Avinash and Namita’s wedding wasn’t just a celebration of their union. It was a heartfelt showcase of their shared commitment to compassion and sustainability. With a guest list over 1,000-strong, the couple proved that a large-scale, joyful wedding can be both vegan and environmentally conscious without sacrificing tradition or festivity.
Avinash, a musician and digital marketer from Mumbai, and Namita, a service designer based in London, are not your typical couple, and theirs was no typical wedding. United by a deep love for animals, nature, and thoughtful living, both chose to embrace veganism years before they met. For Avinash, the shift came from a desire to reduce his climate impact, realizing the powerful environmental consequences of food choices. Namita’s journey was shaped by her lifelong involvement in animal rescue, a growing awareness of sustainability, and eventually meeting a colleague who followed a vegan lifestyle, the first vegan person she met. Avinash and Namita’s paths converged over a shared belief in compassion, a principle that became the heart of their 1000-person wedding in Calicut.
“This wedding is not about what we can’t have. It’s about finding joy in what we can do differently,” said Namita.
A Feast Without Compromise
The couple’s guiding principle was simple: the food had to be delicious and entirely plant-based. From the Haldi to the reception, each event featured thoughtfully curated menus that leaned into India’s naturally vegan-friendly cuisine. They avoided mock meats and instead celebrated the humble richness of traditional ingredients. The highlight? The Kerala-style Sadhya that won hearts and palates with dairy-free payasam and a buttermilk so convincing, that guests couldn’t believe it was vegan.
Even Calicut’s iconic Paragon restaurant, known for its non-vegetarian dishes, delivered a fully vegan menu at the reception. It featured jackfruit biryani and pineapple upside-down cake. For Avinash and Namita, this wasn’t just about good food. It was about proving that flavour doesn’t depend on animal products. It depends on intention and finding talented chefs.
Draped in Kindness
Indian weddings are synonymous with grandeur and elaborate attire, but for Avinash and Namita, extravagance took a backseat to ethics. Buying new outfits was far from their priority. Instead, they chose to wear their values by embracing upcycled and vegan-friendly fabrics across all events.
For their pre-wedding celebrations, the couple breathed new life into old heirlooms. Namita’s mehendi outfit was upcycled from her grandmother’s sari, while Avinash wore a kurta made from his mother’s. At the Haldi, she donned a thrifted temple sari, continuing the circle of reuse and reverence. Even the cocktail night stayed true to their ethos, with Namita opting for a dress made from post-consumer recycled materials, and Avinash turning to a local tailor.
On the big day, Namita wore a stunning (vegan-by-default) kasavu sari from a slow-fashion label that supports flood-affected weavers. The details were no less intentional, her pallu tassels were made of manjadikuru seeds, crafted by women artisans in Auroville. Avinash complemented her look with a kasavu mundu and a vegan silk patola kurta.
Their message was clear: looking good doesn’t have to come at the cost of the planet or animals. The result was a celebration not only of love, but of conscious fashion stitched with intention. They even encouraged guests to join in.
“We sent a note with our invites saying:
Kindly note that we do not have a dress code, but we would be over the moon if you would consider a slow-fashion wardrobe choice –
Something cherished, nothing new
Something borrowed, something renewed”
Namita worked with the make-up artist to ensure that anything that was being used on her during the wedding was entirely vegan and cruelty-free. Her local make-up artist was eager to adapt her kit to include only vegan-friendly brands.
Decor That Didn’t Cost the Earth
Their wedding decor was grounded in reuse and tradition. All decorative items were borrowed from their decorator’s existing inventory, and there was zero use of single-use plastics. Signage was created using Namita’s late grandfather’s scarf, hand-embroidered and reused at each venue. It served as a sentimental, waste-free alternative to flex banners which are not biodegradable and are rarely ever recycled.
The couple avoided the usual green floral foam and nylon threads for their flower arrangements. Instead, they strung local, seasonal flowers using cotton thread. The centerpiece mandap featured repurposed saris and hand-woven coconut leaves crafted by traditional artisans, reviving a dying art form and honoring Kerala’s roots.
Waste Not, Want Not
With help from a waste management team, Avinash and Namita achieved what many thought impossible. There was only 30 kg of food waste from a 1000-person wedding. The caterers served smaller portions on banana leaves, letting guests ask for more. All biodegradable waste, including 70 kg of banana leaves, was composted on-site at a biogas plant. The tiny amount of plastic waste left behind was so negligible, it was bundled with leftovers from the next event for recycling.
Their wedding hampers for the guests were also thoughtfully curated. Spices and traditional snacks were wrapped in paper and packed into cloth pouches made by specially-abled women using surplus fabric.
More Than Just a Wedding
The impact of their wedding extended beyond one weekend. Guests wrote in asking about the compostable straws and vegan-friendly caterers. Their decorator received multiple inquiries for similar sustainable setups. But more importantly, the joy and sincerity of their wedding left a lasting impression.
Avinash and Namita didn’t just plan a wedding. They pioneered a new kind of celebration. And they did it in Calicut, far from India’s biggest vegan hubs. This proves that with a little jugaad, a lot of heart, and a firm commitment to kindness, a truly meaningful celebration is well within reach.
