Top tips for an eco-friendly wedding reception

Weddings can be exceedingly wasteful, but it is possible to plan a memorable wedding day with less waste. Follow these five tips for hosting an eco-friendly wedding reception.

While we all want our wedding to be the party of a lifetime, going all-out on our big day can have a catastrophic impact on the environment. The average wedding generates around 14 tons of carbon dioxide. For couples concerned about their environmental impact, it can be tempting to cut celebrations way back to minimise the damage. However, it is possible to plan a memorable wedding day while still taking care of the planet. Here are five tips for hosting your eco-friendly wedding reception.

1. Gift wildflower seeds as wedding favours

It's traditional to provide the likes of sugared almonds or chocolates at each guest's place setting, but 37% of wedding guests don't eat edible favours. Rather than serving something that will go to waste, consider a sustainable alternative. Wildflower seeds are a great choice because they support local bee and butterfly populations when they grow. Guests can sprinkle them anywhere, such as in their back garden or on a grass verge in their local area. When the flowers bloom in spring, your guests will be reminded of your wedding.

If any of your guests choose not to take their seed packets with them, you can simply ask your venue to gather them up and keep hold of them for you. You can then scatter them wherever you travel over the coming weeks. This is a particularly fun activity if you're headed out on your honeymoon as you can create a trail of wildflowers in your wake.

2. Arrange group transport

A wedding can generate a large number of cars on the road, particularly if guests take taxis to and from the venue rather than driving themselves. A great way to avoid this is to organise group transport. If you have a large number of guests travelling from the same place, consider hiring a bus or coach. This can reduce emissions dramatically compared to couples or small groups travelling separately. Plus, it's a great way for guests to get to know each other and get into the party spirit which can make your day all the more memorable.

To make your wedding even more unique, consider traditional, sustainable methods of travel that don't produce any carbon emissions. For example, vintage horse-drawn buses are a fantastic way to transport a large group. They're particularly useful for helping guests travel between the ceremony and the reception venue within the same town or city.

3. Use paper bouquets and potted plants

It's almost impossible to imagine a wedding without flowers, but unfortunately, flowers are often not very eco-friendly. Around 80% of flowers used in the Western world are imported from a small handful of countries – The Netherlands, Columbia, Ecuador, Kenya and Vietnam. The carbon emissions involved in transporting these flowers across the world are quite significant. Plus, many countries require imported flowers to be sprayed with toxic pesticides to prevent the introduction of harmful pests or diseases. When you consider that these flowers are cut and destined to wilt in a matter of days, it seems hugely wasteful to generate so much environmental harm for the sake of wedding decorations.

Paper bouquets and paper buttonholes are a great alternative to fresh flowers. They can either be saved and treasured for years to come, or recycled to protect the environment. When it comes to decorations for your venue, consider investing in locally-grown potted plants instead of cut flower arrangements. You can give the plants away to your most treasured or green-fingered guests to prevent waste and to serve as a beautiful reminder of your wedding day.

4. Use candles to cut down on electric lighting

Candles are a brilliant way to illuminate your venue while also reducing your electricity usage. Depending on your venue, it's likely you'll still need some overhead lighting, but you can easily cut down by setting up clusters of candles around the room and in the centre of tables. However, it’s important to check with your venue that this is okay as they'll need to consider fire safety before giving you the go-ahead.

This tactic is a great way to make your wedding reception memorable, as the candles will go a long way in decorating your venue as well as lighting it. Nothing is more romantic than the soft, flickering glow of candlelight.

5. Hire or DIY second hand decorations

When it comes to decorating the venue and adorning the table, you can hire everything you need so you are reusing items that are already out there instead of bringing more objects into the world for a single use for one day. You can also ensure these decorations are plastic free by opting for fabric bunting instead of balloons for example.

Or get creative and crafty and DIY your wedding decorations using second hand objects and materials to create the wedding reception of your dreams. There is no shortage of DIY wedding ideas online! Or find a local sustainable small business that will hand-make your wedding decorations for you.

Make your eco-friendly wedding a day to remember

Many tactics for improving the eco-friendliness of your wedding buck tradition or put a unique spin on typical wedding conventions, and it's these small details that tend to make weddings more special. The more you do to minimise carbon emissions on your big day, the more memorable it's bound to feel to your guests.

Guest author bio: Matilda Jefferies is a wedding planner specialising in eco-friendly ceremonies. After working within the wedding industry for several years, she noticed the large amount of waste and set out to find new ways to celebrate without harming the environment. She’s since started her own business and has helped hundreds of couples to have a more eco-conscious wedding.

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