Think you are trend-setting by going for an eco-wedding? Quite wonderfully, it appears the entire wedding industry is teetering on a big green shake-up, and eco-friendly ideas are creeping into every decision-making process for brides and grooms the world over. Huzzah!
The single biggest factor influencing your wedding’s impact on the planet is it’s venue or destination. Well, more specifically how far you, your guests, your service providers and your wedding stuff like food, alcohol, seating, etc will travel to your venue or destination. The biggest carbon emission culprit is transport. Hands down. On average, about a third of wedding guests will drive from out of the region, or fly in for a wedding. Mitigate the travel required first if you are serious about greening your wedding.
Harper’s Bazaar says Destination Weddings will take a break in 2019 and Local Weddings are on the rise. Pinterest supports this, with searches for no-fuss ‘courthouse ceremonies’ up 129%. But the big trend for weddings for 2019? The incredibly eco-friendly Backyard Wedding is tipped to make a big comeback, with searches for home-based events up 441%. After years of the big destination wedding and all it's trappings, that is excellent news for the planet.
There are plenty of eco advantages in a backyard wedding. For starters, the ceremony and reception are in the same location, negating the need to transport guests between locations for various parts of your nuptials, you can own any decorations used and you can limit single-use items as much as you wish because you can avail yourself of all the resources you already have at home. It can be as fancy as you want or warm, friendly and family. Whatever your choice, you are 100% control of waste minimialisation.
Staying in your hometown to get hitched instead of schlepping off to some far flung land is predicted to be big in the coming years and that means both less cost, less travel less carbon created by your wedding. Urban wedding venues operators will be rubbing their hands with glee, especially since the rural or rustic wedding out in the open air has been such a strong trend in recent years.
When we say ‘take control’ we don’t mean ‘stage an invasion’. Often one of the selling points of wedding services or venue providers is the promise to make your special day, seamless and protect you from all the machinations behind the event so you can be in the romantic moment. If you truly want to control the eco-aspects of your wedding, transparency in everything you plan is key. It's your wedding so interrogate venue providers on their practices and as an eco-consumer, if you want something different, simply ask. You might be surprised at the response you get.
The eco-consumer is big (and increasing) business and can be a powerful motivator for businesses to get their green credentials in order. Some things are easy enough to change out, others not so much. You may be eyeing a popular wedding destination but if the eco-friendly options for the rest of the ceremony and reception don’t add up, then don’t settle. Those credentials may include:
We get it – you have had your heart set on a particular destination for like ever. Then go for it, but there are many ways you can still aim for the greenest wedding possible given the circumstance. Remember that minimising travel is key but in this case, minimising the guest list might be the way to go as well. Hiring a bus for guests is a great idea: it keeps unnecessary traffic off the road, it allows for people to have some alcohol at the reception, also it opens up options for the bride and groom who can select a location that doesn’t necessarily have local accommodation nearby. A venue where the ceremony, reception and guest accommodation is bundled is a great idea.
If you want to lower your carbon footprint, bundle the ceremony and reception. If you are hard core, bundle in the honeymoon as well. As socially conscious couples are opting for less travel miles, look for glamping options and eco-tourist destinations.
Pinterest, inspo paradise for anyone planning a wedding of any sort, sheds some fascinating insights into where couples’ heads are at when planning for upcoming weddings in 2019 and into 2020.While these aren’t all eco-friendly directions, if you like them, there are always eco interpretations to be found. Here’s what to expect to see in your Instagram feed soon. We’ll see a lot of gold brides (searches for gold wedding gowns were up 1552% in 2018), wedding photography is going to be all about smoke bombs (searches up 436%), personalised neon wedding signs will become the new lighting trend (searches up 281%), and flower garlands are going to be huge in 2019 (searches up a whooping 1154%). And, on eco-trend, searches for ‘vegan wedding food’ were up 186%.