Elegance Meets Sustainability: The Event Designer’s Journey to Eco-Friendly Luxury Weddings

1. What motivated The Event Designer to pursue the concept of eco-friendly wedding planning?

It really hit us when we saw the amount of waste left behind after large weddings, which was too much of single-use plastic, food leftovers and decor wastes that could not be repurposed. That’s why we decided, ‘Is this really what we plan as a footprint for such an elegant occasion?’ After all, weddings celebrate love, and love should be given to Mother Nature as well. This realization triggered a completely different path for us. From now on, we aim at designing luxury events where the couple is made to feel as special as the environment that they’ve decided to dump their ‘happy’ trash into.”

2. Can you walk us through some of the eco-friendly materials you use for décor?

We enjoy being artistic using environmentally friendly materials! Colorado contains inside a wedding decor with canopy which is made of bamboo, seating out of recycled timber and the flowers used in the floral installation are seasonal and are sourced from the local market. We have even incorporated jute runners and draping with organic cotton fabrics. What’s more, it doesn’t appear any less exquisite, if anything, it is more organic, distinctive and elegant. We always use non-disposable props that can be cleaned for future use or that are biodegradable. It’s all about making pretty things, nice and stylish but environmentally friendly.

3. How do energy efficient lightning and all other technologies assist in decreasing the carbon footprints of the events you hold?

Tech is a major ally in reducing environmental impact. Led lights for example are one of our favorite technologies for energy saving. These take a fraction of the energy consumed by traditional lighting systems and the variations of colors and intensity know no limits so if you like to play with ambience you won’t be disappointed. We have also started using solar powered gers where the clients do not require a lot of electricity eg site locations which are outdoors. these generators bring down emissions to a great extent. These energy efficient alternatives allows us to decrease the carbon level without giving up the greatness that is inherent in posh wedding events.

4. What difficulties do you encounter in harmonizing luxury and eco-friendliness? What are the ways you employ to address these challenges?

The biggest hurdle is perception. Many customers at the beginning have a problem that eco equals boring pictures, but we help unmask such myths. At the same time we create a lot of luxurious feelings in every single aspect that lets people experience the glamour of luxury. No one goes cold when they come to see how much is the modern approach and what results they can achieve when both eco- feeling and luxury meeting under one aspect for the pictorial purposes.

5. What strategies do you employ to partner with vendors in maintaining sustainability in every detail of an event.

Vendors have proven to be an essential ally in accomplishing and meeting our vision objectives. While food suppliers are committed to providing locally sourced ingredients and no poison florists, this network is largely sustainable in one way or the other. Even with waste treatment, we collaborate with our waste management teams to ensure that from food waste to decor, every single item is well disposed of or recycled. We reinforce the eco friendly plan with all the vendors so that there is minimum overspan on the strategies proposed. This way sustainability is not an afterthought but is incorporated within every step of the event planning.

6. How will The Event Designer’s plans improve the sustainability of weddings in the future?

Going forward, we want to take it a step further and have entirely zero waste weddings. This means everything from composting all the biological waste and going without any plastics that are disposable. Other events we are also considering to have with a minimal carbon footprint are destination weddings and we will even have carbon offset programs for travel. Finally and most importantly, we wish to raise the bar of luxury weddings such that it is has sustainability integrated rather than being an afterthought. We want the celebration of love to be alongside care of the earth; therefore no activities that harm the earth even in the process of celebrating love.c

Meet the Visionaries Behind The Event Designer : Nishita Aggarwal & Sahil Sachdeva