Trying to be more sustainable?
Your wedding day is said to be one of the best days of your life. One of the many things people try to achieve as someone getting married is a generally great day for their guests.
But how about making it that bit better, not just for you and your guests but for the environment? We already go through so much trouble for the day, how about we take the time to make minor changes to the organisation and apply them to making the big day that bit more sustainable?
When saying sustainable and eco-friendly, I don’t mean wearing a dress made of grass or candles to save electricity. Just some small changes that wouldn’t even be noticeable but can go a long way.
A local florist
One of these ways would be keeping your suppliers local to your venue. Wherever you get married, try to source different things locally to avoid having them shipped or delivered from a long distance. Maybe hire a local florist and choose seasonal flowers native to that area. This would be a really personal and homely touch to your wedding while being a much more sustainable option.
And why not reuse those beautifully arranged flowers? Some wedding coordinators will work with you and your venue to make this happen. Speaking to the wedding coordinator at the Eccles Hotel, Maria Dooley, she said: “I really try to recommend to couples to reuse their flowers, if they can get someone to bring the flowers from the church back here to me at the hotel, I will repurpose them around the whole room so that they are used throughout the whole wedding.”
Your menu
Choosing a caterer who sources their ingredients locally is also a great way to go. By choosing organic and local produce, your guests are guaranteed a deliciously fresh meal. Ideally hiring a local chef would be the way to go as they would know local suppliers and farmers for the best meat and vegetables that you require. But depending on where your wedding is taking place, this may not be an option.
If a sustainable and local menu is the way you would like to go, it is worth meeting with your caterers to discuss this further and see if they can accommodate to your expectations.
Zero waste
Another way to make an eco-friendly menu is by trying to cut down on waste. Speaking to a bride who got married earlier this year, she explained her take on a zero food-waste wedding: “Instead of a set menu, we offered a buffet style meal instead. We had two separate buffets for the starters and main courses, but everyone mixed and matched between the two, which worked perfectly. This meant that everyone only took what they were hungry for but could also go back for seconds.
“With the leftover food from the buffet, our caterers put together about 20 ‘doggy bags’ with some of the leftover food and they were left by the door at the end of the night. People went mad for them, and they were all gone so quickly. There was absolutely no food left and I couldn’t recommend it more.”
Keeping close to home
Staying close to home will definitely keep the carbon footprint low on your big day. As beautiful as destination weddings are, flying all your guests to another country or having them drive many hours and long distances is not helpful to our environment. Everyone has a select few friends and family that live abroad or far away, and this can never be helped as you need to be surrounded by your loved ones on your wedding day but keeping it close to home should limit the number of people travelling the distance.
Pre-loved wedding dresses
Aside from flowers and food, another way to add some sustainability to your day is, as the bride, look into pre-loved wedding dresses. These are second-hand dress that have generally only been used once. If this doesn’t sound like something that appeals to you, it could appeal to someone else, so after the big day, think about donating your own dress and allow someone else to enjoy it on their big day. This can cut down a huge wedding cost and is definitely environmentally friendly.
DIY and reusable décor
Another sustainable tip for your wedding, which seems to be very popular on social media is DIYs on a lot of small parts of your wedding. Small simple things like signage, place cards, and initiations can have a big effect. Depending on your wedding theme, repurposing your décor could be a huge cost saving solution while also benefiting the environment hugely. Think of recyclable items like bunting, glassware or vintage candle sticks.