Have you considered the environmental impact of weddings? Check out these eco-friendly wedding tips for how to minimize waste when planning your big day.

You’ve said yes to the proposal, you’ve told your friends and family, and everyone’s excited for the big day. Hooray!

Planning is underway, and everyone has suggestions for what to do, how to decorate, and what to wear. But among all the planning tips, has anyone suggested how an eco-friendly wedding can benefit the environment?

Everyone loves a wedding, but unfortunately—the dark side to the big day is how much negative environmental impact weddings can have. At the end of the day, ALL the plastic—plastic confetti, plastic cups, plastic straws, all those disposable wedding favors—everything winds up in a landfill somewhere or in the ocean. Believe it or not, the plastic debris from your wedding will still be intact by the time you have grandchildren!

Weddings are meant for happy loving thoughts, not sad landfill-wrecking-the-environment thoughts!

While no single person can save the planet alone, every single sustainable step you take will help the environment. And after all, you want a happily ever after on a healthy planet, not one filled with rubbish!

So fear not, with some mindfulness and a few easy tips, it’s easy to host an eco-friendly wedding.

1. Reuse, Repurpose, or Upcycle Wedding Decor

In her book, The Green Bride Guide: How to Create an Earth-Friendly Wedding on Any Budget, Kate Harrison finds that a single wedding produces approximately 63 tons of carbon dioxide, and 400 lbs of garbage.

While a truly shocking statistic, it’s not actually terribly surprising when you stop to think about it. Consider how much new stuff is made for every single wedding, for one day only.

When planning your wedding, assess whether you need something brand-new, or if you’re buying it new just because it’s new. Mix in some vintage decor elements to reduce your wedding’s carbon footprint. And incorporate previously-used wedding decor to be both eco-friendly and economical.

Decor items like flower vases and lighting fixtures are often purchased in bulk. In addition to eating up a chunk of the wedding budget, it also hurts to know those beautiful pieces will then likely wind up rotting in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Especially when they can easily be reused!

Liked the vases at your friend’s wedding? Ask them if you can use them at your wedding too. Can’t stop thinking about the cake stand at your friend’s birthday? Give it a quick paint job to transform it for your own special day.

Upcycling is another great way to find statement pieces for your wedding, and can easily be turned into a fun pre-wedding bridal party group project. Find some dramatic objects like wooden cages or perhaps discarded wedding signs. Paint them in your wedding colors and incorporate them into the ceremony.

The same goes for fabric items—revive some older throw pillows by sewing monograms or love-inspired messages on them.

2. Turn Flowers into Wedding Favors

No one can imagine a wedding without flowers of course. But what do you do with the flowers after the ceremony?

There are many ways to put your wedding flowers to good use after the ceremony. For example, give your centerpieces and other flower arrangements as wedding favors.

Not ready to part ways with your wedding bouquet yet? Preserve it!

You can do it yourself. Make sure your bouquet is in good shape, then hang it upside down in a dry and dark place for a few weeks. Once it is completely dry, frame it. A little sleuthing online before the big day can help you find out which flowers preserve their colors the brightest, so you can plan your new wall art in advance.

Dried or preserved flowers look great too and make for unique decor at a modern wedding.

If you want to make a difference and share the love, recycle your wedding flowers by sending them to nursing homes, old age homes, and orphanages after the wedding. It’s a small gesture that doesn’t take much effort and it’s sure to brighten someone’s day.

There’s also always the obvious option: you can choose to give back to the earth. Compost your flowers and allow the life circle to continue.

Whichever route you go for repurposing your flowers after the ceremony, make sure you plan for them to be sustainable along the entire journey. Ask your wedding planner to look for florists who source locally or sustainably as well.

3. Consider Recycled Paper Or Paperless Invitations

Wedding stationery creates a massive amount of waste. To keep the carbon footprint of your wedding small, explore eco-friendly stationery options for your invitations and program cards.

Substitute the conventional embossed pages for handmade paper. This kind of paper makes excellent invitations for vintage weddings. You can also get your invites printed on seeded papers to serve as a combination invite and wedding favor. Your guests can later plant the wedding invitation into the soil and watch them bloom into lovely flowers.

To have a truly eco-friendly wedding style, you can always take the digital route. Electronic invitations are cost-effective, can be sent instantly, and need no physical contact.

4. Avoid Food Waste at Your Eco-Friendly Wedding

This list of eco-friendly wedding tips wouldn’t be complete without discussing food.

Your guests might forget about the decor and the theme, but they will never forget the culinary experience they have on your special day.

You don't have to compromise on food but focus on quality rather than quantity. Talk to your caterer and sample their best dishes. Instead of plating up everything on offer, keep your menu tight and serve only the best of the best items. It will significantly cut down your wedding cost as well.

Consider hors d'oeuvres or appetizers instead of a full course meal.

Get some recyclable takeout containers for the leftover food. You should give some out to the staff and suppliers as well—after all, they are a part of your wedding. Consider donating any untouched leftover food to a homeless shelter. There’s no better way to start this new chapter of your life than with a bit of compassion.

Enjoy Your Eco-Friendly Wedding With Afarose

There’s only so much you can do on your own to create an eco-friendly wedding.

Partnering with environmentally conscious vendors makes hosting an eco-friendly wedding easier. Vendors like designer wedding dress boutique Afarose consider sustainability throughout their entire process.

In contrast to most wedding dress shops, Afarose runs a fully online eCommerce-based business model. And their dress manufacturing process is also entirely bespoke. No wasted space, water, energy, or any other precious environmental resources.

Mass manufacturing might save some companies some expense in the long run, but it also produces a lot of waste.

Every dress from Afarose is made to order, including stunners like Ilaria, Noemi A, and Angela. They measure outfits along 11 different precise measurements to ensure the dresses are perfectly sized for brides and bridesmaids, minimizing fabric waste. And when there is excess fabric, Afarose designers repurpose the fabric into a new design!

Your wedding is only the start of your happily ever after.

Part of the beautiful life you and your partner have planned should include a habitable planet. Raging forest fires, melting glaciers, superstorms, and rising sea levels are not what you and your partner want to discuss on your golden wedding anniversary.

It may seem like a small step, but following these eco-friendly wedding tips and partnering with eco-conscious vendors like Afarose can help cut down on your wedding’s environmental impact.

Book a styling appointment with an Afarose virtual stylist today!

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