Gaps between wedding functions are important, very important! After all, who doesn’t like a few hours to recover and recuperate before heading to the next big event? Think about it, we have all been invited to a destination wedding with multiple events, and it can be mighty exhausting. For instance, if it is a two-day destination wedding, it starts with a welcome lunch, followed by a sundowner mehendi and then a sangeet at night. That’s three outfit changes in one day! The next day, the pre-wedding rituals take place after which the actual wedding ceremony happens, often followed by a reception at night. So, by the third day, when it is time to check out of the hotel, not only the guests, but the couple and their families are absolutely exhausted! When we capture happy faces at the wedding functions, we know that the couple, their families and the guests are relaxed and happy; gaps between functions tend to cause this positive reaction!

As wedding photographers, we have covered multiple weddings where there have been back-to-back events. While this is certainly keeping in style with a big fat Indian wedding, it can be rather hectic for everyone. And honestly, we feel it is the hardest for the bride. Every bride will want to wear a new outfit for every function, so that means she is spending hours before every function just to get ready. For instance, if there is a mehendi in the afternoon and a sangeet at night, the bride will start getting ready in the morning for the mehendi after which she will probably have to leave the function early to start getting ready for the sangeet. And, if there is a morning wedding, she probably has to leave the sangeet early so she can get her beauty sleep and not wake up with dark circles and a puffy face! And then, the whole process of hair and makeup starts again. For the bride, back-to-back events are definitely exhausting – she might need a holiday after her wedding just to relax! We reckon, mini-moons came into being because the bride was just too tired to leave for her honeymoon the next day!

And of course, it is just as hectic for the groom and the families of the bride and groom. The parents of the couple want to be the first ones at the venue to meet and greet their guests, and that means they need to be at it, constantly. While the groom doesn’t have to stress about hair and makeup, because it certainly won’t take him as long as the bride to get ready, he also cannot fully enjoy himself because he has to get ready for the next event! While the guests have to do the least amount of work, they’re the ones who are meant to have the most fun. But, if the guests are just rushing back to get ready and head to the next event, then it isn’t too much fun for anyone. Plus, back-to-back events can get rather tiring and in some cases, people don’t even make it to the last event – in most cases, that means many guests are missing from the wedding function itself!

In our opinion, after speaking to multiple couples as well as the families of the couple, we recommend spacing out the events. So, if you’ve got a mehendi in the morning, have the sangeet at night so that people have the whole afternoon to relax, recover and probably enjoy a little afternoon siesta. If you’re short on time, why not combine two functions? Have a sundowner mehendi that goes into the sangeet once the sun sets. Similarly, have a morning wedding followed by a lunch that acts as the reception. Lesser planning, definitely fewer outfit changes and a whole lot more fun, wouldn’t you agree?