How to Plan an Eco-Friendly Wedding
These days eco-conscious brides and grooms increasingly want to plan a more intentional and sustainable wedding. Gone are the days of huge extravagant wedding blowouts. Instead, eco-friendly couples prefer smaller, more intimate, environmentally friendly weddings planned thoughtfully with sustainability in mind.
An eco-conscious wedding is not only better for the planet, but it can also make planning your wedding less stressful. The most important thing is that you end up with the dream wedding day that YOU want.
From using The Dried Petal Company's biodegradable wedding confetti, hiring a wedding planner that specialises in sustainability, choosing a selective guest list, or opting for a pre-loved wedding gown, here are our 6 tips to help you plan an eco-friendly wedding.
6 Tips for Planning an Eco-Friendly Wedding
1. Have a Small Guest List
There's no doubt that choosing your guest list can be one of the most stressful parts of planning your wedding. However, you shouldn't feel under pressure to invite every person you have ever met to be a guest at your wedding. It's YOUR day; YOU choose. Opting for a more intimate wedding can make your special day more personal, enjoyable, and, of course, more environmentally friendly.
When creating your wedding guest list, focus on quality instead of quantity. Invite guests who are a significant part of your past - but also who you see being part of your future. One way to keep the numbers down could be to opt for an adults-only wedding or to decline offering guests a 'plus-one'.
Don't worry about letting down parents' or other relatives' expectations when it comes to the guest list, and remember, no matter how hard you try, you won't be able to please everyone anyway. Parents often will want to invite guests too,' so if your parents are financially contributing to the wedding, one way to manage expectations could be to allocate a certain percentage of the invitations to parents.
2. Eco-Friendly Wedding Invitations
A sustainable wedding requires sustainable materials. Use recycled or biodegradable materials for your wedding invitations and all other signage for your special day. Invitations can even be digital these days - so there's no waste at all. Table signs, thank you cards, and place names can all be wood, paper, or card - and even better, from recycled materials.
Check out The Dried Petal Company's range of eco-friendly cardstock and eco-friendly packaging, wooden signs, confetti envelopes and cones, stickers and greeting cards which are ideal for an eco-friendly wedding. Also, don't forget that after sending your first wave of biodegradable wedding invitations, you can expect some 'with regret' declinations, which means you can extend an invite to a few more guests of your choice.
3 Eco-Friendly Wedding Dress and Tux Options
An eco-conscious bride is a beautiful bride! A huge part of wedding planning is choosing THE DRESS. We understand that choosing your wedding dress is a special ritual. However, you won't be wearing it again, so why not consider hiring one for the day instead of buying one? It's not only better for the planet, but it will also be better for your bank balance.
If you have your heart set on buying your dream wedding dress, opt for a pre-loved gown instead of choosing a fast-fashion wedding dress for your special day. Check out sites like Etsy or Recycle My Wedding for stunning pre-loved wedding gowns. You can also consider buying an ethically made new wedding dress - there are some fabulous bridal designers creating more sustainably made wedding dresses made from eco-friendly fabrics these days. And when it comes to coats, tails, and tuxes for the groom and groomsmen, the same applies - renting items rather than buying them is the best eco-friendly option.
4. Eco-friendly Wedding Favours and Decor
Another hack to cut out more waste from your wedding is to think carefully about wedding favours. Consider if you really need to have them in the first place. Let's be honest; we can all remember going home from a wedding with a cute but functionless wedding favour that has ended up in the bin or the back of a drawer somewhere.
If you love the idea of giving your guests a memento gift to take home with them, choose eco-friendly wedding favours. Examples could be a tasty edible gift or something people will use, such as a personalised bamboo straw, an organic tea bag, a candle (such as Blossom Candles - a local business run by the lovely Sarah), or a succulent. Alternatively, instead of wedding favours, you could donate to a charity of your choice on behalf of your guests.
When planning your wedding decor, say no to balloons and floating lanterns that damage nature and the environment, and instead opt for less wasteful options like potted plants or orchids that your guests can take home and enjoy long after your wedding. You can also organise any fresh flower arrangements from the ceremony venue to be moved and reused to decorate the reception area. Don't forget that you can also give flower arrangements as gifts to your guests to take home at the end of the night. Avoid using anything disposable for your decor, and donate leftover wedding decor items to Facebook groups so they can be reused to make someone else's day just as special.
5. Eco-friendly Wedding Catering
Avoid a buffet for a more eco-friendly wedding because a lot of food always gets wasted. You could choose to have a vegetarian or vegan caterer for a more environmentally conscious wedding. Avoid single-use plates, napkins, and utensils by renting glassware and dishes for your special day, and opt for locally sourced produce as much as possible. You could even invite guests to bring Tupperware to take home leftover food at the end of the night so nothing goes to waste.
6. Eco-Friendly Wedding Confetti
Most venues no longer allow traditional confetti or rice at weddings due to their damaging environmental effects. For a beautiful, dramatic and environmentally conscious exit from your wedding ceremony, there are endless irresistible dried petal eco-friendly confetti options at The Dried Petal Company.
We've got a vibrant selection of colours of freeze-dried petals for scattering on tables, for your flower girls, or for that idyllic photo of swirling confetti as the happy couple exits the venue. Our dried petals are eco-friendly and fully biodegradable - they're made from simply 100% pure flowers: no pesticides or nasties, just natural, pure petals. We're also proud to have just been awarded the Best Eco-Friendly Wedding Confetti Provider 2023 in the Luxlife Global Wedding Awards.
We hope you've enjoyed our 6 tips to help you plan your eco-friendly wedding - and we can't wait to see how you make your special day one to remember.
