Keeping your wedding eco-friendly is a fantastic idea as they allow us to celebrate love while also taking care of the environment. Eco-friendly weddings or green weddings is all about making conscious choices, like using sustainable materials, reducing waste, supporting local vendors and minimize our ecological footprint. Choosing eco-friendly options for invitations, decorations, and favors can make a huge difference. It is a way to show one’s commitment to a greener future and inspire others to do the same, plus it adds a great twist and meaning to one’s special day.
Here are some ways you can make your special day more sustainable and eco-friendly:
1. Choose A Green Venue: While selecting the wedding venue you should opt for a venue that prioritizes sustainability and recycling, such as a barn, garden, botanical garden or eco-friendly hotel. You can also consider outdoor spaces to minimize energy usage and use natural energy as much as possible plus an open space brings out a positive aura for the wedding. It will also help you to embrace natural elements moreover who does not like a scenic lush green backdrop for their ceremony, a place with tall trees, thick bushes, colorful and vibrant flowers will surely make everyone fall in love.
2. Invitations: The trends are changing with the change in time now people prefer sending out digital invites as opposed to the traditional paper ones, hence go digital with your invitations to reduce paper waste. However if you are one of those people who prefer physical invitations, you can use recycled or plantable paper that has some starter seeds in it like basil, dahlia, oregano etc. For other stationery items, choose recycled or sustainably sourced materials.
3. Sustainable Decor: For decorating the venue try to use natural and reusable decorations like potted plants, recycled glassware, and biodegradable confetti. Moreover, you can replace artificial lights with oil lamps, candles, earthen lamps, glass reflectors etc. you can also opt for a day wedding to use sunlight as a natural source of energy. Another way to promote eco friendly ways is to rent or borrow items instead of buying new ones, and you can donate or repurpose them after the wedding celebrations are over.
4. Eco-Friendly Attire: In order to embrace eco friendly theme you can choose a wedding dress made from sustainable fabrics like organic cotton, hemp, or silk. You can also consider renting an outfit or buying a pre-loved gown. Many brides are wearing their mother’s wedding outfit for their own big day, which also adds more meaning to the wedding. For the groom and wedding party, opt for sustainable clothing options as well.
5. Local And Seasonal Catering: You can serve your guests local cuisine by working with a caterer who focuses on locally sourced and organic ingredients. This reduces the carbon footprint associated with transporting food long distances. You can also serve vegetarian or vegan options to further reduce environmental impact. Apart from the environmental benefits, this will also promote a healthy lifestyle. You can also choose recyclable cutlery for the wedding, replace plastic plates and spoon with plant based alternatives. Another way to encourage sustainability is by providing reusable water bottles.
6. Sustainable Transportation: You can incorporate eco friendly theme in transportation as well by encouraging the guests to carpool or use public transportation to reach the venue. If possible, choose a location that offers easy access to public transportation or arrange a shuttle service for your guests.
7. Eco-Friendly Gifts: Give your guests eco-conscious gifts like seed packets, reusable bamboo straws, or locally made artisanal products like jute bags, combs, small potted plants etc. Avoid single-use plastics or items that contribute to waste.
8. Waste Management: To further promote waste management you can set up recycling and composting stations throughout the venue this will ensure proper waste disposal as well as encourage people to participate in eco friendly practices.
9. Sustainable Flowers: You can choose locally grown, seasonal flowers to reduce the carbon footprint associated with long-distance transportation. Moreover consider using potted plants or dried flowers that can be repurposed after the wedding. You can also rent flowers along with other decorations.
10. Donate And Repurpose: Instead of traditional wedding gifts, ask guests to make a donation to an environmental charity or organization of your choice and instead of throwing leftover food and decorations donate them to some charity or people in need or find creative ways to repurpose them.
Remember every small step towards sustainability counts and by incorporating these eco-friendly practices into your wedding, you’ll be able to celebrate your special day while also making a positive impact on the environment. An eco friendly is a meaningful and impactful way to create lasting memories while leaving a positive footprint behind so go ahead and plan your eco friendly wedding with joy and excitement.
