Choosing reusable wedding decorations can help reduce your wedding's carbon footprint. Find tips on upcycling and reusing your wedding decor.

Planning a wedding is an emotional rollercoaster ride for everyone involved. Selecting the wedding theme, combing through wedding dresses, finding the perfect venue, food tasting: it’s all a thrilling, but exhausting adventure.

And yet—while the bridesmaids were planning wedding favors and groomsmen were booking props—did anyone stop to look around at the mess? Your entourage may suggest some quirky centerpieces, but nobody will want to bring up your wedding’s carbon footprint.

Yes, your wedding can have quite an environmental impact!

The Green Bride Guide: How to Create an Earth-Friendly Wedding on Any Budget by Kate Harrison, highlights the fact that weddings produce on average 400 lbs of garbage per ceremony.

Consider the destiny of all those wedding decorations, many of which are not reusable, after the wedding. Off to the landfill, they go!

But if your wedding can produce this much waste, then there must also be ways to mitigate it. Consider ways to plan an eco-friendly wedding when organizing the big day. With a few adjustments, like investing in reusable wedding decorations instead of single-use ones, you can reduce your wedding's environmental impact drastically.

Consider Reusable Wedding Decorations

Weddings catch a lot of flak from environmentalists, and when planned without thinking about the green implications, rightly so.

The wedding industry creates tons of garbage annually—which then must be transported somewhere, in turn leading to excess fuel consumption on top of the physical waste.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

You can easily host an eco-friendly wedding without giving up on your overall vision. Making small adjustments like using reusable wedding decor can significantly reduce your wedding’s carbon footprint. It puts less pressure on your wedding budget too!

You can go thrifting for statement pieces, or ask one of your recently married friends to lend you something from their big day that you can recycle. Instead of buying all-new wedding signage, use a chalkboard. Incorporate upcycled candle stands, glass jars, and wine bottles, which will also add a touch of whimsy. You can also give these away as wedding favors after the reception. Preserved flowers—or preserving your fresh flowers after the big day for your home decor—are also a great sustainable touch.

There are many vendors who sell used wedding decor—shop their reusable wares, and after the wedding, you can resell the decorations to the same vendor, for another couple to use. You can also choose to donate some items, furniture, or flowers for example, to a care facility, retirement home, or orphanage.

Reusable Wedding Decorations Can Spruce Up Your Home

Of course, you can always repurpose your wedding decorations around the house for some special, personally significant furniture. Many couples fail to see the potential in decor after the nuptials, and later have only photos and video to reminisce with. When shopping for wedding decorations, look for up-cyclable and reusable items that you can give a second life to in your home.

When selecting your decor, focus on items that go with the essence of your home. Throw pillow, napkins, and linen are all reusable (as long as you opt for quality fabric).

Planning to build a romantic wedding gazebo? Bring your fairy lights and lanterns home for the garden or backyard after.

You can also effortlessly repurpose statement furniture and decorative mirrors into home decor, along with the preserved bouquets mentioned above. Those beautiful wedding table centerpieces will also look just as great in your dining room!

No wedding is complete without candles, but what do you do with them after? Before you raise your eyebrows, don’t worry: no one is asking you to melt down all the half-burnt candles (though it’s a good idea)! But you can certainly box up, say, the unity candle and candle holder. Re-light it on special occasions like your wedding anniversary.

Whether it’s furniture, linens, flowers, or candles, consciously seek out reusable wedding decorations for a cost-effective and eco-friendly wedding.

Avoid These Types of Wedding Decor At All Costs!

It’s a sad fact, but not everything is prime for upcycling, recycling, or reusing.

Along with opting for reusable wedding decorations, it is important to know what types of decor to avoid at all costs. These are absolute trash!

Balloons are obvious no-go decorations for sustainable wedding planners. They can only be used one time, and are made of plastic that will outlast the apocalypse. Balloons are also serious choking hazards, both for children at the wedding and animals who may find them later. There are other, less harmful ways to express your excitement.

Similarly, another wedding favorite that should be cast off immediately is confetti. When was the last time you saw someone picking those shiny plastic pieces up to save for another wedding? For a sustainable alternative, consider throwing seeds, grains, or paper. These will either become one with the land or a feast for birds and animals.

The word wedding immediately makes you think of flowers. And honestly, a wedding without flowers feels empty, so no one is canceling your blooming bouquets—at least, not the ones from local harvests. Avoid exotic flowers, as they often are shipped from faraway locales. Their transportation increases fuel consumption and carbon emission. Go local instead—this also shows off the natural beauty of your wedding location!

Shop Afarose to Complement Your Sustainable Wedding

Along with reusable wedding decorations, there are ways to green every aspect of your wedding planning. This includes the location, the jewelry, the invitations, and of course the attire. Shopping for wedding dresses and accessories supplied by eco-friendly vendors like Afarose can also make your wedding more sustainable.

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Afarose’s designer wedding dresses can serve as stunners long after the wedding. These custom, made-to-order showstopper bridal gowns like Moonstone, Ada, and Victoria can be upcycled or reused for other glamorous occasions or passed on as memorable keepsakes. They also stock a selection of gorgeous bridal accessories that you can wear long after the wedding.

Afarose takes sustainability seriously throughout the entire operation, as evidenced by the entire eCommerce model. By giving up on a retail store, Afarose keeps water and energy consumption to a minimum. The astoundingly creative team crafts all the dresses to order to cut back on fabric waste. And when a dress does result in leftover material, they find a way to incorporate it into new designs!

Stunners like Hana, Hebe, and Karin result in less than half the fabric wasted compared to traditional dresses.

Hard to believe sustainability can look this stunning!

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Climate change is not our future, it’s happening now. We are losing flora and fauna, temperatures are rapidly rising, natural disasters occurring more frequently—being green-conscious isn’t a luxury anymore, it’s a necessity.

But the path to a sustainable wedding is easier than you think. Shopping for reusable wedding decorations and collaborating with eco-friendly vendors like Afarose can reduce the carbon footprint of your big day.

Book a virtual appointment with Afarose today and get started planning your wedding!

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