How to have a Sustainable Wedding
Over the last few years, people have begun to be more conscious about how much waste they create and trying to maintain a more sustainable lifestyle. While weddings are beautiful, they naturally create a lot of waste. Luckily, there are a lot of ways to reduce the environmental impact from your wedding. Here are a few of my top tips to create a more sustainable wedding day:
Renting or Buying Secondhand
One of the best ways to reduce waste is to thrift or rent! Giving new life to something that was used only a handful of times (or less) makes a huge impact. For wedding outfits, look at rental services like Rent the Runway or buy secondhand from thrift stores or high end resale stores. You can find surprisingly great deals on websites like Poshmark, Etsy, and Ebay. The same goes for decor. Check out local Facebook groups and Marketplace to find decor, arches, neon signs, linens, and more.
Eat Clean
Food is a huge source of waste in our society- and that doesn’t stop at weddings. Talk to your caterer to see what they do to create less waste. Do they source biodegradable cutlery? Do they source their ingredients from local farms? Do they have ways to conserve water and energy? Another great thing to do is to ask your caterers to box up any leftovers and either give it to guests or donate it. Check with local food banks first to see their rules for food donation.
Save a Tree
As a wedding photographer, I’m a huge fan of gorgeous stationary. However, most people will often recycle or trash their invitations, which leads to more waste. I recommend either investing in just one amazing primary card and having an online RSVP, or simply save formal invitations for family members and yourself to keep as momentos. If you want to keep formal invitations, consider looking into recyclable paper or seed paper!
Another area to save on paper waste is favors. Most people forget to take favors at the end of the night and they end up being tossed. If you really want to have a wedding favor, consider something edible or eco-friendly. Seeds are a great wedding favor that contribute to a more sustainable wedding.
Let Love Bloom
Flowers are absolutely stunning and are a huge part of making the wedding vision come to life. However, many times floral arrangements end up being discarded at the end of the day. In order to make the most use of your flowers, I recommend talking with your florist about ways to repurpose. See if you can use flowers from the ceremony arch in the reception. Put bouquets in vases on the bar or cake table. Put aisle arrangements around the sweetheart table. The possibilities are endless! At the end of the night, have your guests take home any arrangements that you don’t want to keep or donate them to a local hospital or nursing home. You can also look into having your bouquet or boutonniere preserved either in resin or dried in a shadowbox. And of course, ask your florist to source local, in season flowers to support local farms.
Skip the Sparklers
As much as we love a great sparkler exit, they are not a very eco-friendly choice. A few great alternatives you can use are glowsticks, bubbles, rice, flower petals, biodegradable confetti, ribbons, or birdseed. If you have your heart set on sparklers, make sure they are disposed of properly. Make sure they are completely cooled off before disposing. The best way to do this is to have a bucket of water that people can place their sparklers in after the photo op. This helps to avoid any burns or small fires!
Keep it Small
The biggest way you can help to eliminate waste at your wedding is to keep it small! The more guests you have, the more food, decor, favors, and overall waste is created. Eloping or having a micro-wedding will make things a lot more sustainable- and you actually get to enjoy the company of everyone in attendance!
It may seem overwhelming to try to have a green wedding, but remember- you don’t have to do it perfectly. Even just keeping sustainability in mind and implementing even a few of these tips can make a big impact.
xoxo misterdebs
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