Sustainable wedding ideas

As special occasions, weddings are often thought outside of the sustainable sphere. After all, we only get married once or a few times, so it feels like even more of a small ripple in the ocean of what needs to be done or not done in order to help the planet and other animals flourish.

They may be one, two, ten days in our personal lives - but multiply this by the number of people getting married, amplified by their guests surrounding them, and you suddenly realise that they do have an impact. I’m also of the mind that small impact is STILL impact - and such joyful celebrations as weddings are really tainted by the ugly waste habit we’ve poured into them. So here are my tips for having a sustainable, or sustainable-ish like Demi Colleen would say!

Typically, some things have always been more wasteful in the wedding industry. I will give you my tips on many different aspects of them but again, even if you only do one thing, it will be impactful! Intentionality will go a long way - just choose what you actually value over what you ''should'' do or have. The simplest rule to reducing waste is reducing consumption - and the simplest rule to reducing consumption is to prioritise what matters to you! So my first tip is to define what you actually want.

Some ways will seem more straightforward than others and some might have already come up for you, while others haven’t. I would love to hear of the ones I haven’t thought of too!

Suppliers with sustainable practises

We all have a different carbon footprint and we take different steps in making our lives and businesses more or less sustainable. You might think that your choice of photographer won’t have an impact but what supplier you choose will go a long way! For example, Emma at Freckle Photography offsets her carbon footprint, and all her albums are made in the UK, and sustainable. When a supplier shares your values, you know they will have practises rooted in these values, which makes it easier for you.

Sustainable decor

Decorating a wedding venue when you have either never done it or done it only a few times can be daunting and lots of people fall into the trap of “let’s buy everything we see that we like, and it will be okay”. This is a very human response and I really feel that! But here are some tips on how to make your decor more sustainable:

Hire! Cutlery, glass, dinnerware, props can be hired instead of bought if your caterers aren’t providing them. I made the mistake of buying cutlery and ended up donating all of it because I had NO NEED for 100 forks, knives etc. Using a company that will reuse them is a lot more sustainable, AND you’ll have more choice!

Hold a boot sale at the end of your wedding. During the traditional French post wedding day brunch, we put all the decor and props I had made or bought on tables and people could take whatever they wanted - we had a little donation pot where they could leave a bit of cash for our honeymoon, but didn’t have to. It helped us recoup some of the money, and our friends have little reminders of our wedding day in their houses, that they now use or display! It’s lovely to go to theirs and see these little trinkets. Or you could offer them on facebook marketplace, or any other way you know people could come and get things off your plate. I’ve seen many people offer things, whether free or for sale, after their wedding, and it means things get another lease of life!

Choose sustainable options where you can. Caterers and hire companies offer different types of linen, for example: if we use more eco-friendly fabrics, companies will offer more damaging ones less AND will replace the sustainable ones before the non sustainable ones.

Some balloons are biodegradable. If that’s what your heart is set on (and I get it, I do love balloons), go for sustainable companies - not only will your balloons look amazing, they will last for a LONG time! I took part of a balloon arch after a shoot I was a part of, and it was beautiful for 3 weeks before having to bin it. Please please - do not release them in the sky. They will harm wildlife.

Here are some sustainable materials you can use for your decor: tissue paper, leaves, vegetables (pumpkins on tables look epic!), glass (one of my couples had handmade candles in glass jars on their tables - it looked gorgeous), biodegradable glitter

Collect gin bottles, jam jars, gü pots, and use them as decor on your tables.

Need candlesticks? Go to charity shops - they always have these things. Second hand, AND supporting a charity. What’s not to love?

Sustainable confetti

-dried confetti petals are gorgeous and sustainable. I mean how beautiful, romantic and dreamy do the ones sold by The Real Flower Petal Confetti Company? Grown in the UK, then dried, you can even visit the farm to see the flowers grow 💖 What a special experience. The great things about dried petals is that you can sweep them up, pop them in the compost, and they’ll help grow new things! Love a circular wedding idea.

-tissue paper - more and more popular, it’s a great option for those who want really bright colours.

-pom poms - making your own pom poms yourself, with ends and discarded bits of yarn? Sounds like a lovely mindful activity. Will look adorable in photos too!

Sustainable flowers

Reusing your florals will not only be more sustainable, but it will make more of an impact aesthetically too! What a shame to have beautiful flower arrangements and for them only to be seen for an hour? Move your flower arch to behind your cake table, and your aisle runners to your bar.

After your wedding, what about donating them to a hospital or a care home? Bring joy to even more people.

Some wedding florists do not use floral foam or plastic, and use locally grown and seasonal flowers - it’s a practice that is becoming more and more current and even if they don’t talk about it, you could absolutely tell them that you don’t want any floral foam used in your arrangements. They’ll let you know what they then can or can’t do. And of course, if their reply isn’t satisfying to you - don’t hesitate to go look for another supplier. This advice applies to all of us! Your wedding day is important enough that you should not compromise on your values and who you are. Make sure you surround yourself with people you trust.

