Green Wedding Ideas

Choosing the right venue, motif, giveaways, and table setup has now become easier but also confusing at the same time with thousands of pegs from Pinterest and Instagram.  Slim it down by picking them not only for the esthetics but also how you could give back to the environment.

Choose paperless or recycled  where possible

Whether for your save-the-date, invitations, menu, or location map, think before you print!  All these can add up to a whole lot of trees.  There are now numerous sites where you can make your own wedding page where guests can view all event information.  If you really want good old-fashioned wedding invites, try and get suppliers that use recycled paper and/or those that are easily compostable.

Choose a sustainable venue

Have your wedding at a place that has green practices.  Choose one that composts, recycles, segregates, and maintains its green spaces.  Research if they exert effort in conservation and reduction of waste.  Also, opting for a venue that is already beautiful would mean less decorations and more savings.

Go green with green vendors

Your event won’t be complete without your suppliers but be a responsible consumer and support those that go out of their way to try and reduce their waste and have eco choices for you.  Think caterers that offer organic and local ingredients; florists who don’t use floral foam; stylists that upcycle vintage items and don’t need balloons to decorate; coordinators who suggest minimizing the trash output of your event by having only biodegradable utensils and no single water bottles with packed lunches; or hair and makeup artists that use cruelty-free and organic products.

Give away your decors

Think of giveaways that are useful, thoughtful, functional, and decorative.  You can have personalized hand-painted table markers that double as bookmarks.  Bottled honey not only says “sweet” and your guests could consume it, it is also a nice touch at each table for those with gold or yellow in their motif.  DIY mosquito repellants in personalized bottles will ward off unwanted guests in an outdoor setting.  Potted plants, whether succulents, seedlings, or flowers will cut your costs for giveaways and decorations big time.  No need to print the wedding dates or your names on each one because your guests will surely remember you both with these thoughtful gifts they’ll take home.

Scrap the balloons

There are so many other decorating ideas that you can use other than these whale and turtle-killing bags.  Hundreds of these will be popped right after your event and thrown onto a land fill or end up in the ocean.  Let’s not be selfish and try these other great materials that would make the same impact: flower door frames, paper flower puffs, crepe paper chandeliers, paper chain backdrops, bunting and banners, cloth or plant garlands, and more! 

Choose natural over synthetic

Use this as a rule of thumb.  If it’s natural, it’s more sustainable than its plastic counterparts.  It can also give your event a rustic but classy look.  Think outside the box and incorporate it with your theme like petals, crepe paper, or cutout leaves and music sheets instead of metallic sheets for confetti.  You can even put your own twist by making cut-outs of your photos or, like what a couple will do at their wedding at Frangeli, use heart shaped book pages for a book-themed wedding.

Use less gas

Get married locally if you can or where most of your guests will be coming from. If you are from out of town and really want to get married in Baguio *wink wink*, then ask your guests to carpool, take the bus, or get a shuttle van to minimize the emissions your event will generate. This also applies to local residents, of course.   You can even get a shuttle van for them that could tour them around the city after your event.

Go seasonal and local

Choose local food, in-season flowers, and suppliers to reduce your carbon footprint.  You won’t have to pay for the vendors’ lodging plus if they are recommended by or affiliated to the venue they will most likely know the house rules and setup requirements.  Regional food and in-season flowers will also bring your party theme together. Think strawberries, rice wine, sunflowers, and affordable organic veggies for Baguio as an example.

Ask for eco gifts

When you have a gift registry, list products such as bamboo chopping boards, solar powered outdoor speakers, reusable beeswax food wraps, energy efficient appliances, or organic cotton bed sheets.  Nowadays, we have so many options for items with renewable, recycled, or organic content, and are made locally.  We just have to choose wisely.  Now’s your chance to put them all in a wish list that you’d actually get!

Being eco-conscious means being a responsible human being, neighbour, and steward. It can also be a great way to cut down on costs by choosing to upcycle vintage materials or getting straight from the source. It may be a more costly option in some ways but you will for sure feel good that your celebration actually did something great for the world and that feeling is priceless.

Images from Unsplash except Frangeli House photo