Indian weddings are stupendous, splendour, lavish and pretentious. On an average a family spends one fifth of the wealth accumulated in a lifetime on a wedding ceremony. Every marriage materials and service provider eagerly waits for this season to bid for business. However, these weddings with all its grandeur also induce a lot of waste be it food, clothing or decorative materials, thereby, cause harm to the environment. The youth of today however, have become more conscious of the environment; and the percolating effect is that the couples are now planning for a green wedding. And now it’s high time that the Indian wedding vendors also become the providers for ‘sustainable and green weddings’.

With the on-going wedding season one can’t deny that the Indian wedding industry is huge where everyone just spends and does not think of returns. Business Insider corroborates the fact in its survey. Amazingly, somewhere between one and ten million weddings are held in India each year with a total expenditure of over Rs 150,000 crore and is growing at 25-30 per cent annually. The estimated cost of a wedding could be anything between Rs 5 lakh to Rs 5 crore.

However, no one’s complaining, at least not the vendors because of the tremendous business opportunity that comes along with it. According to a report by a news portal, last November, on a particularly auspicious date on the Hindu calendar, a staggering 60,000 weddings took place in New Delhi alone ­— all in one evening — bringing traffic in the city to a standstill. Can anyone gauge the chaos, wastage and pollution that occurred in one city on that particular day!

Such squanders happen all over the world but in India its little too much. However, apprehending the eco- negative offscourings from weddings many young couples are stressing on the concept of green wedding in India and abroad. These eco-conscious youngsters are following the concept of organic wedding, a trend set by Natalie Portman and Anne Hathaway with the intention to generate zero waste. With “eco-friendly” emerging as popular wedding themes, the big-fat Indian weddings are also contemplating to shed some its fat.

Green weddings can be eco-chic, which means they can be every bit as gorgeous as conventional weddings, but without the waste and with the idea to go completely organic from the silk of the dress to the food served.

Image Courtesy: botanicalpaperworks.com

Wedding Invites

The concept of organic wedding commence right from green wedding cards, offered by Botanical paper work creations. The company invites are made with turmeric ink and natural pigments with seeds petalled papers. These cards have a sustainable future and just don’t add to the heap of waste papers!

Favours And Decorative items

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Similarly, there are sustainable influences for themes decoration designed by Vintage Blooming and Shoo boo. They make all natural, bio-degradable, eco-friendly lamps, coasters, crockery from bamboo, shells, wood, stones and soft furnishing items from organic cotton, bamboo and other natural resources.

Catering systems and restaurants

Daylesford

Interestingly there are catering systems and restaurants too, like Daylesford and Captian Galley, who look to sustainable development. The food is cooked using solar energy, and the surplus food is given to the poor people and animals leading to negligible food wastage. Feeding India, is another motivating example who is doing very well in sustainable food management in India. The company pick up leftover food from events and donate it to the needy. Their approach is very practical and systematic; they have collaborated with various catering companies who inform them in advance about various events. And at the end of the event, Feeding India and the volunteers pick up the leftover food and feed the poor.

Image Courtesy: greenweddingshoes

All of us at some point or the other in our life have experienced village life, have participated in the ceremonial functions, have eaten food served on a leaf and drank tea in an earthen pot! Weren’t all these resources procured from the nature and returned to the nature safely! So why not incorporate these old ideas in new ways and save the planet! It’s the right time to get back to basics. Even there are many new design methods that have come up to ensure sustainable implementation like Recycle and Up-cycle. This is a great opportunity for the Indian marketers and entrepreneurs to take the lead and make a difference by saving the date for the beautiful couple and life of the beautiful planet.