When Ashish Garg first travelled from Mumbai to Bhopal to meet Neha Singhal in 2019, he carried the expectations of a formal introduction, perhaps a polite conversation and the inevitable awkwardness that often accompanies arranged meetings. 

What he found instead was an unexpected ease. Their discussion began casually, brushing over shared interests and life experiences, and yet it lingered, blossoming into hours of conversation about purpose, responsibility, and the lives they wished to shape together.

“I told her about teaching underprivileged children in Mumbai. It was something close to my heart, and I wasn’t expecting her to be interested. But she listened with so much warmth. She told me she wanted to do something meaningful for society, too. That’s when I realised we saw the world through the same lens,” he tells The Better India, his voice carrying the memory with clarity.

Neha remembers that day with equal vividness. “From the very first moment, I knew Ashish wasn’t talking to impress me. Our conversation wasn’t about clothes or travel or surface-level achievements. It was about values and purpose. That felt rare,” she says, a gentle smile reflecting the depth of the memory.

Neither could have known then that this alignment of values would eventually culminate in one of Bhopal’s first low-waste and plastic-free weddings, held on 11 February 2020. 

The celebration achieved more than keeping kilograms of plastic from polluting landfills and conserving precious space; it supported the livelihoods of local women, inspired nearly 300 guests, and set a precedent for weddings that marry conscientiousness with imagination.

As their relationship intensified, conversations about weddings naturally took place. Unlike most couples who debate colour schemes, menus, or celebrity chefs, the duo found themselves returning to a single question; could a wedding be magnificent without producing mountains of waste?

Ashish had long been uneasy about the scale of waste typical of large celebrations. He explains, “In our families, weddings are usually full of elaborate decorations, disposable items, endless packaging, and extravagance that has no lasting purpose. I used to wonder why a single event must leave behind hundreds of kilograms of plastic that will outlive us all. I told Neha that I don’t want that for us.”

She agreed instantly. “I had spent time with NGOs and attended workshops on waste management during my college days. I had seen the consequences of mindless consumption. The idea that a wedding, something meant to celebrate love, could contribute so heavily to........

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