Your wedding will be the biggest event you arrange in your life. It usually involves getting loads of people together, booking a massive catering team, hiring a couple of huge venues, etc. Not only does this become extremely expensive, but it’s also one of the least sustainable events ever.
People go overboard when planning weddings, to the point where they have a seriously negative carbon impact. You might not see this as a problem – after all, it’s just one wedding – but think about how many weddings happen every year! It’s a bigger issue than we realize, so let’s look at some ideas to plan a more sustainable wedding and see if it’s genuinely possible to do.
Pick A Sustainable Wedding Venue
It all starts with your wedding venue; you must pick somewhere that’s more sustainable than “traditional” venues. More often than not, some of the best wedding venues are located outdoors, which immediately gives you a sustainable setting. Being out in the open limits the need for excessive decorations and lowers your wedding’s carbon footprint.
Moreover, you should find venues with excellent sustainability practices. For example, opt for somewhere that provides extensive recycling options to reduce waste during your wedding – or a hotel that might use solar power to fuel most of its energy.
Rent Your Wedding Dress
Everyone wants the perfect wedding dress, but is it worth buying a brand-new one? Choosing pre-owned clothing is a massive eco-conscious trend at the moment, though you can go one step further for your wedding day. Instead of buying a second-hand dress, you can rent one.
Renting is way more cost-effective, but it also means you don’t waste resources getting a new dress made, packaged, and delivered to you. You’re reusing something, which automatically cuts your wedding’s carbon footprint.
Ensure Your Decorations Are Recyclable Or Reusable
Try to use as many recyclable decorations as possible throughout your wedding day. A big example of this is to use paper decorations that can easily be thrown in a recycling bin, rather than ones containing plastic.
At the same time, think of decorations you can use again for different events. Potted plants are great for this; they add some natural greenery to your wedding, and then you can either take them home or give them to guests instead of throwing them away and generating lots of waste.
Focus On Reducing Food Waste
On the topic of waste, food waste is a massive sustainability concern for almost every wedding. You’ve definitely been to weddings where there’s an abundance of leftovers that simply get thrown away. This is terrible for the planet, so your attention must be on reducing food waste at your wedding.
Start by sending out menus to know how many people are attending and what they’ll be eating. Set menus are better than buffets from a food waste perspective, as you can cook what you need. Then, if there are leftovers, you can hand any fresh food out to local homeless shelters. As for the partially eaten leftovers, you can compost them or put them in a food waste recycling bin.
In conclusion, it is entirely possible to plan a sustainable wedding, and you shouldn’t assume otherwise. A few small tweaks and some eco-conscious thinking will help you plan a special day that doesn’t leave a huge carbon footprint.