The WoW Style

Weddings are amazing celebrations of love and happiness, but in the midst of the joy of the occasion, it can be easy to overlook one particularly troubling aspect of modern ceremonies. According to research by Sky Ocean Rescue, one wedding creates 18kg of single-use plastic waste, which adds up to 4,910 tonnes of waste each year.

As such, it’s no wonder that eco-friendly weddings are becoming all the rage. You can still have your dream ceremony and make it sustainable at the same time, and the best place to start is by looking at the companies organising your wedding. To help, we’ve compiled a list of brands who take an eco-friendly approach to giving couples the best wedding possible.

Decorations

Blooming Haus

Though artificial flowers are long-lasting, and tend to be cheaper, opting for fresh, natural flowers helps you get one step closer to a plastic-free wedding. Choose ethically-crafted wedding flowers, which are locally sourced to reduce carbon footprint, free from pesticides, and selected on a seasonal basis—which also makes them more affordable. Take Blooming Haus, who craft their bouquets from forages and local flowers, as well as a tree-planting initiative for each new client, ensuring that your flowers have “maximum visual impact and minimal environmental damage.”

Sell My Wedding

While it may sound strange to consider, you can easily purchase all of the table decorations you need—such as candles, vases and artsy wedding props—second-hand, helping you save money and repurpose preloved wedding items. For the last six years, Sell My Wedding has served as an online one-stop-shop for newlyweds looking to pass their decorations on to other happy couples.

Shropshire Petals

Confetti is often made from plastic, which can enter local water sources after being washed away down storm drains. This not only causes damage to aquatic life, but can also be harmful to animals who stumble upon clumps of the stuff and ingest it. However, Shropshire Petals provide biodegradable confetti, which is made from 100% natural petals, letting your wedding guests throw confetti without a guilty conscience.

Clothing

Rent The Runway

By their nature, weddings are glamorous events, which means it can be tempting to splash out on a stunning dress. However, it’s not environmentally friendly to buy brand new. Instead, why not contribute to the shared clothing economy, returning your dress after the big day to be reused by another bride. This saves bridal gowns from getting left in the back of wardrobes, or ending up in a landfill, and is an especially sustainable and sensible solution when you’re only going to wear the dress once. Instead of buying outright, you can hire your dream designer dress from Rent The Runway for a lower price.

Indiebride

Alternatively, you can opt for a sustainably-produced bohemian or vintage dress from Indiebride, a “sustainable bridal wear brand” who design and create wedding dresses that respect the environment and the people living in it. Their dressmakers use natural materials like cotton, silk and ramie, and reuse any fabric cut-offs to create wedding accessories. or donate them to students and organisations who can make good use of the fabrics in their own projects.

Food and drink

Eco Cuisine

For a delicious and sustainable wedding feast, choose a supplier like Eco Cuisine, who use homegrown sustainable, organic ingredients to make their food. Sticking to vegetarian or vegan menus is also an eco-friendly choice, as they create fewer greenhouse emissions. By choosing British-grown produce, you can also promote awareness about the process of how your guests’ food gets from farm to table.

Mulebox

To keep the drinks flowing, consider hiring a mobile bar such as Mulebox, a brand that believes in fair trade production, supports organic farming, and uses only compostable or reusable cups and containers. It also supports social enterprises who donate or re-invest 50% or more of its profits into charities and other worthy initiatives. The company’s founder has a clear aim to push and promote the sustainability and fair trade agenda, only working on events with a purpose.

Invitations

Lucy Says I Do

As well as being a pain to sign, seal and deliver, sending hundreds of wedding invitations isn’t environmentally friendly either. Despite being made of paper, they often can’t be recycled, due to additional decorations like glitter. For a more sustainable version, have your invites custom-made to match your wedding theme, or choose a beautiful floral collection from Lucy Says I Do. Their invites are all printed with non-toxic vegetable-based inks, and made from FSC-certified paper, which has been harvested in a socially and environmentally responsible manner, and recycled where possible.

Rings

Joy Everley

Diamond mining can be dangerous for the environment, causing soil erosion, deforestation and ecosystem destruction. But that doesn’t mean they can’t still be a girl’s best friend—you can easily seek out eco-friendly rings, which are made from recycled metals and use vintage and ethical stones. London-based jeweller Joy Everley specialises in diamonds which haven’t been mined from sources which violate workers’ rights, and make sure to use 75% recycled gold for all of their wedding bands.

Eco Wood Rings

For something that breaks from tradition, a ring made of wood is a sustainable alternative. The material has been salvaged, recycled or sustainably grown, while each ring is one-of-a-kind, made either from the company’s sustainable materials or your own wood. For example, Eco Wood Rings are committed to producing natural, ethical jewellery with the lowest possible impact on the environment.