After Dream Wedding, Canadian Newlyweds Discover Deep Family Bonds During Pandemic
Chetna Bansal and Shane Singh have two marriage proposal stories. The first proposal, three years after they met on Tinder, was storybook scenic — a romantic bike ride along a rugged canyon in Singh’s home province of B.C. — but the second was more true to the couple’s “no-frills” approach to life: After putting their engagement on pause to take things slow, they agreed to get married over plates of homecooked Thai curry last May.
“We’re not into the frills because the frills don’t last,” Bansal told HuffPost Canada. She got candid about their love story in a HuffPost Canada short film before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, that documented the the realities on what it’s like to go shopping for an Indian wedding on a fleeting timeline. Watch the video above to see how Bansal and her parents fared during their search.
As many Indo-Canadian bride-to-bes know, weddings are marathons. Getting through them takes loads of prepwork, along with several show-stopping outfits that bear special significance during the multi-day wedding’s events. Even for those like Bansal, who was easygoing about the grand scheme for their Hindu celebration, a trip overseas is still needed to find the best options.
“I tried to plan out and make an itinerary for India and my mom wonderfully told me, ‘There is no such thing as an itinerary for India,’” she recalled, smiling.
And while the deadlines and stresses were “emotional,” the couple says everyone who attended last fall helped them celebrate the real reason weddings are special for many immigrant households; a chance for families to come together for the love shared by a couple.
Newlywed life isn’t so simple, thanks to the pandemic
Fast-forward to May and married life looks drastically different than the couple imagined. For one thing, Bansal feels lucky they sped-up their planning, since following the traditional Indian wedding route meant she would have held her wedding this month. A pandemic is...
