The necessity to be sustainable is not just a trend or buzzword, it’s an every day part of life and should be considered in everything that we do. Your wedding day is potentially one of the largest bashes you’ll throw and naturally events have a tendency to be quite wasteful, so it’s an important day to really consider your environmental impact.
We chatted to Poggio Piglia a lovely and actively sustainable wedding venue in Tuscany who shared their advice on how to make your wedding eco-friendly simply and easily.
Start with the proposal
If you’re really invested in being sustainable, why not start considering your impact right from the moment you get engaged. Whilst choosing a sustainable location to propose is important, the most significant part is the ring itself. Why not consider proposing with a ring that’s already in the family or choosing a beautiful vintage ring. If you’d rather have something more new or modern, then think about having stones reset or the metal melted down into something different. It’s also important that you check the source of the diamonds to ensure they are ethical, and ideally opt for lab grown diamonds to get more for your money too.
Venue choice
Your venue is often your first and most important choice and will be instrumental to ensuring your wedding is as sustainable as possible. When you go to visit your wedding venues, make sure you ask them about their commitment to sustainability, what actions they are currently taking to become more sustainable and how they will support your own sustainable choices. Your ability to be as eco-conscious as possible relies on their capabilities.
Venue decor
Decorating the venue can often be an area where a significant amount of wastage occurs. Lots of things are often bought to change a room to match a couple’s desired theme and decor and this by default often means a lot of single use items, that get thrown away after just a few hours of usage. Instead, consider picking a wedding venue that really meets your style needs both inside and out, so that minimal additions need to be made to bring it in line with your vision. Don’t forget that a beautiful garden can often be all the decor that you need, especially if you’re choosing to have a marquee within it.
Minimise travel
Many couples like to use several venues for their wedding day or weekend, but this by default means lots of transport is needed. This choice inherently means more impact on the planet, especially with people travelling in separate cars. If you can, stick to simply one or two locations to minimise the negative impact.
Reduce, reuse and recycle
A key message across sustainable practices that we all know is reduce, reuse and recycle. Firstly, use less where you can, secondly, make sure you’re not using it all only once and thirdly, make sure you recycle it for future use. This message not only applies to decor, but also applies to:
Invitations
Whilst pretty, they can often use up a lot of money and environmental resources, so its an important area to make more eco-friendly. Think about whether you need to send them physically or whether digital invitations will be equally suitable. If you do want to do physical invites, think about using sustainable inks and paper, and minimise waste by only sending out what is necessary.
Cut flowers
Often an important part of your wedding decor, cut flowers are unfortunately not very sustainable with them being cut for the specific use of the wedding. When choosing your wedding flowers, consider what is seasonal and local to reduce your impact and opt for pot plants, herbs and small trees instead of floral arrangements.
Food
Catering is known for having a lot of waste, not only from things being thrown away but financially, with it being one of the most expensive parts of the wedding. When you visit your venue, talk to them and their caterers about their sustainability practices, as they will often be aligned. with well known caterers to deliver sustainable food options and do plenty of things to lower their impact on the planet. These things include seeking out local and seasonal food, ordering the right quantities to avoid wastage and selecting menu options that have lower impact on the environment. For drinks, embrace the local wine and avoid bottled water.
Favours
Whilst these are lovely momentos, it’s really important to think about their long term usage. Consider whether your guests will make use of them, or even take them home with them. Trinkets and tat will typically gather dust and usually end up in landfill, so your better option is to go for consumables like food and sweets, or small plants, seeds to plant.
Where and what next?
Following your wedding, honeymoons and gifts can often offer up potentially pitfalls for bad sustainable choices. Consider this when creating your gift list and opt for sustainable choices and donations to charity, and think carefully about whether you’ll actually use the things you’re asking for. Honeymoons are a whole other article in themselves, but worth thinking about how you can make your travel and stay more eco-conscious.
Ultimately, choosing to have a sustainable wedding isn’t just a matter of box ticking but needs to have careful planning and thinking. It may seem like a bit of a hassle to do this initially, but it’s definitely worth the extra time to ensure your wedding is as sustainable as possible.
