Weddings are pretty, but the waste they leave behind? Not so pretty! It is time to rethink many of the things we had taken for granted and bring eco-safe, planet-caring ideas into your wedding. Here are En Sesha Mahal, Royapettah’s tips to having that great eco-wedding.
Choose a wedding hall or wedding venue that supports your idea of eco-friendliness. Your wedding hall in Chennai could be an enclosed or open space, but if it landscaped with some greenery, your wedding could get an eco start. Also keep in mind to choose a venue closer to your home or hotel where your guests will be put up. This will help reduce the transportation, fuel consumption and the carbo footprint.
Choose wedding cards made of recycled material and are recyclable, eco-friendly papers and printed with green (environment-friendly) ink. Consider e-invitations too. It’s a great way to save so much paper from ending up in the garbage.
Maintain guest lists, shopping lists, etc. on a digital device. This is help you access, share and get things done more efficiently.
Choose locally available materials to decorate your home and your wedding hall in Chennai. Indian weddings use a lot of flowers. From wedding garlands to floral wedding bouquets, to the decor, weddings are so much about flowers. So, go local. Bring home the marigolds and locally grown lotuses and roses. Avoid exotic flowers like orchid because they need to be transported from farms where a lot of pesticide use also takes place. Lotuses and marigolds grow easily without pesticides. Plus, these flowers are considered auspicious flowers for weddings too!
Use locally and naturally available materials – pebbles, twigs/tree branches, dry flowers. This would make your wedding decoration not only creative but also cost effective and, perfectly environment-friendly. Plus, you don’t have to worry about how to dispose of hazardous decoration material.
Avoid those high voltage lights, cut down on electricity consumption in the wedding hall. Bring in the aesthetic oil lamps, paper lanterns and chandeliers. The soft lighting achieved this way will help the decoration look not only creative, but super rich, elegant and also impart that romantic look for the wedding and evening receptions.
Go vegetarian completely. Talk to your caterer about using locally grown produce at the wedding and the reception.
Saving water should be a definite priority at your wedding. Those small bottles of water you serve guests eventually get trashed along with water still left in them. Keep a bird/animal feeding bowl outside the wedding venue and have your guests pour leftover water into that bowl as a goodwill gesture before trashing the bottle. If possible, avoid those tiny water bottles altogether and serve water in glasses, the good old way we do in India.
This is as personal as an eco-friendly wedding can get. Choose apparel created from eco-friendly elements, such as hemp, organic cotton, peace silk, bamboo and natural silk. They are not only gorgeous but also perfectly comfortable. You may also choose to wear your mom’s wedding saree or repurpose it to a dress may be! Ditto for the jewellery. Go for those heirloom jewellery pieces that have been handed down through the generations. This kind of ‘recycling' not only saves you a lot of money but is also great for the planet. And that is how you make a statement at your wedding!
Handing out a plant or a seed packet ensures that your wedding favours don’t get trashed. Most people would not throw away seeds or plants because of the inherent connection they feel with the planet. You can be sure of having done some good this way. Give away plants they can use – for example – curry leaves, mint, lemon grass and the like.
Go create that very memorable and perfectly eco-friendly wedding.