Sustainability has been the watchword for quite some time, influencing not only commercial ventures but also private projects. Sustainable fashion, sustainable living, sustainable eating, and not the next kid on the sustainability block is the sustainable wedding. What can today's couples do to create a sustainable wedding that feels just as festive and beautiful as more classical ceremonies?
By Team Savant
Image: Sasha Freemind
So what exactly is a sustainable wedding?
Also described as a green or eco-friendly event, a wedding with a sustainability priority consciously decreases its environmental impact on the planet. Couples carefully consider reduced carbon footprint alternatives as part of the planning process. According to Wikipedia, the traditional wedding can produce on average, 400 pounds of garbage and 63 tonnes of CO2. This includes every element of the wedding:
Paper invitations
Flowers
Gas emissions through transportation
Textile production
Ditch the white dress
Wedding dresses have a significant environmental impact for a variety of reasons. Typically wedding dress production is not sustainable, creating a lot of waste and added transportation. Besides, classic wedding dresses tend to have a lot of excess material as part of the design, essentially creating a single item that can have the same environmental cost as an entire fashion collection.
The bride can be instrumental in reducing the ecological impact of the wedding simply by choosing to wear a different outfit. Moving away from bridal fashion to choose something simpler but still elegant could be one of the greenest decisions a couple can make. It's fair to say that not everyone feels comfortable with a wedding dress. So, ditching the dress also ensures you can plan a wedding that will feel personal and faithful to your personality.
Create your own decor
Decorating a venue creates a huge amount of waste. Flowers, banners, signs, centrepieces, and other decorative pieces are likely to be discarded after the wedding, which means ... GARBAGE.
Items bought for decorative purposes tend to be mass-produced, which, as everybody knows, is the least eco-friendly method of production. On the other hand, for more and more couples, the role of the venue is to represent their personalities. Therefore, the shift to handmade items is growing:
Handwritten menus
Crafted centrepieces
Letter signs
Many of these items can frequently be repurposed at a future date. Centrepieces and letter signs, for instance, can be kept in a self storage facility until ready to be upcycled. Letter signs are frequently seen again in home decor. If they are unnamed, they can even be sold for new couples to use as part of their venue decor.
Reduce the invite list
What is an acceptable number of guests?
The answer varies depending on who you ask. Some can't conceive the idea of inviting less than 100 guests to their weddings, while others don't feel comfortable with a large crowd. But the more guests a wedding has, the less sustainable it will be. Indeed, your guests are responsible for:
Increasing transportation gas emissions
Increasing environmental impact of catering
Increasing textile and invitation production
Increasing the venue's carbon footprint
So, it's no surprise that more and more couples are looking to streamline their invitations. Trends in 2022 take inspiration from the pandemic recommendations and prefer to limit guests to under 25, inviting only close friends and relatives.
Another interesting approach to wedding guests is the choice not to invite anyone. Couples make the conscious decision of going guest-free not only to save costs but also to avoid planning hassles. Guest-free wedding parties shine for their eco-friendly arrangements:
No venue decor
No catering requirements
Limited transportation needs
No paper invitations
Limited textile production
Shop local and seasonal
At the time of planning their perfect wedding, couples are faced with a variety of questions trying to understand what their dream venue looks like and what should be served on their special day.
A sustainable wedding planner doesn't ignore these important choices. But instead of leaving all options open, green planning begins with the right question to support sustainability:
Which local venues are available?
Who are my local suppliers?
What will the local products be when the wedding is planned?
Can suppliers prioritise local ingredients and goods?
Which is the best season to keep energy costs low at the venue?
Making green choices a top priority can help move away from the traditional high carbon footprint celebration.
Sustainability when it comes to weddings is not a fashionable trend. It is a commitment that elevates and modernises the wedding institution. Couples are showing the way, and all we need to do now is follow in their green footsteps.