Celeb weddings inspire couples to go green(ish)
Combine a growing awareness of the need to rein in wastage and some celebrity influence, and what you get are couples going greener at their weddings.
Recently, TV actor Rubina Dilaik married actor Abhinav Shukla, and their wedding card was made of MDF and recyclable paper, making it totally biodegradable. Rubina says, “We wanted something eco-friendly. Lavishness isn’t necessarily defined by things that may be eye-catching but serve no purpose.”
Also, when actor Sonam Kapoor married Anand Ahuja, they opted for an e-invite, making a green choice. And not so long ago, after model-actor Milind Soman married his girlfriend Ankita, the couple planted a sapling for every guest who came to the wedding. We’ve also seen actor Anushka Sharma and cricketer Virat Kohli gifting a sapling with their wedding invite.
These examples have made young couples look at a wedding in a different way. Nilma Dileepan, an ecoconscious wedding and event planner from Bengaluru, says, “There have been a few weddings in the past, where we’ve used eco-friendly elements, but the celebrities have definitely helped in spreading the message of reducing consumption and waste.” She reveals, “Mostly, couples in the 26-34 years age group come to me with such requests. Then we decide on elements such as invites from recyclable paper, chalkboards as props to be reused later, coconut shells as planters on the tables, jute fabric as backdrop at the bar with paper origami — a few examples.”
Eco-friendly items don’t inflate the wedding budget; quite the opposite. Your cost decreases by 40% or anything between ₹40 and ₹400 per card or gift, says Shweta Acharya, a wedding planner. Acharya, who feels that green(ish) weddings are a small yet great initiative, says, “Bollywood is a great trendsetter — if celebs do it, it becomes a thing.”
Wedding planner Kaveri Vij shares that e-invites are now preferred over physical invites by millennial couples, though printed invites are still created for family elders.
Sanya Sharma, a corporate professional who’ll marry this year, says, “If you can’t cut down on other things, the best thing you can do is to have a function in daylight, saving energy — that’s what I’d do.”