How to plan a sustainable, eco-friendly, wedding?
Well that’s a question and a half, isn’t it? Everyone knows that planning a wedding is hard work and stressful. Add in to that, a desire to be low waste, sustainable or eco-friendly, and you can be entering a minefield.
Many of us suffer from eco-anxiety, and at no point do you want that to impact your wedding. So it is important to get a balance between your eco side and your inner bride!
When I started planning my wedding, my partner and I knew that we didn’t want anything big and I knew that I wanted to make it as sustainable as possible. So I thought, in case it helps others, I would share my top ideas and findings in a Blog series; this is part 1.
So my first suggestion for a sustainable wedding – list your non-negotiable. This will be different for us all, and can be really personal, you only plan to do this once, so you don’t want regrets. If any of those non-negotiables will not work in a sustainable way, then let it go. Do your best to be sustainable (you are obviously passionate about it, or you wouldn’t have ended up here!) but don’t stress the small stuff, just do your best, it will still be more than most.
Next top tip – start with the big ones; venue and guest list. These two go hand in hand as your venue will depend on your numbers. Once you have rough invite numbers, you can research venues. That’s where it becomes harder; you need your venue to fit your numbers and your ‘theme’ or vibe, but also for it to be sustainable. So a few things to note; keep number as low as you can (less waste and fewer resources used or needed), choose a venue that is local to most of your guests to keep the carbon footprint low, look at catering options; a sit down meal has less waste than a buffet, or maybe do an American style pot luck, do you want plant based?, or for the lowest impact; a venue that serves local produce. Some venues also specialise in using ‘waste’ food, maybe there is one near you. Check out the ethical and sustainability statements and policies, most places have them now, and don’t be afraid to ask questions!
Along with Venues come the registrars or celebrants. This is a very individual decision. But if your venue offers the ceremony on site, or in walking distance, then it’s great to have both elements together to really lower the impact of the travel carbon footprint, it’s not all about convenience, it’s about the environment too!
Finally for today – save the dates and invites. Of course, the most eco way – don’t do them! But after A LOT of research and soul searching I found a few options; design your save the dates in Canva and send out via message/whatsapp or just talk to the key people. Save the dates are only necessary for people that you really want at your wedding. And yes, the fridge magnets are cute (I had to fight my inner bride on this one) but they will just end up in the bin. So have a think. Are save the dates a non-negotiable, or an easy eco save by not having them/sending a message? Then the invites, I looked into the carbon footprint of posting vs a wedding website, and posting wins – UK postal service is surprisingly low on the carbon footprint front. BUT (and it’s a big but!), once I factored in the materials to make/print the invites, and the cost of seeded paper (also how many people actually plant it?!) and the postage of invites, then RSVP etc. then the wedding website won. And I chose to use WithJoy as it had the lowest impact on the website impact checker. Plus it totally saves time!
So in summary for part 1 of the Sustainable Wedding Blog; the sustainable level of your wedding can vary, and will be impacted by your non-negotiables, but this is where to start, and part 2 will delve even deeper…