From the proposal to the grand exit, you can plan your wedding around sustainable, green practices that give back to the environment a little more. If you want to throw a more eco-conscious wedding celebration, here are a few ideas that will hopefully inspire you during the planning process.
Use Sustainable Wedding Stationery
Many couples opt for only digital versions of their save-the-dates and invitations, but there is something nostalgic about receiving a wedding invitation in the mail that can be hard to pass up.
Cast Paper hand-crafts beautiful wedding stationery from recycled materials, flowers and even seeds! All of our products are locally sourced and made by hand with 100% compostable ingredients. Our Floral Expressions Stationery uses flowers from your event to create cards you can use for years to come; our Plantable Seed Paper allows your guests to plant flowers once you are done with your invitation. Simply plant the invitation in your yard, water it regularly, and you will grow a beautiful bunch of wildflowers!
Hire the Right Vendors
It’s important to find vendors that align with your values and goals for your wedding. How sustainable your wedding can be depends on the practices your vendors operate under. Some questions you could consider asking various vendors include:
- Do you source your flowers/ingredients/fabrics locally?
- Do you use fair-trade ingredients in your food?
- How do you dispose of food waste?
- Do you have an option to donate excess food/florals/decor to local organizations that may get use out of them?
Asking the questions that are important to you is key to making your wedding day everything you want it to be.
Find the Right Venue/Location
Choosing a venue that focuses on eco-friendly practices is important, but equally important is to consider where your guests will be traveling from. Destination weddings are a great time, but asking an entire guest list to fly to another country for your wedding will definitely have a larger impact on the environment than if you choose to hold your wedding locally (or where the majority of your loved ones live).
Choose seasonal flowers
When you choose to use seasonal flowers, you get them at their best, with the added benefit of being able to work with local flower farms and local florists, rather than having to ship in flowers from across the country.
After your wedding is over, you may be concerned with the waste that comes from your leftover florals—when you send us your wedding flowers, we make something beautiful we call our Floral Expressions stationery. We make homemade paper with your flowers, creating a set of stationery where each sheet of paper is unique.
Rethink Your Wedding Favors
Everyone has plenty of coozies, and items like this tend to get thrown away (or leftover for you to take home). If you do choose to gift your guests wedding favors, consider something like our Seed Bombs! These are an eco-friendly favor your guest can take home and plant to enjoy for years to come.
Rent as much as you can
You can rent almost anything for your wedding, from your linens to your flowers. Choosing to rent instead of buying new for everything will save you money and generate less waste after your wedding day is over. Items we recommend renting for your big day:
- Table Linens, Napkins and Runners
- Candle Holders and Vases
- China
- Glassware
- Tables and Chairs
- Lighting
Choose your thank you notes wisely
The concern behind thank you notes is two-fold: you don’t want to seem ungrateful by not sending one, but you also don’t want to send your guests something that will, inevitably, just be thrown in the trash.
Sending a Floral Expressions or Plantable Seed Paper thank you note is a no-waste option to send to your loved ones! Floral Expressions stationery is made with handmade paper made from recycled materials, with the addition of your wedding flowers (generating less waste from your floras, as well!);
There are plenty more ways you can make your wedding more eco-friendly, but the most important thing is to not stress yourself out with the details. Any effort you make toward creating a more sustainable wedding day is a big step for our environment—let Cast Paper Art be a part of your big day!
