Covid, Masked weddings & Wedding Industry

 By Ms.M.N.Viveka

The Covid 19 has brought a new normal where it altered the age old saying “If it isn’t a fat wedding, it isn’t an Indian wedding”. Indian wedding industry was a prey to Covid. The pandemic of course took a toll on the usual customs and rituals of a marriage. The large gatherings of the family members, making feasts, the extravaganza an Indian wedding was all lost due to the lock down.

It was also a blessing in disguise, with the restrictions on the number of guests for the wedding; Budgets are reduced, one could cut the cost of otherwise throwing a lavish party at big marriage halls & other related aspects to satisfy the societal expectations.

The other phase is that people who never thought of their wedding in another three to four years are actually getting hitched at the earliest, only because they wanted to save their holidays & money. On the other side people who actually wanted to get married and show case their wealth by spending much on the wedding were postponing their dates for the relaxation in the government norms.

The sympathetic part is that the new normal weddings have hit businesses like wedding planners, photography, caterers, bridal & groom outfit & accessories, bridal makeover, the wedding hall & room bookings, travel bookings etc., which were making stupendous money in the past ten years.

Keeping all the above facts in mind, let us stream into the other aligned business ‘Matchmaking’ Sites. The analysis says the revenue in Matchmaking segment will reach $1873mn globally and about $611mn will be generated in India. This data gives us a clear idea that user penetration in this segment will spike in the coming years. How was this increase in user base possible? The answer is AI. Like any other industry AI is disrupting this industry as well by giving ideas and suggestions from profile recommendations to relationships.

How to overlook the parallel industry – casual dating apps!! The launch & usage of dating apps in the past decade has powered the implementation of AI in such applications. So now, how to bridge the gap between traditional matchmaking sites and the new age dating apps?!

That is how few start-ups are breaking the age old practice of circulating profiles with the known groups and rigid matchmaking sites by using AI powered match making applications. These applications pair like-minded people by conducting compatibility tests with the help of algorithms.

So is this new format due to Corona?! Definitely no!! This drift was in fact before Covid days but the pandemic fueled the pace by increasing user base and let AI do its job. But will these applications have an edge over the traditional matchmaking sites are to be waited and watched. The users of match making sites look for a long term relationship whereas dating applications and sites allow its users to explore love life which may or may not end in marriage. The online dating industry is here to stay, it would be fascinating to wait and see what is upcoming.

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