Can my wedding be fun, beautiful, easy breezy AND ecofriendly????

Yes and no. Weddings can certainly create a lot of waste and the pandemic hasn’t help that fact with everything needing to be pre-wrapped and disposable. There are definitely some ways that you can make your celebration more intentional and green just by adding a little bit of extra effort.

Here are our top 12 tips:

1] Find a caterer that focuses on locally sourced and seasonal ingredients. Bonus points for going full-on vegetarian with your menu selection.

2] Hire someone to sort trash and food waste into recycling and compost [whether it’s a service that your caterer offers or a third party].

3] Get Vintage or Borrowed when it comes to your wedding dress and accessories.

4] Go paperless with your Invites. If you’d still like to go the traditional route, find a stationer that focuses on recycled or sustainable papergoods.

5] Find a Floral Designer or local Farmer Florist and let them know that it’s important to you to use as many locally sourced flowers as possible. Purchased or rented potted plants are a great way to go as well.

6] Ditch the water bottles and straws. We know they’re easy but opt instead for a beautiful drink dispenser of infused water and rented glassware. You could even give glass cups with aluminum straws as favors and guests can reuse them all evening.

7] Speaking of favors, give your guests a sapling to plant or find some sort of consumable or handcrafted item made by a local artisan. Bonus points for donating to your favorite charity in lieu of favors or gifts.

8] Don’t buy things you don’t need from Amazon

9] Start with the right vendors. Be sure to book a team that shares your dream of an Eco-Friendly Wedding so that they can advocate for you and help guide you in the decision-making process.

10] Ask your floral designer about repurposing your floral decor after the wedding. They often have great partnerships with local organizations.

11] Go green with your exit. Some fun ideas that don’t wreck the environment are EcoFetti, Lavender, Petals or Fresh Herbs.

12] Join the Intimate Wedding trend and invite fewer guests to your celebration. The bottom is that line, fewer guests mean less waste!

There are so many gray areas and ways that you can look at sustainability. For example, do rented glasses save more energy than recycled plastic cups if you take into account the water it takes to wash the glasses and the fossil fuels the truck emits getting them to your location and picking them back up again??? Our advice is to do your best and do what’s true to you. We all want to help reduce our carbon footprint and in our experience, the best way is to start local and don’t buy things you don’t need.