Your wedding should be one of the best days of your life. Understandably, you’ll want to make it perfect, planning every moment down to the last detail.
One thing that people often underestimate when it comes to planning a wedding is how much waste can be created for a single event. By planning an eco-friendly wedding, you can reduce unnecessary waste and minimise your impact on the environment, making your big day even more special.
Here are some tips for planning an eco-friendly wedding.
Ditch the single-use plastics
Parties and celebrations are notorious for single-use plastics such as straws, disposable cutlery, balloons, party poppers and decorations.
Wooden cutlery and paper straws are more eco-friendly than their plastic alternatives, but you might want to consider getting rid of them altogether. Use metal cutlery that can be cleaned and reused, say no to balloons and opt for natural decorations made from flowers, leaves and wood instead.
Biodegradable confetti
Confetti makes for beautiful, fun photo opportunities, but it can create a lot of mess and waste.
For a few years now, venues and couples alike have been requesting that guests only bring biodegradable confetti to reduce waste and minimise any harm to the venue’s grounds and wildlife. Add this request to your invitations or provide biodegradable confetti at the ceremony for your guests to use.
Electronic invitations
While it’s nice to receive a high-quality wedding invitation with bespoke calligraphy, ultimately it will simply end up in the recycling bin.
Get rid of the waste—and expense—by sending electronic invitations instead. You can go the basic route of sending emails or Facebook invites to your guests, or there are several websites that allow you to create bespoke online wedding invitations for a small fee.
Buy second hand or rent
When it comes to your wedding, there are many things that you’ll end up purchasing just to use on the day. Shoes, suits, table decorations and even your wedding dress might end up only seeing the light of day once.
Wherever possible, choose second-hand or rental options for items that will only get a few hours’ use. It might not seem particularly luxurious, but if you take the emotional aspect out of it, it’s quite wasteful to buy everything brand-new.
Serve a vegan menu
Veganism has hit an all-time high worldwide, and there internet is overflowing with research showing how much of a negative impact the consumption of meat and dairy has on the environment.
Whether or not you follow a vegan diet, catering for large numbers can create a lot of waste, and you may find peace of mind in serving an all-vegan wedding breakfast. Take a look at our tips for catering a vegan wedding.
Go without
If you don’t really need something, just go without it. It’s easy to fall into the trap of following tradition and thinking you absolutely must have certain things for your wedding, but you don’t.
Your wedding is about you. It’s a celebration of love, not of material things. You may even find that stripping back the big day to its core elements makes it feel more special.
Celebrate love and nature at Abbeywood
We love nature here at Abbeywood, and out beautiful gardens and grounds are testament to that. If you’d like to hold an eco-friendly wedding at a venue that cherishes the world we live in, get in touch with us today.
