Ideas for an Eco-friendly Wedding Affair

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Your wedding is one of the most important occasions in your life. You want it to be perfect and cherishable. And, most people do everything in their power to make their wedding an unforgettable affair.

But, wedding celebrations can sometimes be harmful to the environment and can have a very high carbon footprint because of the harmful materials used in the décor or during the overall celebrations.

In today’s world, where everyone is concerned about climate change and its harmful effects, it is necessary to try and take small steps in decreasing pollution and trying to live more sustainably.  Mentioned below are 6 ways to make your wedding a more eco-friendly affair.

  1. Say no to single-use plastic

Avoid using things like plastic water bottles, plastic cutlery, etc. as these are made of single-use plastic and are very harmful to the environment.  These take 1000 years to decompose and just end up filling the landfill.

Rather use, glass bottles to provide water to the guests. You can also use wooden, paper, or steel cutlery to serve food to the guests.

Pro tip: Personalize the water bottles with your monogram and give one to each guest to use at the wedding and then take those back home. It’ll act as a memorable gift and will be a great souvenir from your wedding.

Glass bottles look chic and classy!
  1. Change the game of wedding invites

Send E-invites instead of the physical ones. You can also use recycled paper for your wedding invites. Make your wedding invites into something memorable and different.

Pro tip: You can also use seed papers i.e. papers that have a plant seed in them for your wedding invitation cards. Your guests can later bury this paper in the ground and help in planting more trees.

Use recycled or seed paper for wedding invitations
  1. Be vocal for local!

Make sure that your wedding planners use local vendors for the wedding. This will not only reduce the carbon footprint but will also reduce your transportation cost. Using local vendors will promote small businesses in your area and will increase employment in the long run.

Pro tip: Use flowers for your varmalla, which are locally available and are grown seasonally.

Buy flowers from local vendors
  1. Natural Confetti

Rather than using sparkle confetti which is toxic to the environment, try using confetti made with dried flowers, leaves, and paper. This is small detail, but it’ll make your wedding a bit more meaningful and eco-friendly.

Pro tip: you can also DIY the confetti by simply punching holes in dried leaves and paper. Ask kids in your family to do this, and they’ll be so excited!

Confetti made of paper, leaves, and dry flowers
  1. Gifts for Guests

Rather than packing gifts in single-use plastic, try using paper bags or reusable cloth bags to give gifts to your guests. Make sure to select the gifts which are practical, usable and most of all make your guests more environment friendly.

Pro tip: Rather than gifting something like clothes or wine, give your guests a potted plant as a present.

Bonsai is a great gift for guests!
  1. Don’t waste any food

A huge quantity of food is wasted during weddings. You can try to decrease the quantity of the food made by asking your guests to RSVP beforehand so that the food can be made only for people attending the wedding.

Pro tip: Donate the leftover food to any charity or NGO nearby.

Make sure that the food does not go to waste

These steps are small actions towards a huge mission, but in the grand scheme of things, these will leave a large impact on the environment. Your wedding will not only be an awesome affair but will also have a positive effect on nature. And who knows, maybe you’ll also inspire other people to live more sustainably!