How to Make Your Wedding More Sustainable

When it comes to planning the big day, you’ve got enough to think about. So let us help you cover the green stuff. Brain relief + hitting the sustainability brief = double win.

Location, location, location

Keeping it local means fewer guests have to trek from here, there and everywhere to your wedding venue of choice. The more you can minimise car, train and plane transportation, the better it will be for the environment.

But, let’s say you’ve got your heart set on a jet-set affair. You can still check the venue’s eco-friendly credentials. Grill them on their sustainability initiatives. Do they make a point of sourcing local produce to reduce their carbon footprint? How’s their recycling game, and what’s their take on single-use plastics?

The more environmentally-friendly boxes they can tick on this stuff, the more worries you can check off in your head.

Wedding flowers and decorations

Close up of a bride's wedding flower bouquet

Picking seasonal flowers is great for the planet, as you do not have to get exotic stems shipped in from the other side of the world. The added bonus is they’re often cheaper too, so we’ve also saved you a few quid. You’re welcome.

Alternatively, some couples are favouring plants over flowers, because their lifespan goes well beyond the big day itself. Find a florist who is keen on sustainability and can help you source native flowers locally for minimal environmental impact. 

When it comes to decorating your do, you want reusable and recyclable gear all day, every day. Can you buy second-hand decor? Borrow bits from friends? Pick things you’ll use at home or can donate to friends. Better still, make it plantable and biodegradable, with compostable seed paper bunting, place cards and wedding menus.

Great for the planet and great for giving your guests a lasting memory of the big day.

What to wear

If it’s a swanky new dress or suit you’re after, look for ethical designers who source fabrics from suppliers with fair working conditions. If you can forgo new in favour of vintage, second-hand or rented attire, the world will thank you for it.

You’ll need something borrowed to go with your something new and something blue, so make it something old and you’ll rack up even more eco-friendly points. 

Thinking about the sustainability of what you wear goes beyond the big day, too. If you’re buying, could you consider selling, donating or hiring out your fancy threads after the wedding? Doing this saves the materials, water and energy required to make clothes from scratch and keeps them out of landfills, meaning that your carbon footprint just got a bit smaller.

Food and booze

Champagne being poured at a table for a wedding

Whatever your catering plans, there are some super easy wins for making things more sustainable. If you can bear to see the back of meat, having a vegetarian or vegan wedding menu is instantly more environmentally friendly.

Can you pick suppliers who favour organic, locally sourced, seasonal produce or who follow that farm-to-fork mentality? When hunting for someone to bake your perfect wedding cake, try to find bakers who use local, organic and fairtrade ingredients.

And it’s not just the food that can up your wedding sustainability. Alcohol can be good for the planet too. Select bottles from wineries that protect soils, improve biodiversity and are actively reducing their carbon footprint through eco-friendly production methods. If that’s not an excuse for a toast, I don’t know what is.

Wedding favours and gifts

Choosing gifts and favours that go beyond instant gratification is key. Swap plastic-packaged tat for charity donations, living plants or gifts made from seed paper. There are plenty of charities out there doing epic, sustainable work, so spend that gifting budget on a good cause instead.

Plants and plantable favours are another winning choice because they last way past the last dance and give your guests an eco-friendly reminder of your big day. The fact their gardens will look even better afterwards is just another reason why they’ll love you.

Wedding stationery

A wedding table with a seed paper table number card

While e-invites have become more popular, the beauty of real paper for stationery nerds like us is hard to beat. So, by picking recycled, compostable and biodegradable paper from printers using sustainable printing methods, you’ll know you’re minimising environmental impact.

Better still, opt for plantable seed paper invitations, orders of service and save the dates that your guests can plant and grow after the event. It’ll keep your stationery order zero waste, while building new habitats for bees and bugs.

By considering even just a few of these elements, you’ll be doing your bit to make your big day the best day ever for you and the world around you.