Ankita Chaurasia (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 4, 2020)

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, Ali Fazal and Richa Chadha would agree. The couple was all set to tie the knot in April this year, but had to postpone their wedding indefinitely in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lockdown. While it was being speculated that the ceremony will take place towards the end of the year, Mirror has learnt that the duo has decided to get married only in 2021 now.

Admitting that the current year has played spoilsport in more ways than one, Richa reasons that the pandemic is far from done and the vaccine is still nowhere in sight. “So, it is only pragmatic to push the wedding to the coming year in the interest of everyone who would wish to attend,” she says.

In an interview with Mirror (May 25), the bride-to-be had revealed how her boyfriend of five years and she had organised everything themselves, and the festivities were spread across three cities—Lucknow, Delhi, and Mumbai. The invites had yet to be sent out, but everything else had been finalised and had to be cancelled.

The groom agrees that the year is jinxed and everything has turned topsy-turvy. “Let’s see when we are able to accept the new normal, then, we will decide on a date, maybe early next year,” says Ali. Will they stick to the three-city party plans? “We came up with that plan only so our relatives wouldn’t have to travel. We wanted to tackle each side in their own city,” he chuckles.

He has another plan in place in keeping with social distancing norms. “We can book several large and open fields, each far away from the other, and rent out a local train so we can drop by as bride and groom at the different venues, enjoying the food at every place,” he laughs, adding, on a more serious note, “Jokes apart, I hope things get better real soon”.