In all the excitement and fun of planning your Wedding day, sometimes it can be easy to forget the impact your choices will have on the environment. There are so many ways to plan the perfect Wedding day to reflect you and your future spouse, while keeping Mother Nature in mind too! Here are some of our favorite eco-friendly Wedding ideas to help you have the green Wedding you are aiming for. You can still create the perfect Wedding day while keeping your impact on the environment to a minimum:
Provide Transportation for your Guests
Encouraging guests to carpool or providing transportation for your guests from the hotel to ceremony and reception is a great way to make your Wedding a little greener! For a budget friendly option, try renting a school bus from the town your Wedding is being held in to bring guests from the hotel to the Wedding. You can fit a lot of guests on them and will not need as many, adding to your green Wedding factor!
Use Electronic Invites
Rather than sending out hundreds of paper save the dates and Wedding invitations which will most likely end up in a landfill somewhere, why not send an electronic invitation? There are a bunch of sites that offer beautiful electronic invitations that you can personalize to reflect the theme and aesthetic of your Wedding. Another perk, electronic invites are usually more cost effective and will help keep not only the planet but your budget happy too!
Serve Local and Seasonal Foods
When planning the menu for your big day, it helps to keep in mind foods that can be sourced locally and are in season during your Wedding. Serving food that isn’t local and needs to be shipped in from another part of the country can dramatically increase the negative impact on the environment. Look for a caterer who tries to source all their menu items from local farmers and keeps their waste to a minimum. This goes for flowers too! All great to keep your Wedding green!
Use Natural Materials for your Décor
While planning your décor, try and use natural elements where you can to help create a vibe that is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also eco-conscious! Here are some of our favorite ways to incorporate natural elements into your design and contribute to your green wedding: Natural Material Confetti: Instead of having your guests throw confetti during you and your spouse’s big send off, try using natural materials like dried flowers, leaves, herbs or even bird seed. Succulent and Potted Plant Tablescapes: Rather than using traditional floral arrangements for your table décor, instead try using potted plants or succulents that guests can then bring home and keep or replant in their garden! By using potted plants and succulents, you can reduce the number of cut flowers used and then tossed after your big day. You can also ditch the florals and go for a more unique centerpiece, like our bride did with old vintage glass bottles and books! Natural Material Table Numbers and Escort Cards: Instead of printing table numbers and escort cards on paper, try using leaves, pine cones or potted plants as escort cards, which can also double as the guest’s favors! One of our brides used succulents planted in teacups as escort cards so guests could find their table and then had a cute and eco friendly favor to bring home at the end of the night!
Reusable Signage
Instead of printing individual dinner menus, wedding timelines or ceremony programs for each guest, try using reusable signage instead! You can display the signage somewhere everyone can see it and it eliminates a lot of paper waste from your Wedding. We love chalkboards as they can be used over and over again even after your big day.