What comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘wedding‘? For me, it is that extravagant affair where everyone comes to show off, I’m not trying to give a generic statement, there are exceptions, and in the recent year a new trend of ‘go green’ theme has popped up in Indian wedding as well. So here is a new version of wedding cards, No…No.. not the typical wedding cards but ‘Green Invite.’
Newlywed Pranshu Kankane, who is a businessman, was always captivated by the idea of an environment-friendly marriage. As his wedding day neared, his brother Prateek came up with a unique concept that would significantly reduce paper and food wastage.
Instead of giving out paper wedding invitation cards to guests, they decided to send out e-invites and requested people to RSVP. Through this not only were they able to cut down the use of paper, but also prevent food wastage.
Although Prateek and Pranshu’s father was all for it, their mother was not convinced about the idea. She was worried that if printed paper cards are not distributed, the family won’t be able to meet the relatives and other invitees. This was when the siblings came up with the idea of a ‘Green Invite’.
The wedding details were printed on potted plants and sent to all guests. Moreover, they ensured there was no single-use plastic at the wedding. Prateek stated that plants were 8-10 months old and can surely survive for up to 3-4 years.
The idea worked well as almost 400 of the guest were pleased with the concept, which was a surprise to Prateek. He stated that there were three to four varieties of plants, including spiritual ones such as Tulsi, seeing to which invitee was so excited.
Their main challenge was to make the Green invites cost-effective and make people aware of such a process. Interestingly, the price of a single ‘Green Invite’ was around Rs 68, which similar to the cost of a single paper card.
Beside the Green Invite the family also got associated with ‘The Robin Hood Army’ which is a zero-funds organisation that works to get surplus food from restaurants and communities to the less fortunate. Invitees also were requested not to bring bouquets and also not to waste food and leave it on the plates before disposing of them.
To spread the idea of an eco-friendly wedding, Prateek stated that he had spent around 10-15 minutes with each of the guests to explain to them about the plant and ways to take care of it.
Indeed a unique wedding in all possible way; it is not necessary to go for a big fat wedding, you can make your wedding much joyful by doing something for the society and nature.
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