A Guide To Making Your Wedding Day More Sustainable

by Daisy Moss

In recent years, weddings have been almost redefined, with more and more couples choosing to have a wedding day that fits in line with their likes and beliefs, rather than the stereotypical traditional wedding expectations. One of the most popular changes that people are making to their wedding plans is to make their wedding day more sustainable.

In amongst all the excitement of wedding planning, it’s easy to overlook the impact that weddings can have on the environment. Weddings are amongst the most wasteful occasions that you can hold, simply due to all the different parts and components that form the big day - one wedding can create up to 20kg of waste, including food, one study found. With sustainability being discussed more now than ever, it’s not surprising that more couples are taking this into account on their big day. Weddings are amongst the most wasteful occasions that you can hold, simply due to all the different parts and components that form the big day.

Planning a sustainable wedding day doesn’t need to be harder or have any restrictions that a less environmentally friendly day will have. There are plenty of sustainable wedding ideas out there that you can utilize for almost all aspects of your big day, from the invitations and catering to celebrations and decorations. So, if you’re looking to have a sustainable wedding day, here is a guide to how you can do so!

Propose With The Right Jewelry

Before you even think about getting married or planning the big day, you of course need to get engaged! Choosing the jewelry that you are going to propose with is one of the biggest decisions you can make. A lot of people don’t realize that the ring you propose with can have an environmental impact, but there are ways in which you can make your choice more environmentally friendly.

Choosing a vintage engagement ring is a wonderful way that you can choose something that is both unique and eco friendly and, with vintage or antique jewelry pieces, there are further ways you can make the piece your own. If you like the gemstones, but would prefer a different band, then you can simply remove the stones and have them reset, or combine them with a pre-existing ring to make the piece all the more sentimental.

Choose Eco-Friendly Invites

As more and more wedding vendors become environmentally aware, it’s now easier than ever to find sustainable wedding invitations. There are a lot of wedding invite choices now where sustainable materials are used, such as recycled paper, up-cycled fabrics and wood.

Some companies even commit to donating to a tree-planting charity with every wedding invite order placed. The most eco-friendly invites and wedding stationery tends to be ones that you can have printed on seed paper, which when planted in soil, disintegrates to grow flowers. If you’re planning a wedding ceremony that takes place outdoors, this only adds further to the day!

Sustainable Decor Choices

The decor of your wedding is a huge part of your wedding day and is something that most couples spend the most time choosing. When it comes to wedding decor and sustainability, there are plenty of ways in which you can decorate your venue without compromising your sustainability promise. There are some wedding decorations that are more harmful to the planet than others that a lot of couples don’t even realize:

Balloons

Balloons are made from materials that don’t break down naturally and the waste they produce contributes to overflowing landfills and waste sites. Balloons also pose serious hazards for smaller animals, as well as birds and sea life. Instead of balloons, use eco-friendly alternatives instead, such as paper lanterns, paper chains, bunting or banners. If you really want balloons at your wedding, you can now get biodegradable alternatives.

Confetti

Guests throwing confetti over you when you leave your wedding venue with your new husband or wife is a very common tradition, but have you ever thought about where confetti ends up once it is thrown and lands on the floor? Most confetti that you buy in bulk aren’t biodegradable and end up just being washed into waterways. Confetti types that contain non-biodegradable glitter can be confusing for birds and wildlife too, who can mistake it for food which then causes untold damage.

Instead of using traditional confetti, look at instead making your own sustainable confetti using dried flowers and hole punched leaves that you can give out prior to the ceremony, or instead ask guests to avoid using it. If choosing to make your own using flowers or leaves, you can be further sustainable by visiting local florists at the end of the day and asking for any flowers or plants that are going to be discarded which you can use instead.

When decorating your venue, it can be easy to get carried away with making it look as magical as you envisioned, especially if you have to decorate the venue yourself. This can then lead to excess products being purchased, which further contributes to waste. Instead of spending money and wasting materials, why not seek the help of a venue and events company, who will loan out decor that they will reuse for multiple occasions for a fee. As well as being sustainable, you’re avoiding having to store the decorations until and after your wedding!

Location, Location, Location

It’s no secret that travel emissions contribute massively to environmental damage, so when choosing your wedding location, it’s a good idea to put thought into how you and your guests will get to your venue. Planning a wedding abroad obviously comes with air travel, further contributing to the impact that weddings have on the environment, so if you are looking to be sustainable, choose a location that is local to you so that there isn’t a lot of traveling involved.

Of course, you can get married wherever you want, but if you do want to be most sustainable, take another look at your guest list and see what location would require the least amount of traveling.

When it comes to the individual venue, the sustainability focus of the venue itself should be taken into consideration. Some venues might not be able to offer sustainable offerings, such as separate recycling for waste, vegan food offerings or low power usage. When viewing the venue, be sure to ask questions such as “how is food waste discarded?”, “are ingredients locally sourced?”, “do you have a plastic policy” and even “what cleaning products do you use?”. Don’t be afraid of asking these questions, especially if you are passionate about sustainability, and any good venue will be more than happy to help.

Bridesmaid Dresses

We all know that being a bridesmaid can be stressful and maybe break the bank with buying a dress you will most likely wear once for a few hours. But in the end, it’s super fun and amazing to celebrate a beautiful love between your friend and their significant other. Thankfully there are great companies out there like Revu — a wedding specific marketplace to rent or resell bridesmaid dresses. It’s a great way to find the dress you need for one night and then resell it back so another person can wear, which keeps it out of your closet collecting dust.