How to plan an eco-friendly wedding

Planning an environmentally friendly wedding

When you begin thinking about the wedding you want, it is so easy for ideas to snowball to great proportions - and that’s fine! But one thing we really kept in mind when planning our wedding, and I know is important to my couples, was how big of an environmental footprint is this one day going to have?

You only have to start to browse online to realise how much single use, plastic crap there is floating around enticing you to buy and promising to make your day extra special. Make no mistake - you don’t need to buy it all!

Here I am exploring lots of ways that my previous couples have put sustainability first when thinking about their wedding, plus lots of tips to help you throw an environmentally friendly wedding!

Venue

This is where most people start when planning a wedding, and the first place you can start thinking about your choices when it comes to sustainability. Choosing somewhere in the UK rather than a destination weddings obviously means that travel is much lower than if everyone is flying somewhere else. You can take that a step further by choosing somewhere local to where you or most of your family live. Having the day all in one place (ceremony + reception) means that you don’t need to think about travel between venues either - saving both money, time and use of cars! When viewings venues it’s worth asking about their eco-policies and definitely about their recycling - I am shocked that even today not all venues have a strict recycling policy. Some places pride themselves on being an eco-wedding venue and boast things such as bio-mass boilers or vegetarian only catering.

Caterers

Choosing local caterers so again travel is a minimum is a great way of keeping is in the area and supporting local economy. Choosing a company that serves good quality, seasonal food means that there’s less air miles and your food is fresher too! If you’re doing it yourself and getting in food vans, ask them what materials their takeaway containers are made from - a lot of people use bio-degradable or bamboo plates and cutlery nowadays (as pictured above)! Avoiding plastic is important as they can’t be recycled and the whole lot just ends up in landfill.

Donate leftover food waste

There is often a huge amount of food waste after weddings, and instead of going in the bin that can be donated to a local charity or homeless shelter to help feed others. Sometimes your caterers ight have a partnership with a charity who provides this, or do some googling yourself and get in touch with some places to see if that would be useful to them and work out if that’s possible to transport it there the next day. I loved reading this story about The Real Junk Food Co catering a wedding!

Avoid single use items

This means things like flip flops, plastic cups, those plastic bubble blowing things, balloons… anything you know is going to end up in the bin afterwards. And if you still want those things, think about sourcing them a different way. Using things that would other wise have been thrown away (like these gin bottle candle holders) is a great way to give them a new lease of life before recycling. And these games went down a treat at one wedding, all knowing they had good homes to go to afterwards!

Drinks

If you’re bringing a bar in or doing your own I recommend getting a keg of beer in, rather than using bottles to reduce recycling. To avoid single glasses use for guests too, you can get creative! Mark them with pens so people can write their names on and keep track of them, or put coloured tags on them.

Rent things, buy second hand or choose things you can wear again

It was not shock you that you are not the only person who has ever got married, or likely planned a similar style of wedding. After the day a lot of couples sell things they used on eBay, or wedding Facebook groups which is a great way to re-coup some money and to give the item another chance at being used! If you can’t find it online second hand think about renting it instead - plenty of wedding companies exist which might be a more economic way as well as meaning you don’t have to deal with selling things after.

Decorations, centre pieces, shoes, bridesmaid dressers, signs, photo booth props, the list is endless!

Above are bride Fran’s trusty Toms which she wore after the wedding day, and some sparkly heels which would easily be worn again! Suzanne is pictured adding some fabric flowers to her usual Doc Martens to jazz them up.

Wedding rings

Buy ethical wedding rings, go vintage or even better.. make your own with a local jeweller!

I’m sure I don’t need to enlighten anyone of the ethics of some of the diamond trade, and buying a ring shouldn’t just stop there either. I am a big fan of the make them yourself workshops that jewellers put on, making sure that your ring is extra special and giving you a wonderful day out with your other half. If you are not crafty in the least and would rather get someone else to make it, putting your money back to a small business or local economy is great way to do good. I also recommend scouring vintage jewellers too if that’s the kind of style you like - something beautiful with a history, and that hasn’t impacted the earth!

On my research I found the fab The Quarter Workshop, a beautiful light workshop in Birmingham that provides this service - I would totally do this if we were getting married again!

Favours

This is one of the biggest things that I see left at the end of a night which is such a waste! Choose something that people are guaranteed to take home - like these super cute potted plants. I also love charity donations - especially for local charities or for tree planting. Seed bombs in stamped little packets are a really lovely thing for people to take home (points if they are bee-friendly seeds!)

Flowers

Choosing a UK grown seasonable flowers is the best way to ensure your flowers are eco-friendly. I love The Flower Garden at Stokesay Court where they grow all their own flowers in their beautiful walled garden in Shropshire. Or you can go a step further and grow your own..!

Wedding Invites

A lot of people opt to go digital in the department, either through a wedding website or just through email. Not always the glitziest of options but if it’s not a priority to you save yourself some money and some paper rather than doing physical invites and postage. If you do want to get them made, check out local stationary suppliers to support local - I love Artcadia based in Shrewsbury. These really are pieces of art!

Honeymoon

Ah, the get away after the big day! Probably something you’re really looking forward to. There are so many places in the UK to have a beautiful honey moon, and maybe explore those before looking abroad. Especially after this year where travel abroad has been so restricted think about somewhere you can go on our shores. Cornwall, Devon and Scotland and the Lake District are all gorgeous spots where you can get a dose of beautiful views as well as a relaxing time. If you’re after a city break maybe choose somewhere you haven’t been before in the UK and research all the fun things you can get up to. Check out Sugar & Loaf and Canopy & Stars and filter for amazing UK breaks.

Glitter Bar

I am ALL for a glitter bar! I love the opportunity for guests and couples to get glittered up for the night time antics. If you’re going down this route make sure you get a company in that use bio-degradable glitter instead of the micro plastics! I really rate EcoStardust!

Clothing

If you’re not wedded to the idea of buying a brand new dress, research what kind of style or brand you’d like and check out eBay and dare I say it charity shops! Many dresses can be dry cleaned after being worn once and you can snap them up for a fraction of a price! Keep an eye out for your favourite brands doing trunk shows where they are getting rid of ex-show stock as well. I really recommend bridal shops like Bridal Reloved in Shropshire that specialise in second hand dresses as well.

Up-cycling a dress that belonged to a family member is a lovely idea too, re-using something that was worn before is a way of incorporating that ‘something old’ as well as having a historical and ultra personal feel. Suzannne got her vintage dress embellished and personalised by Jan at Atelier 19 in Cheltenham, whilst Lucy on the left got hers made in organic cotton by an independent small designer.

DIY Marquee + Festival weddings - Bins

I am doing a whole post dedicated to planning a festival wedding partly because I LOVE shooting them, and partly because that’s what we did when we got married so I have a lot of first hand experience on it. In terms of keeping things eco-friendly I would definitely make sure you put recycling bings and rubbish bins out for your guests to encourage them to sort their waste. Also see the above points about bamboo plates + mugs, keeping suppliers local and borrowing / renting decorations.

Confetti

This is a really easy and important one, there are lots of suppliers who use real petals which not only look beautiful but don’t harm the earth either. Shropshire Petals are my top pick for the west midlands as you can see where they grow all their own on their farm! If you have enough space you can think about growing your own too, but make sure you give yourself plenty of time. A lot of venues won’t allow non-biodegradable so make sure you check this too.

So there we go! I really hope there was some helpful ideas there to get you thinking about eco-friendly wedding ideas - I’d love to hear about any more in the comments if anyone has any more thoughts :)