Guide to an eco-friendly wedding

There are a lot of resources that go into making your special day perfect, but there is also a lot of waste! Therefore, many couples have started opting for environmentally friendly alternatives and additions to their weddings. Here is a list of six ways you can decrease your wedding’s carbon footprint.

​​There are several ways you can go green with your wedding invitations and save the dates, the first being to go completely paperless. E-invites mean fewer carbon emissions from transportation and no paper usage! However, if you love the idea of a physical invitation, we have another alternative for you. Biodegradable seed paper invites are equally as beautiful as the traditional options. Plus, they are made from recycled materials and can give back to Mother Nature! Once your guests have marked their calendars for your big day, they can cut up the invitations, plant them in soil, and the seeds will germinate in seven to ten days. Over the years, these plants will produce oxygen, provide nutrients to the soil, and protect against erosion.

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Another way couples can be more sustainable for their big day is by having a charity registry donation. This is a perfect idea for couples who feel they already have all the newlywed necessities. Instead of having your friends and family purchase gifts for you, you can ask them to donate to a cause of your choosing, through platforms such as The Good Beginning. Although you may have never thought about it, wedding registries can be very straining on our environment. Between buying, packaging, wrapping, and transporting new products, registries leave behind a large carbon footprint. Charity wedding registries can help you start your union off by doing good.

Florals are an important part of any wedding, and there are several different ways you can have beautiful flowers without hurting the Earth. For centerpieces, couples usually opt for cut flowers, but instead you can do potted plants and floral arrangements that you and guests can take home and enjoy for a lot longer. However, if you prefer to use cut flowers, it’s a great idea to use locally sourced, seasonal flowers because they don’t have to travel as far which cuts down on the emissions from transport!

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When choosing between a sit-down dinner or a buffet for your big day, consider how many guests you will have and how much food you expect them to consume. Sit-down dinners tend to alleviate waste because they provide exact servings to each guest. Buffets, on the other hand, usually consist of a large spread with many options and an excess of each dish. This creates a lot of unnecessary waste and harms our environment.

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Once you’ve decided on what type of dinner you’ll be serving, you’ll have to choose flatware and silverware. If you are aiming for low waste levels, then you can opt for real china and silverware over paper and plastic alternatives. However, if you do not want to buy or rent china or reusable cutlery, there are plenty of compostable one-use utensils on the market. These forms usually take about six to nine months to break down while plastics can sometimes take hundreds of years!

Have you ever seen these environmentally conscious alternatives at a wedding? Would you try one yourself? Let us know in the comments!