In the age of Pinterest and unlimited wedding planning resources, more companies are offering eco-friendly alternatives to common wedding services. From going paperless to including donations in their weddings, modern couples are opting for green weddings, and we are all about it!
Eco-Friendly Wedding Tips for a Sustainable Celebration
Reverent Wedding Films prides itself on being a part of the digital wedding community! Because our wedding films are delivered on USB drives and online, we can minimize waste production without sacrificing the quality of our product!
Along with digital photography and cinematography, here are our top eco-friendly wedding tips.
1. Opt For A Natural Wedding Exit
While confetti and sparklers make for great exits, plenty of eco-friendly alternatives look just as great! For example, using recycled paper or seed paper for confetti can achieve the same look with less impact (or no impact) on the environment! Another alternative to paper altogether is using leaf/natural confetti!
We love the DIY leaf confetti look some couples create by using a hole puncher to cut out circles of different colored leaves! Not only do you save money and waste production when using natural confetti, but you also save cleaning time when you use them outside!
2. Hire Local Vendors
If you can, hiring local vendors (like Reverent Wedding Films!) will minimize travel costs, fuel costs, and environmental tolls that come with hiring vendors that are not local.
3. Choose Recyclable Dinnerware, Stationary, Coasters, etc.
Weddings produce a lot of trash. From invitations to programs, a lot of paper is used to make the products your guests need. Luckily, companies like Green Paper Products and LetsGoGreen offer sustainable alternatives. Both companies provide biodegradable and compostable bowls, plates, platters, and more options. This doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice elegance for eco-friendly, either. Biodegradable materials can include Bamboo, Sugarcane, and many other aesthetically pleasing mediums.
4. Pick Bridesmaid/Groomsmen Clothes That They Will Wear Again
This one is not only sustainable but is just plain courteous. Bridesmaid dresses are notorious for being articles of clothing useful for two things: Being worn at one wedding and wasting space in the back of your closet for the rest of eternity. Your bridesmaids and groomsmen will love you even more than they already do for choosing outfits that they get to wear more than once!
5. Rent/Donate Flowers
We’ve mentioned Bloomerent on this blog before, but many other wedding flower websites allow you to use your flowers to their full shelf life. You can also consider using potted plants to move to your new home instead of cut flowers that need to be disposed of after your wedding day.
If cut flowers are absolutely your thing, think about donating them to either another wedding through Bloomerent or to a local hospital through services like Random Acts of Flowers and Petals With Purpose! With companies like Petals With Purpose, your flowers are donated to nursing homes, youth organizations, and other care facilities to spread joy to those who need them!
6. Opt For Charitable Favors
Let’s face it, a lot of wedding favors get thrown away a week after the wedding. Your custom wedding sunglasses may seem like a cute idea in theory, but most people already have their favorite pair of sunglasses, and the wedding favor they got will probably either end up in a drawer somewhere or be tossed. For this reason, many couples are opting out of tangible wedding favors altogether and replacing them with charitable donations. Some couples allow their guests to choose which charities receive donations through interactive activities, while others choose a charity that means a lot to them!
Still want your guests to have a physical wedding favor? There are a ton of companies that offer wedding favors plus a donation to their charity of choice! Companies like Dog Tag Bakery and Project 7 are perfect examples of companies that do this!
7. Opt For Green Favors Like Plants
A couple of posts ago, we talked about DIY wedding favors that were simple and cute for the DIY bride to achieve! One of those ideas was DIY plant favors! Giving out green favors is not only super trendy right now (succulent favors are all over Pinterest and Instagram) but are also a great way to get your guests a gift they can actually use!
8. Eliminate Food Waste
If you planned too much food for your guests, allow them to take some home or donate the leftovers to a nearby food bank! We promise your friends, family, and community will appreciate the food later, and you won’t look any less elegant for caring about the people that matter most in your life!
9. Provide A Shuttle
Not only is this a great option if you are having alcohol at your wedding (yay for safe rides!) but having a shuttle also ensures no guests will be late for your wedding and fewer cars are used to get to your wedding venue (yay for sustainability!).
10. Find Out If Your Venue Has Recycling or Trash Disposal Protocols
Knowing this ahead of time can ensure that you make the right plans when choosing the details of your wedding. You want to ensure that all of the preparation you took when choosing your stationery, dinnerware, etc., does not go to waste (pun intended!) when you actually get to your special day!
Capture Your Eco-Friendly Wedding On Film with Reverent Wedding Films
We hope you enjoyed this limited list of ways to plan your wedding to be more eco-friendly! Know of any more ways to implement eco-conscious thinking into your special day? Let us know in the comments below or Tweet them at @revweddingfilms!
Check our availability online or browse our wedding video packages.
