How to Plan a Eco Friendly Wedding
Over the years of being a wedding photographer and especially whilst we’ve been planning our own wedding. We’ve come across some amazing ideas and solutions to make a wedding more kind to the environment. If you’re wanting to plan a eco friendly wedding here’s our top tips.
Book a sustainable wedding venue
Booking a wedding venue that’s committed to the environment and has a strong eco ethos is likely one of the best steps you can take towards an eco friendly wedding! River Cottage is one of my absolute favourite wedding venues and is completely sustainable. Their amazing food is locally sourced if not grown on their very own farm. Some other of my favourite Eco wedding venues in the South West include Elmore Court, Fforest Weddings, The Matara Center.
Choose wedding suppliers with an Eco Friendly Ethos
Next is ensuring you work with like minded wedding suppliers. Most if not all eco friendly wedding suppliers will include a copy of their ethos on their website or in their brochure.
Book Caterers with locally sourced produce
Booking a caterer who uses local produce and suppliers means your wedding grub supports local business and has a smaller carbon footprint.
Set up a recycling station
A wedding can create a lot of rubbish and it would be awful if it was all to go to landfill. Setting up a recycling station mens your guests can easily discard their rubbish for it to be recycled at a later.
Grow your own flowers
One great upside of planning an eco friendly wedding is that some of our tips are also very budget friendly. If you’re looking to save money where you can, you could consider growing your own flowers to use in your bouquet and as decorations for your venue.
Use British grown and locally sourced flowers
When planning our own wedding having a beautiful bouquet created by a talented florist was the part of my wedding outfit that I looked forward to most. I also wouldn’t want the pressure or stress of creating bouquets the day before the wedding. Second to the fact mine would look terrible in comparison to the amazing floral artists that specialise in this field. Pun fully intended! But you can ask your florist to use British and locally sourced.
Use recycled or sustainable stationary
Using recycled paper paper is a great way to create eco friendly wedding stationary. It also has a lovely rustic look. But if you prefer something more crisp and modern, you can opt for cotton paper. Its more luxurious than standard paper and is entirely sustainable. That’s why all of our wedding photography Cleveland services use cotton paper.
Use bio degradable confetti
Most venues won’t let you use anything else! Non bio degradable confetti is dangerous for birds and wild life and is essentially littering. Uncooked Rice has also been used traditionally but this is also bad for wildlife. So opt for paper or petals instead.
Charitable Wedding Favours
Hands down the most thoughtful wedding favour possible. Not only do your guests get a lovely keepsake from your wedding, but the money for them goes towards an incredible cause close to your heart.
Upcyle your decorations
Up-cycling wedding decorations, buying second hand or using recyclable items is also one of the best ways you can plan a eco friendly wedding. Whilst a DIY wedding is more time consuming, you can really make your wedding unique and full of personality. Here is a bar made from old floor boards and doors at Marie & Nigel’s glamping wedding in Oxfordshire. You can check out the full wedding here.
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Use compostable dinnerware
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If you’re planning to use disposable tableware, opt for compostable plates and cutlery. They can be thrown straight onto a compost pile once you’re finished, easy peasy!
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Sell used decorations
No doubt if you’re decorating your wedding yourself, you’re going to end up with lots of leftover items from the big day. Rock n Roll bride’s facebook group and ebay are great places to sell them so others can make use of them whilst you make a bit of spendy money for your honeymoon.
Donate Leftovers
When planning a wedding it’s always better to provide too much food than not enough. But it’d be a real shame to let food go to waste. Donate leftovers to charities and food banks that can help those in need.
Plan a glamping wedding
This tip can apply to other wedding days too. But planning a glamping wedding means your accommodation and wedding venue are all on one site. Meaning your guests can travel on foot to the celebrations.
Book a party bus!
If you’re wedding day is spread between venues, shuttling your guests is a great way to minimise the number of cars on the road. It also means your guests can relax and enjoy the ride without worrying about getting lost.
Eco friendly Honeymoon
Booking a staycation is a great way to to reduce the carbon foot print of your wedding. The UK has some amazing places worth exploring. My personal favourite is St Ives, with bright blue sea and white sand it’s hard to believe it’s so close to home.
Planning a eco friendly wedding?
I’d love to hear your planning tips on how to make your wedding kinder to the environment.
Looking for a Creative Wedding Photographer in Gloucestershire?
I’d love to hear about your wedding plans. Get in touch to find out more about our eco friendly wedding photography packages.