A zero waste wedding invariably means cutting down on a few things. And that also means you are serious about how you wish to sustain on this finite planet. So, good job trying to do the right thing.

• Wedding Invite – this is the number one culprit which can be easily discarded. Most wedding invites will finally end-up in a trash can. If it’s a fancy one, it might last a few years on someone’s desk but eventually they will also be trashed.
  1. This is the e-age, use email, whatsapp and other digital options to invite guests. And those who are close to you will just need to hear the word and they will be there for you anyway.
  2. If you have guests who need to be formally invited with a card, that’s a clue for you to not invite them in the first place.
  3. For guests who are not as much into digital world, use the phone to personally invite them and if you it does make a difference, do print a few cards for such guests.
  4. One of the best ways to ensure all information is within your guest’s reach is to host a website (usually free) for about 6 months and add all the invite related details along with other useful pieces of information like:
     ————- route map with public transportation updates, a story of how the couple met with some photos, a section for guests to enter their comments and wishes, an invite for them to submit their personal photos that they may click on their phones, a future invite reminder for them to come to the website to see their wedding movie and photos.————-
• Keep a close eye on your guest count. This is one of the easiest ways to reduce waste in a wedding and you also save money. You can then use this saved money to hire a better venue altogether. Avoid guests who need to be called because of some kind of past connection but yes this is not as easy as it sounds but do give this a thought and run this request by your parents as they usually run the show especially if they are funding your wedding.
• Catering debacles
  1. Avoid use and throw plastic cutlery though it is easier to handle than 100s of plates and glasses. Most guests including me, when I go to a wedding, prefer plastic as it gives the illusion of safer being ‘not used’ earlier but if you can speak to your caterer and install a UV machine that sanitizes all the plates and spoons (make sure that kind of sanitizing is placed strategically for all to see), then that will do the trick.
  2. Instead of offering guests bottled drinking water, keep water counters will glasses for guests to quench thirst.
  3. And most importantly, call an NGO before hand which can come when your event is over to come and pick-up the left over food, this way some destitute can sleep after having a decent meal.
• Wedding decor
  1. Wedding decoration usually means a lot of organic waste but what we don’t see the other non-organic material waste which goes behind the scenes. The water sponges which keep the flowers alive, the plastic covering, the ropes, the list goes on. Some of the simplest ways to ensure that your wedding set-up looks good is to have an open space wedding in a nice hotel, or in an antique type of venue or it is the evening hours, just having a little background lighting in itself will be good enough. These are all subject to personal choices but hit instagram and you will some really classy wedding set-up with hardly anything that’s artificially created just for the wedding.