Summer outdoor weddings have a magical atmosphere, offering couples the opportunity to exchange vows, surrounded by beautiful nature. Although your wedding is one of the most precious days of your life, incorporating eco-friendly practises where you can, can significantly help the environment, even on your big day! In this guide, we will explore how you can plan your wedding to be equally perfect for yourself and the environment, making it the most memorable day. Here are some tips on how you can adapt your wedding to be eco-friendly:
Selecting Your Venue
When it comes to planning an eco-friendly wedding, the venue sets the stage for sustainability. Make a start by seeking out venues that align with your green standards, this could be looking for locations that stand out with their sustainable features like a LEED certification or sustainable practices like energy-efficient lighting and water conservation efforts.
Sending Eco-Friendly Invitations
Consider inviting your guests to your wedding through digital invitations. Not only are they convenient and easy to find, but they also massively reduce paper waste, helping contribute to your green wedding. There are a lot of websites that offer customisable templates, allowing you to tailor your invitations to your guests the way you like.
If you are keener to send out invitations in a more traditional way, such as by sending a physical invitation, consider choosing recycled paper or other sustainable materials. Many stationary companies offer eco-friendly options that are great for the environment and also provide a beautiful and traditional template for sending wedding invitations to family and friends.
Sustainable Decorations
In addition, choosing eco-friendly decorations for your wedding is an essential part of a sustainable wedding, since they are usually the most significant source of waste. Therefore, to reduce the environmental impact of your wedding as much as possible, consider using eco-friendly decorations. Use natural and local materials such as flowers, plants and wood to avoid transportation emissions and reduce your carbon footprint.
Avoid using plastic decorations that are not biodegradable, and instead, use decorations that can be reused, or recycled. For example, select glass jars, wooden crates, or LED lights that could be re-purposed after the wedding.
Sustainable Menu
Food is an important part of any wedding, however, it can also have a huge impact on the environment. When choosing food for a menu, try to select locally sourced, organic and seasonal ingredients, which will avoid the carbon footprint of the food and help support local farmers.
If you have run out of ideas for sustainable food, consider hiring a caterer that specialises in sustainable practices such as composting and reducing food waste.
Waste Reduction Strategies
Waste is a large environmental issue, and weddings can generate a lot of it! To reduce the waste generated by your wedding, consider using reusable and biodegradable items. You can select sustainable options such as reusable plates, cutlery and cups instead of disposable ones. Furthermore, biodegradable confetti or flower petals are a great alternative in comparison to plastic confetti, as this can be disposed of naturally, avoiding being sent to landfills.
Waste Management
Having a wedding does equal a significant amount of waste. This may be managed by your chosen wedding venue, however, if you’re in the position of booking everything for your wedding, choosing the right waste management company to cater for you and your guests is important.
Sustainable waste management experts, such as the team here at REMONDIS, will provide you with the peace of mind that each step of the way, they consider the environment and are recovering and recycling as much material as possible to minimise the impact on the planet.
