Viral: Hyderabad groom’s ‘varmala’ stunt for bride who works at Amazon

Image credit: krishna-varshney/LinkedIn

Marketing through brand integration in movies and TV shows is old news, but could this be the first instance of brand integration we’ve seen at an Indian wedding? A groom in Hyderabad has divided the internet with a unique wedding-day stunt for his bride, who works at Amazon.

When Krishna Varshney, Google ads manager at Regalix, married Faguni Khanna, group operation manager at Amazon, guests witnessed a wedding-day skit like no other. Varshney pretended he had lost his varmala or wedding garland before the ceremony. The Hyderabad groom saved the day by ‘ordering’ another varmala through Amazon.

“I gave a surprise to my Amazonian wife Faguni Khanna by creating an act of Varmala getting lost and then I ordered it from Amazon,” he wrote while sharing a photo which shows the varmala, kept in an Amazon box, being delivered to the laughing couple on stage.

“Just doing a brand Integration with love for my love,” added Varshney in his LinkedIn post.

The post is going steadily viral on LinkedIn, where it has registered more than 5,000 ‘reactions’. It proved to be a polarising stunt. Whereas many praised it as innovative, others were less impressed, criticising Varshney for turning his big day into a brand circus.

“Making your big day about your work is rather sad, but to each his own,” opined one person. “This is cringe even for LinkedIn,” said another.

Sentiments were similar on Twitter, where a screenshot of the post being circulated has received overwhelmingly negative comments.

But some were more forgiving – praising the stunt as “cute and creative.”

“Lifetime prime membership... Congratulations,” quipped one commenter. “Such a cool gesture,” another agreed.