Parisam

The glorious 80’s.The era that saw Walkman, the impact of Cinema, and the invention of the VCR!! VCR back in those days was this magic device that could record and play events of our lives, could bring movies to tv screens, and could capture beautiful memories, such as weddings. And weddings back in the 1980s were nothing like what the weddings we see now are. Neither did wedding hashtags, Instagram or social media exist. What were these weddings all about!? How did they manage to arrange a Wedding without a wedding planner? How did each bride look so beautiful without any concealer or makeup? As so many questions pop up in our minds, let us time travel back to the 1980s.

Weddings back in the 80’s was a week long affair. Wedding preparations started months in advance. Parents, uncles, and aunts would sit together in the evenings to plan the wedding over cups and cups of chai. Responsibilities of getting the catering, flower decorations, shamiana arrangements would get distributed among the elders of the families. And cousins and siblings of the family would take up other responsibilities like packing gifts, welcoming the guests, and would get small gifts and a pat on their shoulders for doing it right. The wedding arrangements were not opulent in any way. But they had a soul, an emotion attached to them. Every element of the decoration was curated by the family, with love and concern.

 The Idea of having a destination wedding never existed back in those times. Few families would organize it in wedding halls, few in temples, and few would set huge shamianas in front of their house, and within no time would make it look like a wedding venue, with bright light velvet backdrops and fresh roses. Every function had its charm and importance. While the elders made sure all the ceremonies happened in peace. The youngsters made sure to get dressed and have their share of fun.



Each wedding ceremony had its décor elements, color scheme, and no family deviated from this. And Each ceremony was related to a particular colour and had its own significance. Haldi or Nalangu ceremony was all about yellows, and the main wedding was all about reds, the venue was decked up in whites, oranges and green, and Pinks to add the final touch. Houses were filled with love and laughter, and precious moments a camera couldn't capture.

The 80s wedding was a blast of colors, purple shamianas, bright yellow welcome lights, white and yellow flowers, fresh green plantain trees and mango leaves, paneer Roja garlands, red and silver wedding chairs, and oh! How can we forget the red contessa! The hero of the wedding. Be it north Indian Baraat or South Indian mappillai Azhaippu( welcoming the groom) weddings never began without this bright red car that majestically stood on the wedding premises. 

Fresh native flowers were the highlight of 80s weddings. Freshly wound jasmines, damask roses, and chrysanthemum or saamandhi would be sourced from local markets to decorate the venue. Most families preferred to deck up the hall with saamandhi, mango leaves, and malli or jasmines for the wedding. Flowers were not only used for decoration but also poo Jada. Beautiful flowers, mostly jasmines, and crossandra or kanakambaram, stitched in the shape of a braid, were attached to her hair for the main wedding ceremony. Almost every 80s braid inevitably had this hairstyle for one of her wedding ceremonies.

The 80's wedding was a fabric of memories, woven with such tiny and precious memories to cherish and behold. Now that we live in an age where weddings videos get stored on Clouds, the simple 80’s era and the wedding of the ’80s seem like a long past.