Sustainable food and catering

Food waste at weddings is HEARTBREAKING and it happens SOOOO often. Here are some tips to reduce food waste!

Often everything is slightly overcatered and so we end up with a ton of leftovers. Now I’m really not against overcatering, because I have been to weddings where there wasn’t enough food and it was actually really unpleasant to live through - but if people prepare for this, it doesn’t have to mean waste! You could ask your guests to bring containers so that they can take food home. We bring biodegradable food cartons to all weddings we cater so that whether it’s cake leftovers or other, people can take them home. If they’re not used then, they can be used later so it’s not wasteful either way! Another way to reduce food waste is to put food out before the bar is open and dancing has started. A lot of the time, we hear from people never getting to eat the wedding cake because by the time it was served up and cut, people had started drinking and dancing and everyone forgot about their cake. I suggest not waiting too late to avoid that!

I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t mention that vegan food has a lot less impact on the planet than non vegan foods. There is absolutely no reason for you to go for a non vegan cake - literally NO ONE will know the difference! You’ll be able to include all vegan, vegetarian, lactose, dairy or egg free, halal and kosher peeps - without anyone complaining. I know the rest of the food can be trickier when people actually see the ingredients put on their plate (what about soup as a starter, though?) but even just having vegan cake and desserts will help make your wedding more sustainable. Think of offering a vegan option instead of vegetarian - again, more sustainable, and more inclusive!

Small companies over big corporations

As a general rule (to which, of course, there can be exceptions) small businesses are less wasteful than big corporations. By using small and / or local companies when you can - though we supply cakes all over, and I am aware that sometimes local is not the best option, sustainably or for other reasons - you will reduce some waste.

I would also encourage you to talk to your suppliers about their methods and sustainable practices. Don’t be derailed by them not mentioning it on their website and social media (after all, I barely mention it anywhere! There’s only so many hours during the day that sometimes adding things to your website can feel overwhelming) but absolutely ask them. If they care about sustainability they should have a clear answer.

Sustainable wedding outfits

A company I highly recommend checking out is Indie Bride London - their beautiful gowns are made to order so not only is yours really made for you, which feels extra special, it means no waste from overmaking something that doesn’t sell (which is a HUGE issue - I recommend reading Aja Barber’s Consumed) and adding to the massive amount of unneeded clothes in the world. Indie Bride London also focuses on sustainable and natural fabrics, use offcuts in their sashes and as embellishments, and everything is made in London, so you know your wedding outfit wasn’t part of modern slavery and unethical practises!

Sustainable jewellery

Jewellery is a really important part of the discussion as part of your outfit and potentially what you will wear for the rest of your life! An actual heirloom - it is so exciting to think about. Sadly the jewellery industry is often unethical and not sustainable, but I’m super pleased to tell you that I’ve found a gem (see what I’ve done there?). Shakti Ellenwood Precious Jewellery are not only a B-corp certified company, they also only use fairtrade 18 carat gold - which means the miners are paid a fair wage - again, no modern slavery there! - and helps the local community. They also give some of their profits to charity which I love.

Now, here are alllll the things we are doing to help make our business as sustainable as we can. I’ve probably forgotten things, but that's okay! If you have more suggestions, please pop them in the comments. I’m always looking at ways to improve our impact.

-we use biodegradable and fabric cloths and kitchen towels as much as possible, instead of only paper towels - as we can clean them we get to reuse them;

-we buy in bulk as much as we can, which means less packaging and less deliveries / collections for ingredients - 25kg sugar bag, 7kg fondant buckets

-we do not use single use plastic. Our cling film and our piping bags are compostable, our greaseproof paper is too. All our packaging is compostable - cookie bags, greaseproof paper, mailers - or recyclable - cake boxes.

-our stationery is printed on recycled paper and the paper we use to print orders is then shredded to make our signature confetti

-as mentioned, we provide compostable cartons to fight food waste at weddings

-as we provide cakes to two food banks, any leftover cake trims we have are donated and packed in compostable boxes

-we hire props which is a great way to decorate your wedding - the props we buy often come from charity shops or second hand websites, and we get to reuse them throughout weddings. The props we cannot get second hand are bought from small, independent businesses. (Most of them are also used in my house as decor because I love them)

-the cake boxes we use are sourced from UK companies, made in the UK

-the tape we use is compostable

-of course, we recycle at work and have a special food waste collection for things such as lemons

-as a vegan company, we know our impact on the environment is less than a non vegan company

I’m sure there are many things I’ve forgotten, so I’ll be adding them to this list as I go!