5 Simple Ways to Make Your Wedding More Eco-Friendly
To celebrate Earth Day, I wanted to share 5 Simple Ways to Make Your Wedding MORE Eco-Friendly. These ideas are simple and easy to incorporate into your planning yet they still make a positive impact on the environment. The best part? Not one will have make you sacrifice style or elegance.
After all, etiquette is rooted in kindness and respect. It is not limited to how we treat each other, but in fact extends to how we treat the world around us.
Bridesmaids wear rented Badgley Mischka dresses from the Rent The Runway Bridal Concierge Service
5 Simple Ways to Make Your Wedding More Eco-Friendly
Work with your florist to design your floral arrangements around local, in-season flower options. There are many benefits to going this route and shopping local and in-season cuts down on carbon emissions from transportation and supports local farmers, thus creating less of an environmental impact. There’s also personal benefit in that your florals will cost less! Consider working with your florist to donate leftover flowers and arrangements after the event to local senior homes to extend the life of your beautiful creations and brighten up someone’s day.
Choose a plated dinner over buffet dining style. Not only is it perceived as more elegant and fitting for a formal affair, plated dinners result in less food waste as the caterer is able to better prepare portions in advance. Food waste is a huge environmental issue and one that can be avoided with a bit of forethought and intention.
Consider renting over buying whenever possible. From linens, decor to suits and even bridesmaid dresses, renting reduces the need for the production of items which will likely be used only once. While renting suits and tuxedos is common for groomsmen, brides may want to try the Rent The Runway Bridal Concierge service for bridesmaid dresses - they have a wonderful program which works well and affords bridesmaids an affordable option without committing to a dress they likely will not wear again.
For one-use items like invitations, consider choosing recycled paper or another creative option such as leather, wood or another up-cycled material. These options not only cut down on paper production and waste, but can also add a special touch to make your wedding even more unique!
When it comes to favors, think unique and eco-friendly. A few of my favorite ideas: reusable luggage tags which were used as seating cards and favors, hand-made spice sachets for a fall wedding, beautiful seed papers for a spring wedding. One may also consider letting guests know a donation was made in their honor to a charity of the couple’s choice.
Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to planning a sustainable, eco-friendly wedding or large event. However, every choice matters and each time we choose to be kind to Mother Earth, we all reap the benefits.
Re-usable luggage tags which were customized to the couple’s theme, and also used as seating cards.
