A Bohemian Socially-Distanced Indian Wedding

Oh dear readers do we have an absolutely beautiful socially distanced Indian wedding to share with you all today.

Adapted as a result of Covid-19, Harneet and Sim’s wedding took place in Harneet’s back garden in British Columbia in Canada, which was transformed into a breathtaking ceremony space that fused bohemian style and design with Indian tradition. Like so many couples who were planning their weddings for 2020, Harneet and Sim were forced to change their original wedding plans. Currently, British Columbia has a 50-person limit on gatherings. With a strong desire to still get married in 2020, they decided to break from Indian tradition and reduce their large guest list, which included hundreds of their family and friends, to 34 and plan an intimate socially distanced covid-19 safe wedding…

We knew we wanted to move forward with our lives in marriage, regardless of these challenges. However, it was important for us to plan a wedding that was safe, and was also a great experience for us and our families. While everyone was supportive of our wishes for a wedding this summer, it took some time to get people to feel comfortable breaking away from some traditions such as large indoor weddings and a week of festivities. Although we weren’t able to have all of our family and friends attend the ceremony, we got to share the experience with them through a live stream. Hundreds of our family and friends tuned in and watched our ceremony. Everyone was so pleased that they got to be a part of our day, wherever they were in the world.
Harneet and Sim

Being forced to change their wedding plans due to the pandemic has been heart breaking for so many couples. But, as the summer wedding season is coming to an end, small micro-weddings like Harneet and Sim’s are beginning to emerge and are reinvigorating the wonderful global wedding industry. They are a reminder to couples and suppliers alike that love is not cancelled and that their is so much beauty to be found in holding a smaller more personal wedding. Harneet and Sim are proof of that.

We love the decor colour palette of pastel pink and white which works so beautifully with the STUNNING attire of Harneet and Sim. Harneet’s dress is an absolute dream and we can’t stop looking at it. The detail on those individual pink and light blue flowers is just wonderful. She looks so beautiful and has us reminiscing of our time travelling India – a country that is so rich in culture, colour and beauty.

Look out for the low seating pods which are such a brilliant idea for ceremony seating. They are palettes that have been covered with white throws and cushions – so simple, so cost effective and so perfect for a laid back outdoor wedding.

Harneet and Sim share with us their beautiful day…

An Instant Connection…

When Sim and I met, we instantly connected and felt like we’d known each other our whole lives. We spent our first date talking about our shared love for travel; particularly Bali, where we both hoped to spend more time in the future. We realized that we’d grown up in the same neighbourhoods, attended the same high school, and numerous members of our families were friends. All these possible encounters, and it wasn’t until we both went online that we finally met. After our first date, we spent most of our days with each other. We spent a lot of time outdoors, eating sushi, or searching for the best chocolate dessert. It wasn’t long before we knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together.

Boho Style Summer Wedding…

When we first began planning our wedding, we wanted it to feel intimate, which isn’t always possible when you have huge families like we do. It had been a dream of mine to have a boho style summer wedding in my parents’ backyard, under a pergola adorned with fresh florals. I loved the idea of being able to watch my husband-to-be arrive at the house and walk down the aisle, and watch our guests be seating for the ceremony as they await my arrival. It was also a comforting thought that I could be married in my family home, where I have so many cherished memories. We pondered they idea of having the wedding in my parents’ backyard, but it didn’t seem possible to be able to have all our family and friends attend, so this wasn’t an option at the time. As we worked on planning our ceremony in the Gurudwara, Covid spread and introduced a lot of other challenges. We knew we wanted to move forward with our lives in marriage, regardless of these challenges. However, it was important for us to plan a wedding that was safe, and was also a great experience for us and our families. While everyone was supportive of our wishes for a wedding this summer, it took some time to get people to feel comfortable breaking away from some traditions such as large indoor weddings and a week of festivities. We ultimately planned the intimate, boho-garden wedding in my parents’ backyard that I’d always dreamed of! Although we weren’t able to have all of our family and friends attend the ceremony, we got to share the experience with them through a live stream. Hundreds of our family and friends tuned in and watched our ceremony. Everyone was so pleased that they got to be a part of our day, wherever they were in the world. We enjoyed every bit of our intimate wedding, and couldn’t have dreamed of anything more magical! Now we’re looking forward to our future move to Bali post-Covid

Planning A Covid-19 Safe Wedding…

Words by Amrit Photography

Under a sunny sky in their backyard, Harneet and Sim tied the knot with an intimate, socially-distanced wedding. Even though their big day was downgraded from a celebration with hundreds of their friends and family to a 34-person guest list, it was still absolutely breathtaking and the smaller ceremony ended up feeling even more personal and heartfelt. Harneet and Sim took health and safety precautions to minimize contact and prevent spread of the coronavirus. They had to reimagine their wedding and guest experience.

Currently, British Columbia has a 50-person limit on gatherings, but to ensure social distancing practices would be safely met, Harnet and Sim reduced their guest count to 34. Finesse Décor created family pods, in which only family members living in the same household were seated together. In addition to a reduced guest count, the couple also implemented safety precautions such as outdoor handwashing and sanitizing stations near the ceremony space and staffed food stations instead of a self-serve buffet. While COVID-19 may cause the cancellation of your planned wedding ceremony, this doesn’t mean that you need to cancel your wedding entirely. Harneet and Sim’s intimate backyard Sikh wedding is proof that the ceremony is just as special and meaningful whether in front of 50 or 500. If you want to start the beautiful journey of married life now rather than waiting another year, you can have a simple wedding ceremony in the time frame that you wanted and enjoy a larger celebration at a later date. The party can wait, and it’ll be just as amazing when it finally comes around.