Getting married is a unique event in a couple’s life,  always experienced as a big celebration by both spouses and guests. However, wedding ceremonies can also be pretty wasteful, if we think of the several decors, the travel required to gather family and friends in one place, the food waste produced by the wedding reception, and so on. But when it comes to planning the big day, we fear that being eco-friendly means sacrificing details and changing the nuptials plans. Check out these wedding waste saving ideas for your venue, attire, reception meal, catering supplies, to host an Eco-friendly wedding that is both “green” and beautiful.

Weddings should not be wasteful

Weddings have always been linked with abundance and wastage. Actually the average weddings around the world produce huge amounts of garbage and consequently carbon dioxide (CO2), a natural and harmless greenhouse gas in small quantities, but as levels rise it can damage our health and that of the planet. As well as marriage is a reflection of couple’s love and values, a promise to care for each other for life, making conscious choices to reduce the waste of your big day stands for a public commitment to preserve the planet for life. 

Weddings go green

“Green wedding” is about promoting the balance between nature and humanity by support what is produced in a responsible manner  which minimizes the  consumption of natural resources. Nowadays, there is a wide variety of recycled and tree-free paper, including  artistic handmade, colorful and materials. As well as couple  can also consider going entirely digital, starting by sending  electronic invitations instead of the “traditional” printed ones.  Below, we’ve collected some eco-friendly wedding ideas to help you planning a beautiful event without sacrificing your vision of your big day and also being kind to the earth!

Eco-friendly venues

Perhaps the easiest way to make your wedding more eco-friendly is to select the location wisely. You should think of having your wedding take place outdoors, choosing venues immersed in the countryside, in the midst of rolling fields, or gardens.  As well as you can select culturally enriching locations (private estates, natural retreats…), maybe managed by non-profit organization that protects the land and  preserve these historical places.               Once you’ve decided on the location, look for a ceremony and reception site that focus on sustainability practices like sourcing local supplies and ingredients, redirecting food left to needy. 

Sustainable catering supplies

When considering caterers for your wedding event, check out them who get their ingredients from local farmers’ market. This way you both will support local businesses and avoid emissions from transporting products from elsewhere. If food wastage matters to you, you can select catering companies who should offer food  that is either unused or not eaten to charities, or turn it into compost.

Eco-friendly wedding stationary and invitations

Going green on your invitations and stationary is such an easy way to tailor made your wedding. You can cut down the amount of printed items creating handmade invites with recycled paper or other sustainable materials, like plantable seeds paper. As well as it might be possible to borrow some decors from nature, using, for example, using real leaves as place cards. To cut down paper waste, rather than opting for printed wedding invitations, you can send digital invites or save the dates, and maybe organize all the necessary information in a wedding website.

Eco-friendly Wedding attire

Couples could also reduce waste through their fashion choices. If you don’t like the idea of buying something you’ll only wear once, considering to buy second-hand wedding dress or at least renting it, is the easiest ways to go green. If buying a used wedding dress or renting it  isn’t for you, try to shop local to save on wasteful emissions from transportation. Prefer sustainable retailers or select  designers who focus on low carbon emissions fabrics and green technologies. Finally, after wedding you can consider to sell your wedding dress to other brides to make them cut down extra charges. 

Other tips for Minimizing Waste

• Choose a sustainable wedding ring by purchasing vintage and ethical stones or by upcycling a ring or even just a stone you don’t’ use into a new band wedding ring to reduce the impact of buying new. 
• Try to give your guests some green wedding gifts, something with low environmental impact, or even that helps the people to be more green in their own life,  such as a plant or a  kit of seeds by which guests can start a garden. 
• Instead of purchasing a bunch of new items to decorate your wedding ceremony, consider upcycling objects from your home as your wedding decors.There are lots of creative ways to reuse glass  bottles, jars, tin cans, and more to create actually precious centerpieces.

Eco-friendly wedding: conclusions

We’ve taken an in-depth look at simple practices to make the planning and execution of your big day as green as possible. However, having a green wedding is less about making the whole event perfectly eco-friendly and more about being thoughtful and conscious when planning it.