Sustainable and Eco Friendly Weddings

A page form the marriage colours handbook World of Weddings Digital Book, click here to access

Sustainable and Eco Friendly Weddings Planning for an Intimate, Minimalistic Wedding? Nilma from With Love Nilmla shares some great ideas to plan an Eco friendly Wedding that will perfectly fit your Wedding Occasion!

1. What are the trends you will see in the year 2020 and 2021

a.Greenery and foliage is still going to rein this year as well with added elements of paintedleaves, dried flowers & unconventional flowers .
b.Decor inspired by art/ art translated in the form of decor.
c.With so much awareness floating around couples would be more conscious in making sustainable decor choices.
d.In terms of colours it would be bolder and high contrast coloursjuxta positioned against nude pastel palettes.

2. You have a great sense of eco friendly decor and some of the themes you develop are very earthen , what kind of events or venues will suit the eco friendly decor?

Any event can be an eco friendly event. Its upto you as to how conscious you are and the efforts you are willing to make to imbibe the same.
For a mehendi you could use paper kites, origami cranes, pinwheels to use as decor. For a haldi you could source locally grown marigolds to brighten up the space and avoid putting flowers in bunches in an oasis and have mainly garlands strewn around. For a sangeet you could reuse materials or take on rent what the planner has for your decor. Use candles, lanters and mood lighting. For the wedding you could go rich in foliage and minimal locally sourced flowers for the mantap.

With respect to venues:

a.If most of your guests are from one city try and have it there than in a destination thereby reducing your carbon footprint.
b.If yours is a day time wedding try and have it in an outdoor venue to cut down on power consumption used for lighting up an indoor venue.
c. Look for venues with large trees so that there is natural shade for your guests
d. Look for venues rich in foliage so that you just need to enhance the space and can look into detailing decor for each guest and making it a wholsesome, intimate and memorable experience.
e.Also another important thing is a venue that doesnt impose the use of plastic water bottles. You can dabble with glass or steel crockery as well.

3.What will be the trending mehndi theme for 2020 and 2021?

-Earthy, pastel geometric shapes and backgrounds in dispersed with large textured palms leaves naturally placed or painted.
-Brunch mehendis or high tea mehendis giving a fun, bright and colourful vibe.
-Lots of paper decor in terms of ceiling full of hangings in ombre shades.

4. 3 of your favourite works and why?

1) Tiya& Ashish
This wedding was extremely special as it was on my birthday. The bride & groom were located abroad and we had not met prior to the wedding and we were only in conversation via skype calls. She wanted an indigo inspired Christian wedding in an outdoor venue. But just a few days before the wedding the weather report stated that there would be heavy showers. They took a call to use most of their budget to put up waterproof tenting for the venue hence reducing the scope of decor which really bummed us all out. But we decided to surprise the bride by putting up baskets of hydrangeas around the altar to enhance the space and the bride loved it. To add to the decor my team dressed up in indigo colours on the day of the setup trying to blend into the decor. Finally despite the minimal decor the wedding was magical. There even was a rainbow that came up during their nuptials.

2) Ritvighya& Madhuri
We worked with the wonderful wedding planners, Shaadi Squad for this event. For the mehendi the grooms sister requested for a fresh, brunch vibe and we put together a lavender and sky blue, English styled, rustic mehendi which the family and guests loved absolutely. The decor set the right pace for the rest of the afternoon.

3) Kritika & Francis
At this wedding the forecast said heavy showers the night before. And the morning would be gloomy and cloudy but no rains. We had not anticipated the rains while planning and we had designed the backdrop for the mantapto be in pastel colours considering it would be a bright, sunny day, but the day before we took a call to change the backdrop fabric to a beautiful, bright sky blue which would cheer up the venue against the gloomy clouds. This decision the bride supportedwhole heartedly. The next day everyone was so happy with the bright colours of the mantap and it turned out to be one of our best event setups so far, showing that sometimes you have to just follow your gut.

5. Favourite destination to work, and what destinations would you recommend for minimalist and intimate weddings.

Since I am from Bangalore and we have some beautiful properties here it is one of my favourite destinations. But of course I have always loved properties close to nature, the beaches or the riverside for example. A property in Mahabalipuram or Bekal or Kovalam would be ideal for someone looking for a waterbody as a venue. With the horizon as your backdrop there is so much you can do in terms of minimalistic decor using clean lines as they would stand out beautifully against the landscape. Another favourite destination is Coorg, with decor amidst foliage as again here you would need very minimal decor just to enhance the space.

6. What themes will be trending in overall weddings in 2020-2021.

Explained above in question 1
If social distancing continues because of the Covid- 19 virus we may have micro weddings or more intimate weddings with just a few friends and close family gathered for the celebrations.

World of Weddings

A page form the marriage colours handbook World of Weddings Digital Book, click here to access