Everyone’s looking for ways to be a little greener but your quest for zero waste should extend to more than just everyday activities like recycling household waste and repurposing items that are past their prime.
Your wedding day offers a major opportunity to reduce your carbon footprint. Unbeknown to most, the wedding industry is responsible for a lot of waste, with the average big day producing some 400lbs of refuse and 63 tonnes of CO2. There are many ways you can waste a little less at your wedding and still have the day you’ve always dreamed of. Here we reveal just seven tips for reducing wedding waste.
1. Choose a venue that’s naturally beautiful
With the right venue, you don’t have to spend a fortune on wedding décor. Here at Holmewood Hall, our stunning house and grounds need little embellishment to provide the perfect backdrop for your special day. This means less of your budget is spent on decorations, and your wedding generates a much smaller footprint.
2. Design eco-friendly wedding invites
You can continue to take the sustainable approach even during those early days of wedding planning by adapting your save-the-dates and wedding invitations with the planet in mind. Many stationery providers are supporting green couples with a range of recycled and alternative materials, including recycled paper, upcycled fabric, and even leather and wood.
Seed paper is the latest phenomenon taking the wedding world by storm. This biodegradable stationery option can be planted in the garden or a pot to sprout beautiful blooms that can be admired long after your wedding date.
Your use of eco-friendly stationery doesn’t have to end once those invites are sent out to your guests. You can utilise the same sustainable materials when designing your wedding programs, menus and place cards.
3. Go seasonal and local with your supplies
Keeping your wedding menu and floral displays as sustainable as possible is simple. By going local and in-season with these wedding day essentials, you can lower emissions dramatically. Local, seasonal goods won’t have to travel too far before landing at your wedding venue. In-season ingredients and blooms don’t need unnatural, carbon-producing intervention to look or taste their best either.
When it comes to your wedding flowers, things don’t get any more local than sourcing blooms from your own backyard. Read our guide to growing your own wedding flowers for more tips.
4. Select vendors that share the same passion
Do your research and connect with wedding vendors that share your green vision. An increasing number of wedding suppliers make ethical, sustainable choices to do what they do best to ensure every aspect of your wedding day is as eco-friendly as intended.
5. Shower yourselves in biodegradable confetti
This may be a blog post about NOT throwing things away but if you’re sticking with tradition, you’re going to need some confetti for your guests to toss.
At Holmewood Hall, we support the use of neutrally coloured, biodegradable confetti inside. For couples looking to take their confetti outside, fresh petals provide a stunningly sustainable option.
6. Give and receive greener gifts
Go green with your gift registry by choosing items that support sustainability. There is plenty of eco-friendly gift inspiration out there, including homewares crafted from reclaimed materials and goods from retailers that give something back to the environment with every purchase.
Don’t forget to explore more conscious options when gifting favours to your guests too. Eco wedding blogger Kate Beavis shares her advice on choosing greener wedding favours:
“As a starting point, couples should ask themselves what would their guests actually use so they are not simply left on the table afterwards. Remember, just because an item is eco, if it is not used and thrown away, then this has impacted the planet negatively.”
7. Use your wedding to make someone else’s day
Extend the life of your wedding supplies by passing these goods on to a local charity or care home. Items like wedding decorations and flowers can be passed on to brighten someone else’s day, whilst any food you didn’t use doesn’t have to go to waste if it’s transported to a local food bank.
