Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

Lifestyle Wedding, Fashion & Beauty
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Hi all,

Weddings are wonderful occasions and celebrations, but we all know that often they can be incredibly wasteful (whether the waste is food, money, trash, etc). In the past the government of Pakistan has put restrictions on food to help reduce waste and to make weddings more affordable. Unfortunately, such laws have caused lots of illegal activity and more waste.

I invite people here to share their ideas for weddings that are less wasteful in terms of natural resources and monetary resources.

How can you have a great wedding without all the waste?

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Re: Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

Great thread... we need this, I will come back to this thread after exams...lol

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Re: Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

there must be like a kazillion watts of lighting coz us pakis generally like the hall/ lawn to be as bright as possible... so perhaps they could replace those yellow bulbs with Energy Savers. I guess wedding could be held at day time and that would save even more electricity (but day-weddings just aren't everybody's cup of tea)

Besides that; restrictions on the quantity of food allowed is a prettey good idea!

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Re: Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

Pinks, the restrictions on food just led to inconvenience, but perhaps more waste. People did their wedding functions and then did a separate function at like 1am to serve dinner. Or they would mislead authorities about what the event was.

The reason it didn't work is because it was imposed on to people. Until change comes from within, it's just not going to work. People have too much at stake in their lavish weddings. And in a culture like ours in which hospitality and marriage are highly valued and celebrated, it's hard to get people to view restrictions like these positively.

Daytime weddings are a good idea, though the overall look of typical desi weddings (the deep and vibrant colors, the heavier make up, etc) is better suited to evening.

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Re: Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

print your wedding stationery on recycled paper. i just started doing this whole wedding stationery design thing and there is a huge selection of gorgeous papers out there that are environmentally friendly.

same with wedding waste, try and recycle as much of it as you can.

instead of favors which use a lot of packaging and usually get thrown out in a few months anyway, consider a donation to a charity, or serve edible favors in minimal packaging.

i'll come back to this when i've thought about it a bit more... great thread, sahar!

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Re: Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

You are not allowed to question anything about weddings, and all the related functions. Everything can be criticized, except for weddings. So just do as everyone does and follow along.

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Re: Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

wedding at parents' home in presence of few friends & close family members - siblings, grand parents. one day event for marital contract signing, minimal gift giving from either side - groom or bride's & a simple dinner.

best,

Dushwari

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Re: Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

^ sab fit kaisey houN ge? most paki families are relatively large :p

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Re: Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

I think the party favors often involve alot of wastage. I have received so many ones that I have absolutely no use for and after looking at it for a few minutes and saying this is cute then you are like ok now what do I do with this, like elaborate frames with the bride and groom's name or crystal cubes with a picture of the couple craved inside! Probably only the family members and best friends of the couple would want to keep something like this, otherwise what I am supposed to do with a cube with another couple's face on it -display it on my nightstand? Things like this I find silly and a waste. Better to do like SGC said, give edible favors or something that people will actually want to USE and KEEP, as opposed to keeping in a closet for a few months and then chucking them out. Like if you are going to give a nice frame, instead of putting the couple's name why not put something that anyone would like to display in their house, like a nice verse or something. Or make it a reusable frame so they can put something else inside it later, instead of having to throw the whole thing away. I saw something really neat once, little seedlings pouches, all you had to do was dig up some dirt and bury it.

Pakistani woman who killed and tried to cook her husband!
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Re: Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

Good ideas so far! I agree in particular about the party favors. There must be ways to give things that are useful or edible. Rather than stuff that ends up trashed.

I'm also curious to hear whether upcoming brides and grooms are interested in this topic? Does it matter to you that your wedding is "green"?

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Re: Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

I will say something that will upset girls but I will say it regardless. Most of the times it's girls that want to have these huge wedding and waste a lot of money/food etc. To make things worse, parents want to invite everyone because people will be upset otherwise if they are not invited.

I really wanted a simple wedding where it was going to be me, the bride, her immediate family and my immediate family. That's it. No fazool rasams, no waste of money on lavish halls and decorations etc. Then just have one reception (walima) where her family and very close friends and my family and very close friends are invited. My wedding was still a lot less 'Red' than weddings that take place in Pakistan and it really upsets me to see all the food being wasted. I have been to a couple of those weddings and seen how people only eat the "good" meat and then throw away the bones with meat on them. It really hurts me to see that.

On my wedding, did someone listen to my suggestion? No.

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Re: Green Weddings – Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

awwwww…i seee somebody is still mad about that..:kiss:

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Re: Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

or we could just do it islamically and have a simple nikah and a walimah instead of having this rasm and that rasm. it saves you alot of money and you're not wasting anything either.

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Re: Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

Ppl mostly come 2 weddings 2 eat food...

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Re: Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

there is so much shortage of electricity in pakistan that there is load shedding of upto 8 hours in major cities like lahore, which is supposed to go up to 13 hours...

