One has many expectations in line for one’s wedding. Be it the flowers, décor, food, music, the invites-the list is endless. All of this cumulatively make up for a wonderful mélange of family and friends, sometimes lasting for days. A great occasion to create memories!
But then, weddings are synonymous with a lot of wastage too. Humongous quantities of food being leftover, littering, noise pollution, and throwing of single-use items, make up more thrash than the memories we create. Unfortunately, a lot of us are inattentive to all this.
And in order to combat this problem, a lot of couples are resorting to green weddings. Let’s check what makes them do so.
1. Food wastage
Food is the biggest waste in Indian weddings. According to statistics, the carbon footprint of a traditional Indian wedding is equal to cutting 100 trees. The variety and quantity of unconsumed food can make anyone go red, as precious food resources get wasted.
2. Single-use items
Though plastic and other items can be recycled, it takes a long time- even decades. Until then it only covers landfills which means diseases, stink and garbage lying rotten for years.
The same goes with flowers, as in weddings they too are used just once, after which they are rendered useless. Littering too causes inconvenience.
3. Loud Music
Not paying attention to inconveniences caused by loud music, noise pollution has increased manifold. This invariably causes damage to health and increases stress.
4. Financial overspending
A wedding is not just limited to the venue and the date demanding more money. It also involves other costs like outfits, and multiple functions, which are an inherent part of the Indian tradition. Because of
all this, there is an increased need to spend financial resources.
For so many reasons, which are not good for the ecosystem, couples are steadily making informed and conscious choices while planning their big day. And why not? After all, small efforts taken in the present will yield big and better results in the future.
Let’s look at some interesting ways how couples are making their weddings greener and this planet more breathable.
1. Sustainable Fashion
More and more couples are renting their wedding outfits or making the switch to sustainable fabrics, than using one-time wear apparel. This saves the need for space to store in the future and also saves money.
2. Using re-usable décor
This helps save electricity bills, and also provides a variety of choices for décor. Plus, they can be used later in different ways, with jute lamps and paper décor adding to color and being re-used later.
Also, using plantable décor is something that is gaining traction. Wedding invites to paper plates to origami flowers are being made with plantable material to save the ecosystem from further damage.
3. Using digital invites
Rather than resorting to paper and its wastage, messaging invites seem to have found ground among new couples tying the knot. It saves time and effort in physically distributing invitations, and helps reach out to a larger crowd easily, also saving paper, and indirectly saving trees.
4. Food
Catering using local and fresh produce significantly impact finances. In fact people are conducting weddings at venues that help to cut costs and serve fresh food items, making them eco-friendly and sustainable, for example – vineyards and farmhouses.
Also, using eco-friendly cutlery like banana leaves and distributing leftover food, where it is needed, like in orphanages, which help in reducing the impact of food wastage.
Though there is a long way to go when it comes to making an Indian wedding greener, steps have been initiated and a lot of couples are heading to more intimate and cleaner weddings, thereby making the world a better place, one step at a time.
