I Attended My Brother's Wedding On A WhatsApp Video Call And Here Is What I Learned From It

If things had gone according to plan, right now I would have been a scenic village in Idukki, Kerala, very close to the famed hill station Munnar.I had planned a vacation, months in advance to attend the wedding of my younger brother.?

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The entire family scattered around in some big cities around the country too had made their plans for the wedding and all the tickets were booked.?

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But then came COVID-19 outbreak and everyone went into a panic mode, despite the fact that my hometown had not reported a single case then.This was followed by the nationwide lockdown which meant that nobody is going to make it home for the wedding.?

I had booked my tickets for the 14th of April, which incidentally was the day when the original lockdown was supposed to end. But I had a feeling that it is going to take a while before the lockdown is lifted.?

Since they were convinced that they are not going to make it, my elder brother and his family cancelled their tickets, but I decided to play wait and watch, also giving them a hope that we will be there for the wedding.?

In the meantime, there was another major problem - the wedding itself. The family was divided over whether to go ahead with the event or to postpone it. While some were in favor of holding the ceremony, others wanted it to be different by a few months. I was of the first group.

UNSPLASH

So we let the groom and bride take a call on it, and naturally, they were perplexed. On one hand, they wanted all their loved ones, family and friends to be with them for their big day, they too realized that if the wedding is postponed nobody knows when it will happen.?

For days I talked to my brother and his fiancé to convince them to go ahead with the ceremony.?

At one point I even said: Just think about this. You will have an unbelievable story to tell your grand kids. How you got married during a pandemic.After a lot of convincing both of them agreed to get married in a private ceremony.?

Due to the lockdown restrictions, it was informed from the Church that they will hold the ceremony even with four people the groom, the bride and two witnesses. And that is how the engagement was done.?

UNSPLASH

By this time a lot had changed when it came to COVID-19 in Kerala. My hometown had recorded 10 COVID-19 cases and all of them had recovered. The situation in Kerala too was improving and the state had more patients recovered than the number of active cases.?

And after the lockdown relaxations were announced, Idukki which had no active cases was listed under the green zone, which meant that almost all restrictions were removed.But there was strict social distancing and the number of people who could gather at events like weddings was capped at 20.?

During one of the several conversations that I had with my brother, I jokingly suggested that we will attend the wedding via WhatsApp and then it sparked. This is something that can be done.?

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So, last week I took one hour off from my work from home to attend my brother's wedding on WhatsApp.My sister made a group video call from inside the church and we joined from Delhi, while my elder brother and his family joined from Bengaluru to attend the wedding.?

Here are my takeaways:?

Don't trust the internet connection.?

Well, if you haven't figured out that by this time trying to organize group meetings on hangout, zoom, or house party your WHF is pretty dry. No matter how good your connection is someone will have a terrible one and it can mess up the entire thing.?

Obviously, this happened to us too. The call would randomly freeze, disconnect or will have muffled audio.?

So close, yet so far?

It was a strange feeling, to say the least. While you know that you are being a part of it, not being physically present there made it felt weird.?

?You will see disappointed faces?

In my case, it was my two nieces. If there was someone more excited about the wedding than the groom and the bride it was them. For months they have been looking forward to the day when they will get to meet everyone after a long time. When that did not happen, they were disappointed, naturally. And I could read it on their faces.?

Is it possible to attend a wedding without being physically present??

It is very much possible. All you have to do is that you have to let go of that strange feeling of not being there and imagine yourself being physically there. Remember, these are strange times and stranger actions are needed.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?