Top Tips for Planning an Eco-Conscious Outdoor Wedding

With the world becoming more and more eco-conscious, there is also a movement for couples to plan their wedding in a more green, eco-friendly way. There are so many aspects to planning a wedding, so we have put together our top tips for planning an eco-conscious outdoor wedding.

Stationery

A great idea for eco-conscious invitations is to create something that can be reused. There are types of paper now available that have seeds entwined in it, meaning your guests can receive your wedding invitation and then plant them in their own gardens. To grow some vegetables, or pretty bee friendly wildflowers. Just be sure to make it clear on the invite that they are plantable!

Another consideration is do you need to send a physical invitation or save the date card at all? Or would you be happy sending E-invites instead? E-invites remove the need for any paper, ink, printing process and postage or air miles. Meaning they are the most eco-conscious option.

However, if you are set on sending a physical invitation, think about using recycled paper. If you are hiring someone to make your invites for you, check how they work and if the paper they use is recycled and recyclable.

Check whether the design you opt for has any form of glitter or sparkle that makes the paper not recyclable.

Clothing

The most eco-friendly way of sourcing your wedding attire is to not buy it at all. Why not consider hiring your outfit for the big day? There are so many companies out there that offer the hire of dresses for the bride and bridesmaids, and suits for the groom and groomsmen. Our recommendations would be By Rotation and Rent with Swished.

If buying your wedding outfit is super important to you, then there are a few considerations to make a more eco-conscious choice.

Buy local. Head to your local wedding dress shop and try lots of different styles on. If you plan to search online for your wedding dress, try to make sure you buy British, saving on excess postage and air miles.

Buy second hand. There are lots of companies out there that offer second hand dresses and suits. This is also an option for after your wedding, to resell them so someone else can get use out of them.

For your bridesmaid dresses, consider letting them choose their own dress, rather than being specific on what style you want. You can pick a colour range and then they can choose something they love, meaning they are likely to wear it more than just the once.

Styling

For your table and venue decorations, there are multiple options out there for hiring in. Many stylists offer a dry hire service, meaning you select what items you would like, they deliver them and you arrange them yourself. They then collect them all after the event, meaning you have nothing left over after your celebration.

For your place settings and name cards, double these up with your wedding favours. Putting your guests names on their favours means you will have less paper name cards to make and less to dispose of, as they will take them away with them at the end of the night.

These days, you can buy many wedding related items second hand. Places like Facebook Marketplace, Etsy and Ebay are full of people selling their previously loved wedding decorations. You can then think about donating or reselling them after your wedding, for other happy couples to reuse.

Confetti

Confetti is often an important moment of your special day. Many venues have banned foil confetti as it isn’t biodegradable and often ends up in fields with animals and livestock. We also do not allow foil confetti in our tipis and sailcloth. Simply because we are based on a farm and when we clean our matting, the confetti ends up in the fields around the farm which is harmful for the animals and wildlife.

There are lots of eco-friendly alternatives out there – including biodegradable confetti, or our personal favourite, natural confetti made from dried flower petals.

Flowers and Plants

When choosing your florist, consider how they source their flowers. Choose a florist that uses locally grown, British flowers. Some florists even have their own garden full of plants and flowers that they pick from to make your wedding flowers.

Choosing flowers that are in season around your wedding date is another great way of making sure flowers aren’t being sourced unnecessarily.

Another consideration is whether your florist uses green foam within their displays. Lots of florists are moving away from this material as it is essentially a form of single use plastic, that doesn’t break down when disposed of in landfill and very often ends up in the ocean. Our advice would be to ask your florist to use an alternative to green foam.

For your table displays, consider using potted plants. They can make a beautiful display as centrepieces, with the added bonus of offering them to your guests. Allowing your guests to take the potted plants home with them at the end of the night is a great gift, as well as leaving you with less waste to remove.

Also consider whether to use your bridal party bouquets in vases as table displays. This is a great way of reusing them, when your ceremony is finished and the bridesmaids don’t want to keep hold of them, they can pop them into the vases.

Favours

As mentioned above, we definitely recommend doubling up your favours with your place settings and name cards. And there are lots of eco-friendly options for the gift.

Make your wedding favours items that are consumable or that can be reused. Try homemade treats, like cakes or biscuits, or homemade jars of jams or chutneys. Small bottles of booze always go down well too, things like sloe gin or flavoured vodkas.

Another lovely option is a small packet of seeds. Giving your guests the option to plant some bee friendly wildflowers or vegetables when they get home.

Catering and Bar

Food and drink are a big thing to consider when trying to plan an eco-conscious outdoor wedding. Keep your food and drink choices local and seasonal. This means less transportation, as well as using things that are seasonal to Britain meaning your caterer won’t have to ship anything in from other countries.

Food and drink can both create a huge amount of waste and leftovers, so it is important to think about who removes this, and where it goes. Have a conversation with your caterer about how they dispose of their waste. Do they recycle their rubbish, and do they compost any leftovers? Some companies even offer the option of donating your leftover food to people in need.

Consider gifting each of your guests their own glass to use and refill all day and night. These can be given as wedding favours, with their names on to make them personalised, and can save on excessive cleaning or use of disposable cups.

For your cake, think about whether you really need to have a huge three or five tiered cake. There is often lots of leftover and wasted cake at the end of the wedding, so maybe opt for something a little smaller.

Alternatively, don’t have a cake at all in the traditional sense. Other options could be cupcakes, or doughnuts, where each guest gets their own. This could even be incorporated into your wedding meal as your dessert option.

Recycling

A consideration for your wedding venue is do they have the option of recycling. If your caterer and bar supplier can take their own waste away to be recycled then great, but what about all of your guests’ waste.

Speak to your venue about whether there is the option to set up a recycling station. Make sure it is clearly labelled, so it makes it much easier for your guests to know where everything should go.

Final Thoughts

It may feel a bit overwhelming reading through all of this, but you don’t have to do it all! Even just choosing a couple of things from what we’ve talked about can make a huge difference to the amount of waste your wedding produces, and can go a huge way to helping you create an eco-conscious outdoor wedding.