Indian couple tie the knot as their green wedding leaves no signs of trash

When Veena Balakrishnan became engaged last year, she and her fiance Vignesh agreed to host an eco-friendly wedding. Balakrishnan, an entrepreneur and environmental advocate in the southern Indian city of Chennai, said she was keen to avoid a typical marriage ceremony that results in huge amounts of waste.

"The trash left behind at every wedding is the ugly side of a beautiful day that we often turn a blind eye to," she said. "Being enthusiasts of mindful living, we wanted our wedding also to align with our values and what we believed in."

So Balakrishnan used the opportunity to prove her wedding day could still be festive without being wasteful.

She sent invitations by email, eliminated all single-use products, used banana leaves and stainless steel glasses to serve food and drink, and decorated the venue with organic flowers.

Balakrishnan reused her grandmother's wedding sari, and for wedding favors gave plantable seed paper and garden fertilizer. Guests were also asked to donate to charity in lieu of wedding gifts.

Such an approach has not only attracted attention in the state of Tamil Nadu - of which Chennai is the capital - but also in other parts of India.

Balakrishnan has since ventured into the wedding consultancy business, as clients plan zero-waste ceremonies. "There is a definite growing trend in consciousness among Indians on the need for zero-waste or reduced-waste weddings," she said.

She also works with other wedding planners to organize eco-friendly weddings. "The number of green weddings in India is gradually increasing, and it is only going to grow," Balakrishnan said.

The Indian wedding industry is estimated to be worth more than $50 billion, with the South Asian country hosting about 10 million wedding ceremonies a year. Festivities usually last for several days and involve hundreds of guests.

But such grand weddings entail a huge cost - and not just financially. Indian weddings, for instance, produce massive food waste.

Srishti Jain, co-founder of nonprofit group Feeding India, said that around 10 to 15 percent (or an estimated 30 to 50 kilograms) of food served at every Indian wedding is wasted. That amount could feed 100 to 200 people, he told the magazine Down to Earth in New Delhi.

In addition to food, Indian weddings also generate another form of waste - plastic.

"Indian weddings produce tons of garbage because we tend to use disposables left, right and center," Meenakshi Bharath, co-founder of Solid Waste Management Round Table, said. The civic group promotes sustainable living in the southwestern Indian city of Bengaluru.

For Bharath, who has been campaigning for zero-waste living for over a decade, zero-waste weddings are a step toward sustainability.

When organizing her children's weddings, she said she eschewed disposable items for reusable or compostable alternatives.

Wedding decorations were made from flowers and palm leaves. Banana leaves were used as plates and cloth napkins were placed on tables. House plants were chosen as wedding favors. After the event, the flowers and food waste were used as compost and as animal feed.

"If I could do it at my daughter's and son's weddings, then anyone else can do it," Bharath said.

She and her fellow advocates produced a brochure and posted a video from her son's wedding on YouTube to inspire other eco-friendly events.

"There are many people now who are conscious about (zero-waste weddings) and have followed what we have done after seeing the video that we made," she said.

Balakrishnan, the entrepreneur from Chennai, noted that families and communities can also play a role in zero-waste wedding ceremonies.

For example, her and her fiance's families notified wedding guests to help explain how small changes like email invitations can create a positive impact.

The bride said her mother traveled over 100 kilometers to borrow reusable stainless steel glasses from a retired caterer.

Balakrishnan also received feedback from guests while planning her wedding, asking them for suggestions via an online survey. "Indian weddings are never about just the bride and the groom. It is also about their community," she said.