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Marriages are made in heaven but celebrated on earth. But it’s how you celebrate that matters the most. And Sagar Vishnoi and Richi Sood knew exactly how they wanted their special day to be. The couple wished for a pre-wedding party with around 120 invitees with lots of food, dance and masti but with a noble twist.
On 29 October, Sagar and Richi organised a get together at a community centre in Delhi inviting 120 kids from underprivileged backgrounds to wish and bless to-be wedded couple.
"We don’t realise how fortunate we are to live the life we have. Everyone is not as lucky as we our. So Richi and I decided to share our happiness with kids, who don’t get a chance to attend weddings. These gentle smiles are far more valuable than a big fat wedding,” says Sagar Vishnoi.
So how did they go about organising #SevaSeShaadi?
Sagar created a Facebook page inviting his Facebook family to volunteer and be a part of their function. “The response was overwhelming, we got around 25 people from Facebook, who volunteered to help us serve food to the kids, organise games and to take care of the kids. In fact, there were people who we didn’t recognise at all but became a part of our celebration because it was for a good cause,” says Sagar.
Sagar and Richi even raised a fundraiser on a fundraising site and requested volunteers to contribute to fund the education of 11 students from different NGOs.
How did senior Vishnoi react to his son and future daughter-in-law’s wish? “For us, it was very tough to understand initially. Even for Richi’s parents, this was a surprise move. But both the families decided to go ahead with it because it was our children’s wish,” says Hari Vishnoi, Sagar’s father.
The Vishnois confessed that by not inviting the big fat extended pariwaar did ruffle a few feathers. “Par bacho ki khushi mein hi humari khushi hai.” (But in children’s happiness, we find our own.)
The couple will have a court marriage this month. “There will be no other functions like sangeet, reception. That’s why we had a pre-wedding lunch with the kids. That was our only celebration and the people we invited,” says Sagar.
(Sagar Vishnoi is a political consultant and Richi Sood has a fashion portal called richcharms)
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