Your wedding is meant to be the most special day in your life, but it can also be one of the most wasteful—tossed paper goods, excess food thrown away, and leftover flowers dumped in the garbage. We don’t expect you to wage a war against your venue if it doesn’t have the ‘go green’ facilities. But we’re all for helping the earth—and you can do it without sacrificing your budget, vision or sanity. We’re not saying to skip the party or those gorgeous details, but consider these eco wedding ideas, featuring small changes that can make a major impact. Wedding Affair brings to you a few things to keep in mind if you want to have an eco-friendly wedding.
Opt For Eco-Friendly Invitations
As wedding vendors become increasingly environmentally conscious, it’s easier than ever to find invitation suites that are printed on recycled paper or use alternative materials like upcycled fabrics, leather, and wood. Look for companies that give back to the environment while shopping for a stationer. For the most earth-friendly stationery, print invitations, programs, and menus on seed paper. Seed paper is a biodegradable material that sprouts into flowers when planted in a pot of soil.
Flower Power
To make sure your blooms are as sustainable as possible, look to companies that are farm-to-table, so to speak—companies that cut the stems and have the flowers to you within a few days. Don’t want your beautiful flowers thrown away after your celebration? Work with a company that will pick up the arrangements and reuse them. Another eco-friendly choice is to choose potted blooms, plants as centerpieces. This way, you can take them home and replant them after the wedding. If in case you aren’t a flower person, use an arrangement of silk stems or a bundle of farmer’s market fruits and veggies and decorate reception tables with things you can reuse in your home after the wedding, like soy-based candles or stacks of books.
Go For Alfresco
You can also opt for an outdoor space. This is a great way to be one with nature on your wedding day: a lush forest, rolling hills, or a picturesque vineyard are all stunning spots to tie the knot. Booking a wedding at a national park helps provide funding for its conservation, and many beach fees include proceeds for cleanup efforts. You’ll save on your energy usage by cutting down on the amount of lighting you’ll need. All the natural light will result in beautiful photographs. Do we need to ask for anything else? We don’t think so.
Rent Dishes and Linens
Using linens and dishes versus disposable goods (especially plastic) for pre- and post-wedding events is another smart way to be sustainable. But we know that most people don’t have enough linens or dishes to account for all of their guests. That’s why renting these items is usually the best way to go. Be sure to ask your rental company about what cleaning processes they use, as some can be more harmful to the environment than others.
Donate or Compost Your Flowers and Food Waste
Food and flower waste makes up for a large amount of trash on wedding days. Often it ends up in a landfill when it very easily could be composted or donated. Talk to your caterer about what happens to your food waste after the wedding, and make sure there is a plan in place to either donate or compost left over food. The same goes for your flowers. They can either be composted along with your food waste, or you can donate them.
Also Read:Â Planning a fun beach wedding
To look & book wedding venues, vendors services, please log on to wedvendors.com
