8 Easy ways to make your wedding more eco-friendly

8 Easy ways to make your wedding more eco-friendly……

There are lots of things to think about when it comes to planning a wedding and more and more couples are finding themselves also asking ‘how can I make my wedding more eco-friendly?’ 

There can be a lot of waste at a wedding that couples find themselves justifying in pursuit of the perfect day. But there are lots of ways that you can make your celebrations more sustainable, that could also save time and money.  This blog isn’t about ensuring every morsel you eat is organic and local, or booking specific eco venues….However, if you are looking for one, check out the lovely Folly Farm, an eco-friendly event venue based in 250-acres of beautiful nature reserve in the heart of Somerset. Below are 8 easy ways to make your wedding more eco-friendly.

Send your invites online….

Large packs of matching stationery, inviting guests to a wedding, are falling out of fashion in favour of wedding websites and emails. As guests, we know it’s extremely rare to receive an unexpected invitation to a wedding. We’ve usually been notified, by an excited couple, as soon as the date is set. So, to receive a save the date note and an additional huge follow up pack a year down the line, with details about hotels, taxis and our food options, it can feel a little OTT.

Ensure you’ve got everyone’s email address and fire off a beautifully worded email inviting your guests. Emails are easy to follow up and you’ll find that with guests just being able to hit reply, you’ll have most of your RSVPs within hours rather than weeks. Wedding websites are also really useful if your wedding is abroad, or if you have a number of guests travelling from further away that may be interested in local hotels and taxi numbers.  

There’s no reason why your guests who will expect a written invite, can’t still have one though. You’ll be saving a huge amount of unnecessary paper and carbon emissions from postage, by sending e-invites to most people. No matter what your eco arguments are, your 90 year old grandparents may still find an email invite rather odd!

Reduce the pretty things….

Step away from the wedding aisle in The Range! While helpful for a bit of inspiration, you may find yourself sucked into buying plastic foliage and bits and pieces that you don’t need, just so you are ticking boxes on an unnecessary wedding checklist. Many of these type of items are made knowing that they will go straight into the bin. Think about what you need, rather than what will look good. Your wedding and your budget, will be no worse off for it! This particular bit of advice ties in well with my predicted wedding trends for this year and is one of the easiest ways to make your wedding day more eco-friendly.

If you know that you’re going to be displaying your wedding photographs in a range of different frames, why not buy these ahead of time and use them to hold your table names and menus. If you happen to have a number of scatter cushions on your sofa at home in exactly the right shade of pink for your colour scheme, bring them along and add them to the soft furnishings at your venue. Use your own framed photographs to add to the venue mantlepieces and coffee tables, to fill empty spaces. 

Make your own Confetti….

Depending on how long you have before your big day, you can make your own confetti. Start drying out flowers from the garden or from bunches that you receive. Once the blooms are past their best simply spread them out somewhere dry (a green house or shed is great) then box them up. Ask others to save their petals for you as well.

If Autumn falls between the time you read this and your wedding, you can take a pile of clean, dry leaves, a hole/shape punch and then stamp out your own confetti that will be the most beautiful shades of red and brown. Confetti doesn’t need to be individually bagged. Guests can grab handfuls from a basket, or you could make simple cones from pages of books bought from charity shops, that are easily recyclable.

Eliminate or make your own Favours….

Often it is the little details that can be some of the most wasteful elements of the day. Individually plastic wrapped bars of soap, each with a pretty sticker, then wrapped in tissue paper and popped into an organza bag, with some metallic confetti sprinkled inside, just isn’t necessary.

Thoughtful, small tokens for your guests are always appreciated, but think instead of a green alternative such as bee bombs (that are also often referred to as seed bombs.) These are simple balls of seeds that can be thrown, and where they land, bee friendly flowers will grow. They can be made simply in a variety of different ways, incorporating mulched scrap paper, or clay soil wrapped in hessian. Have a look at this easy guide to making seed bombs here or you could scrap physical favours entirely and make a donation to a charity of behalf of all of your guests. 

Upcycle, borrow, hire and buy secondhand….

The likelihood is that somewhere in yours, or a loved one’s home, is a large mirror. This, combined with a white window marker and someone with neat handwriting, makes the perfect table plan. (it is also easily changeable if there are any last minute guest alterations!)

There are some great local facebook groups that are dedicated to buying and selling secondhand wedding items. Take a look at this somerset based Buy, swap, sell group for wedding items And this Bristol based buy and sell group for wedding items Remember to sell those bits and pieces on again after your big day!

Charity shops also have a huge number of goodies that can be repurposed for weddings and are great for things like inexpensive glassware, photo frames and copies of your favourite book that can be used to make confetti cones, or be mulched down for bee bombs.

There are numerous wedding hire companies all over the country. Whether you’re after a wedding postbox, sweet cart, or vintage crockery, you can find it all!

Living Table centrepieces…..

There are lots of people to thank on a wedding day, why not give each person who has helped, one of the table centre pieces that consist of a potted plant? Garden centres have wide choice of pretty pre-planted pots, or, if you’re green fingered, you could choose simple terracotta planters and plant your own seeds, to create blooms that tie in with your colour scheme. Giving these as gifts mean there is less to clear up and take home afterwards and the gifts will last far longer than a bunch of flowers or bottle of wine!

Transport to your venues….

If you are in the very early stages of planning, consider where your ceremony and reception venues are based. Do you really need to have all of your guests drive an hour from your family church to your reception venue? Choose venues close together and lay on a coach to bring guests from one venue to another. 

Don’t buy plastic….

It’s an obvious one, but think carefully about how things are packaged when you buy them. If you’re having a BBQ or hog roast use palm leaf plates and bamboo cutlery. Palm leaf plates are excellent. They are biodegradable, far more attractive than paper or plastic, are much sturdier, and can be reused again and again (as long as you don’t put them in the dishwasher. If you do they’ll just turn back into leaves!)

If you’re hiring in a bar, for example: for a marquee wedding, personalised glasses are also a great option, instead of single use plastic. For our wedding we bought some glass paint and painted our guests names onto either a beer or large wine glass for each person, depending on their preferred tipple. That way, when they went to the bar, they had a glass ready to use, rather than be offered a new plastic one. They also tripled up as place names and favours. Many years down the line, I still spot them in friend’s cupboards when I pop round. 

These are just a few, of so many easy ways to make your wedding more eco-friendly! Let me know in the comments if there are any environmentally conscious wedding ideas that you have!