Have an Amazing Wedding while You Watch the Carbon Footprint!

A happy new beginning for you does not have to be an epic disaster for Mother Earth, leaving behind souvenirs of discarded embossed paper and wilted flowers.

Going green doesn’t mean giving up the things you want, it just means shifting your perspective slightly. You don’t have to sacrifice your pretty wedding decor dreams for these green options. It is important to be conscious of being overly wasteful, so we make choices that help curb the waste.

A single person generates a minimum of five pieces of disposables at a wedding. Imagine that! This is something that can be completely avoided. Depending on which part of the country you are from, all this waste is either burnt or sent to landfills, sometimes a bit of both. The obvious outcome is land, water and air pollution.

Event Planners need to talk to involved families and sensitize them about environmental issues. It is important to understand that each and every aspect of a wedding or any other event can be made sustainable if one tries.

Here’s a quick list we have compiled.

No More Paper

Skip printing your invitations and use an online greeting to invite your family and friends. Digital invites are equally stunning and save you big bucks while eliminating waste. You could also go one step further and create a beautiful video that can double up as your wedding invite.

Paper goods like invitations, save-the-dates, programs and menus all end up in the trash once the vows are made. Consider eliminating the most unnecessary items like programs and menus, and use other materials besides paper to get the message out. For example, chalkboards, mirrors or even old window panes are a great way to display menus.

Names can be written on wine glasses or Mason jars, which then double as place cards. Use picture frames, wine bottles or even vases for table numbers. A wedding can become more personal when some of the paper goods are eliminated and couples get creative with alternatives.

Seeded Paper

For any Eco-wedding, recycled paper invites is a must, but there’s one type of recycled paper that really has a greener edge: seeded papers! These contain tiny flower or herb seeds that sprout when buried in the earth.

Go Local

Cut down on your carbon footprint by hiring local vendors, and buying local and in-season flowers and food.

Venue & Sustainable Decor

Outdoor ceremonies often require fewer decorations and no air conditioning, heating or lighting. Details are important when it comes to weddings, and no one expects a couple to give them up. Unmatched vases, Mason jars and unexpected items like old books or even photos can be used to decorate your event, adding a personal flair.  Opt for minimal flowers and more of cloth drapes and reusable décor elements.

Instead of going for plastic decorations or using flowers that will eventually wither away, try potted blooms or plants as centerpieces in your functions. So, once the ceremony is over, your guests can take them home and replant them. If you're having a beach wedding, get creative and make use of sea shells etc. to enhance the decor.

Gift potted saplings to guests and if there are more outstation guests, you can consider giving them seed packets or earthen jars as they are easier to carry

Skip Bottled Water – Have Pretty Dispensers Instead

Avoid bottled water at you sustainable wedding. Sure, it’s convenient, but the bottle is made from plastic – a material with a high carbon footprint. Plus, it is destined for a landfill, where it won’t degrade for years. Most hotels/ venues have dispensers these could be used to dispense water/ serving water in pitchers is a great way to serve fruit infused water at your wedding too!

Besides, a beautiful container is much fancier!

Recycle Your Wedding Flowers

Let your arrangements live beyond the wedding day by donating them to a nursing home, hospital, or shelters.

Digital Photography

This is a must-do for an Eco-friendly wedding, as it offers a paperless, chemical-free way to capture your memories. A digital album is for keeps. If you want hard prints, another option is to sit down with your photographer once all your ceremonies are over and go through all the soft prints. Choose a few you want to be printed.

Ditch the Fireworks & Colour Bombs

The fireworks show can fill onlookers with awe. Unfortunately, it can also fill them with particulates and aluminium.

Fireworks get their flamboyance from a variety of chemicals, many of which are toxic to humans. From the gunpowder that fuels their flight to the metallic compounds that color their explosions, fireworks often contain carcinogenic or hormone-disrupting substances that can seep into soil and water, not to mention the lung-clogging smoke they release and plastic debris they scatter. What we do know is that, although they're fleeting and infrequent, fireworks shows spray out a toxic concoction that rains down quietly into lakes, rivers and bays throughout the country.

Even if you just want to save a little and use recycled wedding invites or any one of the above it is a move in the right direction and Eco positive inspiration