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This Delhi couple shows how to celebrate an eco-friendly & vegan wedding in style!
March 2nd, 2023
Weddings are often considered a celebration of love. A couple in Delhi went a step ahead and decided to make their special day a celebration of the planet as well. Rahil Kalra and Sanya Budhiraja’s recent vegan wedding was an unusual affair — eco-friendly, plant-based, thoughtful, yet grand and full of fervour.
From an extensive plant-based menu to planting a tree in the name of every guest, using plastic-free cutlery to repurposing the flowers used for decor, having a female priest officiate their wedding to refusing honey for the prasad, Rahil and Sanya’s wedding was packed with a number of unique and special elements. Rahil, who has been vegan for 10 years now, was quite sure that he wanted a low carbon footprint wedding that didn’t harm any living being. Sanya respected his ideologies and was committed to having a wedding with a purpose. Besides, she has now started her journey of transitioning into a vegan.
The wedding venue and decor were carefully chosen to limit single-use items and electricity
“We chose to cut down our guest list by 50%, which in turn reduced the size of the event. We only invited people who we really wanted to share our special day with. We also chose a location that was closer to the majority of guests. This eliminated the need for long travel, which kept the carbon footprint of our wedding in check. We selected naturally green venues and timed the events to be mainly during the day with natural light. This ensured limited decor and electricity usage. The pictures turned out to look beautiful too!” say Rahil and Sanya.
WHAT WAS IN THE WEDDING FOOD MENU?
The couple had an elaborate plant-based menu, for which the guests were all praises. There were Asian specialties like Edamame Dimsums, Asparagus Sushi, Khao Seuy, Teppanyaki live counters, as well as Indian delicacies like kebabs, pulao, chole bhature, naans, stuffed kulchas with an array of curries — all vegan! Other highlights of the menu were pastas, croissants and desserts like kulfi, puddings and halwa.
The wedding menu was extensive yet 100% vegan
“We approached one of the best caterers in Delhi called Kwality. They already had a little bit of experience with plant-based catering and they were able to veganize the whole menu for around 150-200 people on both days. All the dishes were loved by the guests, but the Chole Bhature and desserts especially got rave reviews. Even for the wedding ritual, the female priest had told us that we will need to feed each other a concoction made with honey and curd. So we arranged for a date syrup and Whitecub’s vegan curd instead and told her to use that. Post the event, we donated the surplus food to the less privileged by tying up with an NGO, Robin Hood Army,” the couple shares.
TAKING ECO-FRIENDLY TO THE NEXT LEVEL
For the wedding decor, Rahil and Sanya restricted the use of single-use items and chose eco-friendlier options such as jute in their designs. The flowers used for the decor were given to a social enterprise called Nirmalaya to be repurposed into incense sticks. To consciously avoid plastic, the couple used glass water bottles, matkas, and aluminium cans. The items that were used were segregated and responsibly recycled by tying up with a social enterprise called Sahaas.
The couple's furry companions were in attendance
The couple also chose lab-grown diamonds for their rings as opposed to naturally mined diamonds. “Lab-grown diamonds have a smaller footprint and are free of any conflict and abuse,” explains Rahil. Sanya adds, “We also took care of smaller details like using chalkboards instead of single-use sunboards for our greetings and messages. We mostly chose cloth napkins instead of tissues, and for smaller dishes where tissues were used, those were made from recycled paper. We also used cruelty-free makeup and leftover cut cloth as props for the flash mob dance. For our wedding outfits, we got silk-free clothes designed with fabrics like georgette.”
Flowers used at the wedding were repurposed into useful items
SPREADING AWARENESS WITH EVERY STEP
The couple’s eco-conscious message went out to guests right from the invitation stage. Their card had a lovely note on why they are trying to have a planet-friendly wedding. They also put up messages on black boards at the wedding venue, explaining the purpose behind each element. For return gifts, the couple chose to plant a tree in the name of every guest. This helped them offset the carbon footprint of their event and contribute to tree plantation efforts. The couple also planted a tree themselves as their first act after marriage.
Chalkboards were used to convey greetings and eco-conscious messages
For other couples who wish to have an eco-friendly and vegan wedding, Rahil says, “It's definitely possible. It takes some effort to find the right vendors or convince families, but if you truly believe in the path you've chosen, you can make it happen. And I have been lucky that Sanya supported me throughout the process. Partner’s support also helps a lot.”
Rahil and Sanya's sustainable wedding offers an excellent example of how we can celebrate important milestones of life without causing harm to the nature around us. It is heartening to see how more and more young couples are embracing the concept of eco-friendly and plant-based weddings for a better planet and future. After all, love and sustainability go hand in hand, doesn’t it?
A female priest officiated Rahil and Sanya's wedding
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