Vow exchanges are becoming popular with Indian couples, especially those with a mixed-faith background, in a bid to honour their love without religious tropes. When wedding planner Vedika Mohan married fashion entrepreneur Omair Warsi, the Hindu-Punjabi bride and Muslim groom skipped the pheras and nikaah, and opted for a court wedding in their hometown of Delhi instead. This was followed by an exchange of vows at Suryagarh in Jaisalmer a few days later. “Our wedding was devoid of traditional constraints. We consciously chose to forgo religious rituals, opting for a fusion that reflected us as individuals and as a couple,” explains the bride.
Investor, marketer and technology leader Kahran B. Singh and research scientist Gourav Tarafdar, who married at the same Jaisalmer property, also eschewed a religious ceremony, “We chose this because neither of our religions make space for queer weddings,” says Singh. “But that also meant we had the freedom to create our own ceremony, something meaningful to us. So we had four poetry readings by very close family and friends to represent each of the four pheras,” adds Tarafdar.
