Siya Hardi, a 26-year-old Noida-based engineer, who got married last month. She says sunset wedding was on her mind since long, and then came the Sid-Kiara marriage as the final seal on her decision to go ahead. “I even wore a saree like Alia’s for my wedding… Raat ke muhurat mein nobody really sticks around, so the afternoon or evening shots made for a glorious wedding album that I will cherish forever. These are in trend for a reason, right? Ek hi baar shaadi karni hai, toh achhi photos toh honi hi chahiye.”

Asserting the recently found love for sun-kissed pictures, Delhi-based wedding photographer Ayush Agarwal says this trend has its roots in the recent Bollywood weddings that have created quite a frenzy by going viral on social media. “Bollywood deeply influences wedding trends. Be it a small, intimate ceremony or a grand, lavish one. Everyone wants to go viral for their decor and their dresses. The couples now give us, photographers, mood boards. And then we also need a certain amount of engagement on our photography pages, so we go along with these ideas,” says Agarwal. Adding to this, Devrat Chawla, owner of a wedding planning company in Connaught Place, says, “The craze of daytime wedding has returned as a fad, and almost every other couple today wants the minimalist look, but with lots of glamour.”

The intent is also to go viral on social media. “The couples want their marriages to be at par with Bollywood weddings, but nobody can say what will go viral. If the content is good, the video will get views organically,” opines Agarwal, adding, “At a low-key wedding, we shot this one video that gained some four million views. In this, the bride’s father was giving her advice on kya karna chahiye shaadi ke baad. Ek aur bride ki fancy bachelorette reel viral hui jismein her friends were drinking and enjoying; it was a lavish pre-wedding shoot. Sabko novelty factor chahiye, kuch naya karna hai.”

For couples getting married in the era of sundowner weddings, it’s also about emulating their favourite actors on their special day. Be it a large-scale wedding or a small, intimate one, the trend seems to be equally strong and catching up. “My wife made sure that my safa is exactly like what Vicky Kaushal wore at his wedding,” shares Kartik Kaushal, a 28-year-old Gurugram-based entrepreneur, adding, “All the elements of our wedding were inspired by the recent Bollywood weddings. Like our jaimalas were same as the ones that Athiya Shetty and KL Rahul had at their wedding recently.”

Kaushal’s bride, Kanchan Parashar, a 26-year-old entrepreneur adds, “I did look at all the latest Bollywood weddings and picked my favourites bits from them. We got the Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani’s namaste photos clicked. My bridal entry was like that of Priyanka Chopra’s, from her Christian wedding with a bouquet of flowers. And all the photos are sun-kissed just like Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor’s wedding! We even made sure that the guests stay away from the stage so that our photographers could click us without anyone crowding us. Thus our whole wedding film has bright, sunlit shots now.”

Author tweets @KritiKambiri

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