Redefining the ‘Big Fat Indian Wedding' to the ‘Green (Hara)’ Wedding
Article — PERCEPTIONS, CULTURE, VALUES & BEHAVIOUR
How the pandemic has given more light towards appreciating small, intimate, sustainable weddings & events.
Did you plan on having a 2020 wedding or otherwise postpone or adjust your wedding preparations in light of Covid-19 this year? In hindsight, while we may have lost our big fat Indian celebrations perhaps this is a worthwhile time to reflect on our customs and traditions. Just how much of a carbon footprint do such events have? And how can we make our traditions sustainable and green (hara)? Below I helped to underpin some of the key factors where such events have an environmental impact. Alongside this, I have listed what needs to be done to shift towards a sustainable mindset when planning. Some of these options may even help to ease the turmoil of stress on wedding event planning too!🍀
1. FOOD & WASTE🌾🍷 - how much waste gets left at the expense of big events, how much food is not eaten and thrown away? Indian weddings are elaborate and have many days in advance of the wedding. Did you know that not all of these pre-events are religious but cultural and ritual, and hence they can be tailored and cut down to what you want. Try combining the events together or cut them down to save on not just cost, but food waste! Try ensuring you get a good count and rsvp ahead of the event to ensure just the right amount of food is sourced for the event(s). Have you considered making use of more sustainable and local food sources or plant-based food options too?
2. PEOPLE 💃🏽💃🏽- Do we really need to invite so many people, need I say more?
3. DECORATION 🌸✨🥳- There are many ways we can opt for sustainable choices for decorations, wedding gifts, and wedding favours. For example source from local sustainable handmade goods. Better yet try giving your family jobs such as making the table centerpieces or the table seating plan at home, this would especially work well with the younger relatives. Try incorporating multi-use for such decorations, such as centerpieces, and decoration which after the wedding can be distributed as wedding favours? This gives an efficient multi-purpose action! Perhaps you can opt for a symbolic seedling for a favour. It is often traditional to buy gifts as a token of appreciation to both ends of the wedding parties in Indian weddings, this is namely the ‘sagan’. However, sagan actually dates back to conventional terms for ‘dowry’ and in reflection are largely not well translated into modern society. Many gifts of Indian attire often make up this gift-giving, which on large are hardly ever worn. By all means, if you intend to gift, make sure the outfit will provide the right value and fit. On another note, we are a prominent culture of reuse (from everything to storing lentils in margarine boxes to regifting uneaten chocolate boxes from last year, which are still edible); and so it is to applaud that we do often find the same gift has been down the chain of our family friends perhaps. Although at first to admit, this may appear cringe when you reflect on this it does provide a motive for acting on reuse, reduce and recycle efforts in maintaining the circular economy of our by-products from our events.
4. WEDDING OUTFITS & JEWELLERY👰🧑💼- buy your outfits from shops which have a motive for not being fast fashion, but valuable, ethical pieces. Alternatively opt for attire that can be reused or upcycled! There is still a big challenge and progress required in terms of addressing sustainable fashion, especially among the Indian textile industry. Indian fashion is a huge industry however it is one where units tend to be largely overpriced yet of high-labor force, with gowns being shipped regularly from the east to the west. This puts pressure on shipment and air freight — leading to inefficiency and a toll on carbon. Although the Indian fashion and textile sector is a large provider of income and employment, the knowledge on Sustainabile textiles is still lacking. Moreover many studies still relate to the exploitation of workers, forced labour and underpayment. And so progression on supporting companies which help to allieveate and raise awareness on this is crucial.
However on research, there are a fair few Indian designers who have sustainable and ethical motives in the brand and production from both sides of the world, such include @anitadongregrassroot @rahulmishra_7 @ri_ritukumar @raw_mango @tanghavri. But there still is a lack of pull in the market in this respect. We can help by supporting local designers and manufacturers, avoid imports where possible, and promoting designers that value sustainable fashion in the drive to making it mainstream.
5. Invitations 💌— with increasing numbers of wedding websites, many people are now opting to reduce their paper wedding invitations in favour of a digital option! This can help save paper production and distribution costs — this is also in relation to savings of energy, carbon and money. However there are also ways in which we can review the production of invitations by ensuring that they are made from recycled paper instead.
Overall, I hope this provides just a little glimpse of the overall picture of what we can forsee in reviewing our events and how we can look to the future of changing the idea of what a big fat Indian wedding represents. Of course your wedding day is unique and sacred for each and every couple. But integrating at least some of these aspects can help save the planet!
