<p>Under lockdown and far apart, Sushen Dang and Keerti Narang went online to say their marriage vows -- and pulled off a spectacular Indian wedding complete with thousands of guests and raucous Bollywood dancing.</p>.<p>In a country famous for lavish weddings that last for days, the young couple are among a growing number modifying their marriage ceremonies under a virus lockdown that has limited public gatherings.</p>.<p><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/coronavirus-in-india-live-updates-total-cases-deaths-covid-19-tracker-worldometer-update-lockdown-30-latest-news-832551.html" target="_blank"><strong>Follow live developments on the coronavirus pandemic here</strong></a></p>.<p>Eager to go ahead with the arranged marriage on the auspicious date selected for them by a priest, the pair turned to the internet to tie the knot.</p>.<p>"We never imagined that even our online wedding would be so grand," Dang, a 26-year-old data analyst who is based in Toronto, told AFP of the April 19 event.</p>.<p>"A hundred guests joined in our celebration on the app. We live-streamed the ceremony on Facebook which was watched by another 16,000 people."</p>.<p><strong><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/coronavirus-live-news-covid-19-latest-updates.html" target="_blank">CORONAVIRUS SPECIAL COVERAGE ONLY ON DH</a></strong></p>.<p>The nuptials spanned the country.</p>.<p>Dang, decked out in a turban and traditional sherwani kurta, logged on from Mumbai on the coast of the Arabian Sea, while Narang -- in her red bridal finery -- joined from Bareilly in northern Uttar Pradesh state that borders Nepal.</p>.<p>The priest overseeing proceedings chanted hymns as he sat before a ritual fire at his home in Raipur in the central state of Chhattisgarh, with guests logging in from Delhi, Gurgaon and the southern tech hub of Bangalore.</p>.<p>There were minor hiccups -- some elderly family members were accidentally unmuted and pets photo-bombed screens.</p>.<p>But the energy levels remained high and the occasion was capped off with a fun Bollywood-style dance performance by their cousins.</p>.<p>The wedding video posted on Facebook has so far garnered nearly 260,000 views, making the newly-weds "feel like celebrities".</p>.<p>The spread of the coronavirus and the nationwide lockdown took place as India's wedding season was in full swing.</p>.<p>In western Rajasthan state alone some 23,000 weddings meant to coincide with the Hindu Akshaya Tritiya festival on April 26 were called off due to the pandemic.</p>.<p>More than 10 million weddings are held annually in the nation of 1.3 billion people, with the marriage industry estimated to be worth some $40-$50 billion, according to advisory firm KPMG.</p>.<p>The sector -- like the rest of the economy -- is reeling from the impact of the virus, with planners, caterers and decorators among those who have incurred huge losses.</p>.<p>"We thought, 'Why don't we be the flag-bearers and drive weddings online?'," said Adhish Zaveri, marketing director at matrimonial website Shaadi.com which facilitated Dang and Narang's wedding.</p>.<p>"A wedding is probably the most important day of somebody's life ... and we thought we have to make it as special and close to a real wedding as possible," he told AFP.</p>.<p>Online nuptials are among a string of weddings in India that have gone ahead amid the lockdown -- with some unusual variations.</p>.<p>One couple in Uttar Pradesh said "I do" inside a police station after more conventional venues like banquet halls, hotels and temples were all ordered closed during the lockdown.</p>.<p>And in Madhya Pradesh in central India, a bride and groom, their faces covered by masks, exchanged garlands -- a key ritual in a Hindu wedding -- with the help of bamboo sticks in a no-contact ceremony.</p>.<p>Zaveri said the significantly cheaper online ceremonies could become an option for couples amid the uncertainty about how long the pandemic is going to last.</p>.<p>Couples are charged less than 100,000 rupees ($1,300) for the virtual services, Zaveri said, adding 12 more such weddings were in the pipeline.</p>.<p>To give the online ceremonies a professional touch, make-up artists and sari-draping experts are hired to help the bride, while a folk singer is engaged to serenade the guests.</p>.<p>All participants are sent logins and passwords so that strangers can't gatecrash the event.</p>.<p>Kirti Agrawal -- who married her beau Avinash Singh Bagri on April 14 on the balcony of their relative's flat as friends and family watched on a videoconferencing app -- said the digital approach appealed to her.</p>.<p>"Their (groom's) family had planned a guest list of 8,000 to 10,000," Agrawal told AFP.</p>.<p>"I didn't say that I am not a fan of big, fat weddings. But when I heard about the wedding-from-home idea, I was very happy."</p>
