How to have an Eco-Friendly Wedding

Lavender Bumble Bee Bag
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Bee bombs native wildflower seedballs

With Wedding season fast approaching, we reached out to one of our friends who owns ‘Beckie Melvin Events’ to understand her thoughts on how to have an environmentally friendly wedding but still get the day you’ve always dreamed of.

Beckie’s thoughts:

We’re all responsible for creating a better & safer world for future generations & now’s the time, more than ever.
It is becoming alarmingly apparent just how important this is to us all in our everyday lives.
Weddings should be no different.

Now, you’ll be forgiven for thinking that as an event’s organiser & wedding planner, this subject may not be something that I address very often. However, you’d be wrong! And here I am to explain just how we’ve started to incorporate some changes on a daily basis.

At my wedding shows – whether they’re Anti Wedding Shows or Classic Venue Open Days – I give out goody bags & gifts.

The goody bags are made of recycled material & are made to be reused as much as possible, before being recycled.

The gifts are all made to either be recycled (such as the notebooks, with paper or cardboard covers – not plastic) or reused then recycled, such as the pens which are all able to be recycled.

The presentation boxes that I have introduced this month as additional gifts in goody bag are made of recyclable materials (cardboard) & filled with shredded paper. The box & paper can be reused several times, then be recycled.

Additional gifts are now a mix of consumables & reusable then recyclable.
Oh, & the box is tied with cute ribbon that’s again reusable then can be recycled.

BOOM!

I don’t give out magazines any more. SHOCK HORROR right? Well, here’s the thing… I don’t think many people read them! Instead they take up space in people’s houses then fill the recycling bin. Think of all the trees we could be saving!
So instead, I encourage you all to look online for your ideas, use search facilities like Pinterest etc to gather ideas.

I also make connections with exhibitors via their social media & follow their businesses in this way.
I even encourage (but don’t force) exhibitors to only give out their cards & leaflets to couples who stop & chat, rather than putting into EVERY bag.

So, that’s the skinny on the goody bags, what else do I do?

Appletree-and-avalon

As a planner, I steer people towards things like natural confetti (dried petals, leaves, etc) or biodegradable confetti.

No more plastic sprinkles!
We already had this rule over at Flaxbourne Gardens, as it damages the gardens & lawns & did you know it also pollutes the ponds?

I therefore decided to make it part of my own recommendations too.

I’m always thinking of new creative ideas for example, instead of confetti, how about bubbles? Even prettier!

I encourage people to hire their decorative items for the big day.

Sure, you wanna do everything yourself & be the boss of wedding DIY.
But what are you going to do with all those bits afterwards? Sell them on & get half your money back? Keep them in storage until they go manky & you throw them into landfill? NOT have storage space for them & chuck them out straight away?

None of these make financial & economic sense to me. So, not on my watch!

I always try to suggest hiring items in from the experts – you’ll know they’re top quality, the cost will be lower, there’s no issue about space & storage afterwards… meaning less chance of landfill!

Now, flowers are by their nature environmentally friendly already – given that they eventually rot down & become lovely compost & are grown for purpose, but you can help further, by only choosing locally grown flowers.

Not only will their carbon footprint be lower, but they’ll also last longer because they’ve not travelled anywhere near as far as the more exotic blooms. WINNER!

I guess what I’m trying to say – in a rather roundabout way – be mindful of your choices. Get rid of the single use plastics, buy local, recycle & reuse where at all possible…

Great advice! If you’d like anymore info or want to speak to Beckie directly, you can reach her at http://www.beckiemelvinevents.co.uk/ or leave a comment below & We’ll make sure this gets back to her!

Has anyone got any other great ideas to share?

Leave a comment

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