Green Details
In our next blog on having an effortless eco-friendly wedding, we’re looking at the little details that will help you reduce waste at the end of the day.
Local
Buy locally. It will cut down on CO2 emissions transporting goods and services to your venue but there is another benefit to using local suppliers; supporting small businesses. Supporting small local businesses means you are putting back into your local economy, keeping people in work and encouraging competition. There is more than one benefit by choosing local.
Decorations
Hire decorations rather than buying them, or see what you can borrow from your friends and family. Both have the advantage of reusing rather than creating waste.
Cutlery
Don’t have disposable cutlery, plates and glasses. Either use the ones provided by your venue or hire them. For her wedding, my sister hired the glasses. Yes, I had to wash them all up the next day, what else are sisters for, but there were far fewer bin bags than if we’d used plastic cups.
Presents
And you can encourage your guests to be more eco-friendly with their gifts too. You could ask for contributions to your honeymoon. That sort of gift doesn’t come with much packaging so less waste.
Another idea is to ask for donations to go to charity rather than to yourself if there’s nothing that you want and your honeymoon is already sorted.
Upcycle
A third idea is to set up your house with things that will help you maintain your eco-friendly lifestyle. Ask for organic, fairtrade, and items sourced from sustainable products. Ask for upcycled products over brand new. Dare to ask for Tupperware to use when you buy meat and fish from the Deli counters rather than single-use plastic, or a composter for kitchen waste that can help your garden.
None of these things are too big to organise, not if you make a conscious decision at the start of your wedding planning and weave them into your plans. However, the impact on the environment and local businesses will be significant and worth any extra effort you put in.
