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Many of us are trying to do our bit when it comes to the environment and if this is you too, your wedding doesn’t need to be an exception. There are plenty of ways to have a sustainable wedding with a range of ideas that should help you make more eco-friendly choices when it comes to the big day.
10 Ways To Have A More Sustainable Wedding
While it may not be possible to make every single part of your wedding more environmentially friendly, even making one or two greener choices could have a huge impact.
Limit Meat In Your Menu
Meat production has a huge impact on the enviroment so switching your wedding menu to vegetarian or vegan only option is a great way to make your big day more eco-friendly.
Even if you feel the need to still include some meat you can limit options by making sure both the starters and dessert are meat-free and only choosing one meat based main course.
Your wedding venue should be able to help with this and you could also discuss with them whether they use local suppliers for their meat and vegetables and how you could bring seasonality into your menu too. Plastic food covering are a huge source of waste so if this is something you are concerned about discuss ways this could be reduced too.
Second-hand Wedding Dress
One of my wedding regrets is not trying harder to to find a second-hand wedding dress. In the years since my wedding my passion for slow fashion has grown hugely, and spending £800 on a dress that I only wore once just seems utterly bonkers. At least my veil was vintage bought from a second-hand bridal group.
There are hundreds of pre-loved dresses out there many of which have only been worn for a few hours. Yes, you may need alterations but often bridal dresses from a shop do too as they are made to a standard size and then altered to fit.
If you really don’t want a wedding dress that’s been worn already, you could look for a brand new dress that’s second hand. Often brides purchases dresses that are too big or small or a realtionship breaks down and they don’t need the dress any longer. This can also be a great way to save cash.
Another recent trend as seen brides wearing their grandmothers dresses so it’s worth looking at whether this could be an option for you.
You could also cosnider the wearability of your dress. Choosing something simple could mean you reware it in the future or it could be dyed or adjusted to become a wardrobe staple. Be more sustainable by wearing shoes and accseroies you already own.
Say No To New Suits
The same goes for mens suits. While it does look nice to have everything all matched in together, wearing a suit you already own is more sustainable and more budget friendly too.
An alternative you be to hire suits rather than buy them if you don’t think it’s likely they’ll be worn again. You also choose silk for ties and other natural materials for the groomsmen to wear.
Consider How Far People Will Need To Travel
The more people you choose to invite to your wedding the bigger the impact on the enviroment. Especially if you plan to get married abroad where people will need to travel further and usually by areoplane.
Getting married close to where the majoirty of your guests live is the most sustaainable choice although I do know this may not always be possible. You could however ask people who need to travel to consider car sharing.
We got married around 80 miles away from our hometown and one of friends actually chose to cycle to and from our wedding! Amazing dedication.
Opt For Eco-Friendly Wedding Favours
One of the most Eco-Friendly wedding favours? No favours at all. Wedding favours are often full of sigle use plastics (for example, little bottle of bubbles, small packet of sweets) and are often left on the table at the end of the night.
If you do want to do wedding favours, get creative, use sustainable materials and make sure it’s something so awesome no-one will forget to take it home with them.
Use Natural or Recyled Materials
Using natural materials rather than plastics can be a great way to have a more sustainable wedding. For example, think about how your bouquets will be tied, use recyled paper for your invites and limited the paper used at your wedding such as not having an order of service printed. Jam jars make excellent candle holders.
Make Everything Reusable
As well as being good for the environtment, choosing reusable items for your sustainable wedding can also mean you’re able to sell them on afterwards.
It could mean spending a little more on better quality items that are less likely to get damaged or broken but also void personalised items as these can’t be reused by anyone else.
Sustainable Wedding: Avoid Single Use Plastics
Avoiding single use plastics can be tough, especially if you’re planning a festival wedding. Take some time to research alternatives and make sure you discuss your sustaintable wedding plan with any suppliers you’ll be using.
Bamboo plates, cups and cutlery can make a great alternative to plastic or you use a crockery hire service. Also think about ditching other plastics such as balloons and confetti.
Choose Sustainable Suppliers
You could also choose your suppliers and venue with sustainability in mind. As well supporting small local businesses many will be happy too discuss their green credentials with you if you ask.
As well as food suppliers this could extend to where you buy your rings. Many independent jewellers now only use recyled silver and gold in their wedding rings and may be able to source second-hand gems if it’s something you’re looking for.
Buy Second Hand or Borrow
When it comes to wedding shopping it can be easy to get carried away and buy lots of things you don’t need or won’t end up using.
To avoid this happening, ask you venue what they already have in terms of decor. Ask other suppliers if they have things you can use or hire. For anything you do buy, try to buy second hand where possible and then sell on repurpose after your wedding.