<p>Under lockdown and far apart, Sushen Dang and Keerti Narang went online to say their marriage vows -- and pulled off a spectacular Indian wedding complete with thousands of guests and raucous Bollywood dancing.</p>.<p>In a country famous for lavish weddings that last for days, the young couple are among a growing number modifying their marriage ceremonies under a virus lockdown that has limited public gatherings.</p>.<p><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/coronavirus-in-india-live-updates-total-cases-deaths-covid-19-tracker-worldometer-update-lockdown-30-latest-news-832551.html" target="_blank"><strong>Follow live developments on the coronavirus pandemic here</strong></a></p>.<p>Eager to go ahead with the arranged marriage on the auspicious date selected for them by a priest, the pair turned to the internet to tie the knot.</p>.<p>"We never imagined that even our online wedding would be so grand," Dang, a 26-year-old data analyst who is based in Toronto, told AFP of the April 19 event.</p>.<p>"A hundred guests joined in our celebration on the app. We live-streamed the ceremony on Facebook which was watched by another 16,000 people."</p>.<p><strong><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/coronavirus-live-news-covid-19-latest-updates.html" target="_blank">CORONAVIRUS SPECIAL COVERAGE ONLY ON DH</a></strong></p>.<p>The nuptials spanned the country.</p>.<p>Dang, decked out in a turban and traditional sherwani kurta, logged on from Mumbai on the coast of the Arabian Sea, while Narang -- in her red bridal finery -- joined from Bareilly in northern Uttar Pradesh state that borders Nepal.</p>.<p>The priest overseeing proceedings chanted hymns as he sat before a ritual fire at his home in Raipur in the central state of Chhattisgarh, with guests logging in from Delhi, Gurgaon and the southern tech hub of Bangalore.</p>.<p>There were minor hiccups -- some elderly family members were accidentally unmuted and pets photo-bombed screens.</p>.<p>But the energy levels remained high and the occasion was capped off with a fun Bollywood-style dance performance by their cousins.</p>.<p>The wedding video posted on Facebook has so far garnered nearly 260,000 views, making the newly-weds "feel like celebrities".</p>.<p>The spread of the coronavirus and the nationwide lockdown took place as India's wedding season was in full swing.</p>.<p>In western Rajasthan state alone some 23,000 weddings meant to coincide with the Hindu Akshaya Tritiya festival on April 26 were called off due to the pandemic.</p>.<p>More than 10 million weddings are held annually in the nation of 1.3 billion people, with the marriage industry estimated to be worth some $40-$50 billion, according to advisory firm KPMG.</p>.<p>The sector -- like the rest of the economy -- is reeling from the impact of the virus, with planners, caterers and decorators among those who have incurred huge losses.</p>.<p>"We thought, 'Why don't we be the flag-bearers and drive weddings online?'," said Adhish Zaveri, marketing director at matrimonial website Shaadi.com which facilitated Dang and Narang's wedding.</p>.<p>"A wedding is probably the most important day of somebody's life ... and we thought we have to make it as special and close to a real wedding as possible," he told AFP.</p>.<p>Online nuptials are among a string of weddings in India that have gone ahead amid the lockdown -- with some unusual variations.</p>.<p>One couple in Uttar Pradesh said "I do" inside a police station after more conventional venues like banquet halls, hotels and temples were all ordered closed during the lockdown.</p>.<p>And in Madhya Pradesh in central India, a bride and groom, their faces covered by masks, exchanged garlands -- a key ritual in a Hindu wedding -- with the help of bamboo sticks in a no-contact ceremony.</p>.<p>Zaveri said the significantly cheaper online ceremonies could become an option for couples amid the uncertainty about how long the pandemic is going to last.</p>.<p>Couples are charged less than 100,000 rupees ($1,300) for the virtual services, Zaveri said, adding 12 more such weddings were in the pipeline.</p>.<p>To give the online ceremonies a professional touch, make-up artists and sari-draping experts are hired to help the bride, while a folk singer is engaged to serenade the guests.</p>.<p>All participants are sent logins and passwords so that strangers can't gatecrash the event.</p>.<p>Kirti Agrawal -- who married her beau Avinash Singh Bagri on April 14 on the balcony of their relative's flat as friends and family watched on a videoconferencing app -- said the digital approach appealed to her.</p>.<p>"Their (groom's) family had planned a guest list of 8,000 to 10,000," Agrawal told AFP.</p>.<p>"I didn't say that I am not a fan of big, fat weddings. But when I heard about the wedding-from-home idea, I was very happy."</p>