It was like any other wedding with relatives coming in large numbers to bless the couple and priests chanting mantras. The thing that took the guests by surprise was the food: it was entirely vegan since the bride and groom — Sumeeth Sasikanth and Sangeetha Thanappan — are vegans and wanted to share their joy with others. No ghee, milk, honey, curd or buttermilk was used in the preparation of the food — the ice cream too was vegan!
Product development and marketing specialist Sumeeth, who has been abstaining from animal products for over 4 years now, said it was the best thing that happened to him. “I changed overnight after I came to know about the cruelty to animals. Earlier, I used to be a non-vegetarian. My commitment became stronger after I met Sangeetha and she too shifted to veganism,” he said. Sangeetha, a paediatric physical therapist, said they decided to have vegan food at the wedding since they can reach out to more people at the same time.
From invitations to stage decorations, they used biodegradable, recycled or upcycled materials — for the invite they had the message on rubber tree leaves, the event was held in a lawn, minimising the need for lights and artificial decoration to save energy and reduce carbon footprint. They were clad in non-silk material and when it came to gifts, they asked guests to give customised donation coupons at the wedding venue to be used for treatment of rescued animals. The wedding also became the venue for a meeting of vegans from Chennai and Puducherry.