CONTROL THE DAMN LIGHTING!! for a start...
food...
recycle for heavens sake!
use edible party favours
decorations should be biodegradable and so should the containers/sachets for the biddh.
use dupattay for the decorations and less flowers (they deserve to live too!)

this is just a start....

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Re: Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

It's interesting, many people seem to be saying the push comes from the bride or the bride's family to have a lavish wedding. Why is that?

I don't think the only way to reduce waste is by having very simple weddings. But can we have a celebration while still being considerate of our environment as well as our financial resources?

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Re: Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

i suppose weddings are something that are culturally ingrained into little girl's minds as something desirable and usually, pretty lavish. and when girls grow up dreaming of these things, to consider not having them on their actual wedding day, is not really an option or fair, i think. i mean, compromise is always possible but if you've been wanting a 300 guest party since you were 12, to ask you to get married in a masjid with 30 people is kind of harsh.

plus i think desi's are also overly concerned about other people's opinions. if you have a quiet, simple wedding theres always talk of why you're doing it so quietly, whats wrong with the situation, you didn't invite x amount of people, etc., and so i suppose theres a lot of pressure on parents to fulfill society obligations as well. its all seemingly ridiculous to us but its their reality and the world they live in, and to ask them to step out of it on such an important occasion is a waste of breath. you want a simple wedding, try living simply first. you'll probably end up saving the environment more effectively through a lifetime of eco-living than on just one occasion.

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Green Weddings - Part 1
Bring A Green Revolution To Weddings

Pasted from http://www.shaaditimes.com/wedding/ideas/green-wedding-070903

In South Asia, a wedding is synonymous with extravagance and luxuries. The idea of a modest, low-key affair is not only a no-no but practically unheard of. However, with global warming becoming a serious threat, its time for us all to go green. Are you ready for a Green Wedding?

What is your dream wedding? In all probability it includes hundreds of guests in a huge air-conditioned venue, glossy wedding invites, the most expensive diamonds and gold ornaments and bouquets of flowers and expensive gifts. In other words - your dream is a complete nightmare for the environment.

Environmentalist and Founder-Director of SPROUTS Anand Pendharkhar explains, “In Indian weddings people generally try to show off how much they have, leading to an overuse and misuse of resources. For instance great quantities of unconsumed food may be tossed into the dustbin and figuratively tens and thousands of rupees may be burnt up in the form of fire crackers within a fraction of a second, seriously polluting the environment.”

How ‘green’ is your wedding?
A loud wedding band may be music to the ears of the guests but just noise to the neighbours in the vicinity- especially the ailing, elderly and students preparing for exams. Why should one man’s joy be another man’s sorrow?

Instead can’t we plan a sweet and simple wedding under the greenwood tree with birds chirping?

  • Crisp fresh outdoor settings instead of a smoky indoor wedding venue?
  • Handmade or recyclable paper used as wedding cards and email invites to save trees?
  • A wedding with vegetarian and organic food that is not only healthy but also doesn’t involve killing animals to prepare our feast?
  • Natural and organic fabrics for wedding attire?
  • Unconsumed food if any distributed to the poor.

Our nuptial joy will multiply manifold if we harm no living being and also share our pure joy with the world around us. To sum up, won’t it be better if we opted for a ‘Green Wedding’?

What is a Green Wedding?
Green Weddings are environmentally friendly weddings. They are also known as ‘ethical weddings’. You need to be very organized during the wedding planning process to ensure that there’s optimum use of resources with no wastage. You may need to opt for a moderate rather than extravagant wedding to ensure that. Excess gifts may be donated to charity.Anand says, “May be Japanese weddings are what one may traditionally call Green Weddings. The couple is supposed to plant a sapling to mark their wedding and in the process they give a gift of beauty to the world. The tree grows with the memory of their marriage.”

Author and nature lover Ruskin Bond feels, “Weddings in proximity with nature naturally happen in villages where there are mountains, forests and streams. In cities on the contrary you may need to make an effort to make the wedding close to nature.”

Origin of Green Weddings
Though Green Weddings have taken place since ancient times, often in the form of pastoral weddings, the technical term came into being after professional event manager Ruth Culver had her own Green Wedding in 2005 which generated considerable interest.

The growing popularity of charity weddings also made Ruth realize that there were many like-minded couples who wanted to ensure that their wedding celebration wasn’t totally self-centred so she spread the word around. She set up UK’s first Green Wedding consultation and planning service.

People all over the world have started following Ruth’s green footsteps while planning their wedding. Now, it is up to you and me to bring about a Green Revolution to the entire wedding scenario in South Asia.

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Re: Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

Here's an easy one -have people RSVP by e-mail instead of making RSVP cards and envelopes for everyone

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Re: Green Weddings -- Can we have less waste and more fun at weddings?

If your buying diamonds make sure they are conflict free