Something New, Something Borrowed, Something RECYCLED

Zulupics Photography

​In the hype of planning your wedding, it is easy to forget how wasteful weddings can end up being. Wouldn't it be great if your wedding could help the environment instead of adding to the damage? I have listed 5 ways to plan a more eco-friendly based wedding and cut down on the amount of waste created! Oh, and it's also going to save you some money, too!

1. Menus and Programs
​In a previous blog, Things Your Guests Don’t Give a Flip About, I talked about how your guests really don't care about your programs at your wedding. They will look at it for five minutes and then throw it away. Well, if you have 100 guests and print a program for every person, think of how wasteful that is! This also goes along with printing menus for your guests. Even though it can look very pretty to have a personalized menu at every plate, it is extremely wasteful to have that much paper just thrown away at the end of the night. Opting for one large program or menu sign is going to reduce the amount of paper that is thrown away as well as save you a big chunk of money! Plus, it adds an extra element to your overall wedding decor. Who said eco-friendly weddings can't still be beautiful?

2. Florals
A great way to reuse items in your wedding is to repurpose your flowers. If you have a beautifully crafted floral arrangement at your ceremony, ask your florist if that can be moved to your head table for the reception. You can also have empty vases around the reception for your bridesmaids to leave their bouquets. This way you get to use these florals in multiple areas, giving them a secondary purpose. Plus, this allows you to purchase fewer flowers for your wedding.

3. Grand Exit
​There are TONS of different ideas on how to have the best grand exit. You can do sparklers, glowsticks, bubbles, etc. But are those good ideas if you are trying to host an eco-friendly wedding? The answer is no - it all just creates trash in the end. A really cool way to have an eco-friendly grand exit is to use shredded petals or leaves. You could even get really creative with this and get a unique shaped hole punch to use on dried leaves. This could even be a great idea for your ceremony if you want some ultra-cute pictures! See this idea in action on our Instagram!

4. Invitations
This next one goes back to how to reduce the amount of paper products involved in your wedding. With technology being at everybody's fingertips right now, a great way to cut back on paper is to utilize an online invitation for your guests. Not only is this great for not wasting paper, but invitations are also pretty expensive, so this could be a major budgeting cut for you. Now I understand there is something very beautiful and exciting about designing you and your fiancé's wedding invitations. If this is something you feel like you need to do, then maybe incorporate an online RSVP. Not only will this cut back on RSVP cards, but also on additional envelopes and stamps. Zola has a great RSVP system that will automatically count how many of your guests have RSVP’d and how many are planning on attending your wedding!

5. Favors
​Wedding favors can be really fun to pick out and personalize with your names and wedding date, but realistically your guests are not interested in having a small item with someone else's name on it. Most of the time favors get forgotten or just thrown away. A great way to stop this is to have generic favors that aren't personalized, and I promise you, your guests will enjoy it so much more. An awesome favor idea is reusable straws! This is a great way to ensure your guests will enjoy their favor as well as providing something that is going to help the planet!

Hopefully these ideas can inspire you to host a wedding that is both fun and eco-friendly! What are some other ideas you have that could help our environment? Share your ideas in the comment section below!

​Readers who liked this post also read How to Save Money on Your Wedding!

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