Did you see my last blog post? Yep, during lockdown my now fiancé asked me to marry him and of course it was a big emotional and excited yes. So I have decided for June to do a little bit of a different monthly ECO alternatives blog post. This month I’m going to look at weddings! I know that a large number of couples have got engaged and that usual preplanning is on hold but I couldn’t help myself, and have started looking into Eco aware and ethical wedding alternatives.
Chris and I are going to have a small wedding, that’s about the only thing we know for sure at this point, we’re wanting elopement style. This is a personal choice for a number of different reasons. And it’s a choice we are so very excited about. We have nothing against anyone having a large wedding but for us we do not want to start our married life getting into possible debt for a wedding day. We are not comfortable being the centre of attention and we both worry about people having a good time that we fear we may end up missing out on the enjoyment of our day. Also, another huge factor for us is with large weddings comes a lot of issue with regards to waste and impact on the environment. So small scale, fun and minimal wins the day for us and I have to say it is so very exciting looking at ideas and already feels like a whole load of pressure has been lifted. Seating plans are out of the window, no favours to consider, will we be inviting children? No need to worry... How many bridesmaids? Not going to be a thing... How many guest? Super easy, just a witness or two! Fab location, incredible food and saying I do to my best friend, simple pure and exciting.
Now I’m not going to give anything away in this post that may hint at our ideas and plans for our wedding day but these are Eco alternatives to help couples looking to get married and want to be more ECO-Conscious. Are you ready to jump in?
1. Fuss Pots
First up Flowers. The only flowers at our wedding is going to be my bouquet, more on my ideas later! But if you are going to have a larger wedding and wanting to add to a venture how about potted plants to reduce waste, perhaps gifting to guest at the end of the night or you can hire plants. And that is exactly the service Fuss Pots offer. Fuss pot is owned by Hannah, using her knowledge gained through the hotel industry that she is hugely passionate about, and using her natural creative flair, Fuss Pots emerged and has been growing and gaining momentum. Fuss pot also offer a Floristry service.
If thinking of having fresh flowers the most eco friendly way of doing this is having seasonal flowers grown locally as possible. I’m currently considering visiting a local florist near to our location/destination the day before our wedding and choosing flowers they have in stock. This way nothing has been ordered in just for me. This is possible as wanting just a small, loosely tied bouquet and i'm very happy to do this myself, bit if working on a larger scale you will need to contact a flourist way ahead of time.
Confetti all bit it pretty is a terrible waste and so much of it is harmful to the environment and wildlife. There are now options such as biodegradable and acid free tissue paper. Wildflower seeds or dried flowers are another natural alternative which are biodegradable or you can also now get dissolvable confetti. I must admit i'm loving these by A Day to Remember but as they are based in Australia they may not be a suitable option for all of our wedding location ideas due to the shipping involved. But who knows, me may combine a honeymoon with our wedding...
Tip: Avoid rice as birds over it is, it swells in their tummies and causes lots of harm.
I’ve covered this company before but I have fallen in love with their products, so much so that I have purchased sample for friends as part of their birthday gift sets and is the make-up I will be choosing to wear on my big day. A truly eco-friendly makeup company. The added bonus and wonderful thing about All Earth is you can purchase samples for £2 each with free shipping, to test the makeup before you buy the full size, perfect for a wedding make-up trial. They do not scrimp on the samples I can tell you. They have a huge thumbs up from me.
Now its time for the biggie, the wedding dress. I’ve decided that I’m most likely going to have a second hand or should I say preloved dress that I will make alterations to make it a personalised dress. If truth be told I may (may!) have found my dress but shhh do not tell anyone!
There are lots of places to buy pre loved dresses, these include the usual suspects such as depop and ebay, but there are also specialist apps, websites and boutiques such as Stillwhite.com and bridalreloved.co.uk Bridal Reloved is a chain of pre owned wedding dress boutiques that offer high end pre loved wedding dress and promote up-cycling to create a bespoke dress.
Or how about supporting a charity with your wedding dress purchase? Did you know that Oxfam have a dedicated bridal shop? My advice is to look around and make sure you are comfortable with where you are purchasing. Also make sure you love the dress, you need to feel special and comfortable on your big day.
I know a pre-loved wedding dress isn’t for everyone and I completely understand but if its something you have considered there's so much to choose from and doesn't mean you have to miss out on the trying on session with family and friends if this is something you want to experience.
Wedding rings and photography, aside from your marriage are the only two things you are going to have with you forever after your wedding day. And these are two areas that are often overlooked and undervalued. As I’m an eco-aware jeweller I will be make our wedding rings from recycled gold using eco aware process. Excitingly I’m going to get Chris in the workshop with me to help make our rings to add an extra special element to them.
As you may know, everything I make is made to order using recycled metals and eco process. Another lovely idea when it comes to you wedding rings is if you have any family jewellery or items that you do not wear but have special meaning behind them item, recycled them in to the most special rings.
Lots of people also like to have additional jewellery for the day they say I do. My top tip is to make sure its jewellery that you are going to want to wear again and again, not just on your wedding day. Again this can be made from items you already own or made using recycled metals. Also less is oftern more with jewellery styling!
6. Photographer
Lots of photographers are more eco-friendly now without realising. Digital cameras and online file sharing mean’s no film waste etc. But another thing to consider when booking a photographer is their location in correspondence to your wedding. With our top wedding location choices, we have different wedding photographers in mind (yes I have a spreadsheet set up with basic information) that we like the style of and are within a short distance. Its also good to find a photographer who is familiar with your chosen location.
The wonderful Nat recently interviewed me for a IGTV series she is making and she has really opened my eyes to the world of photography. I hadn’t thought about the different styles of wedding photography so much. Nats a documentary style photographer and has made me realise that this is the style photography we are looking for on our big day, and has indirectly helped use to build our little reference of photographers for our location choices.
7. Ethical New dress - Luna Bea
My dream dress if we were to have a larger wedding would be by this beautiful lady and ethical bridal designer Lou, the creator of Luna Bea. Effortless Simplicity- Luna Bea is a Contemporary, ethical, and romantic bridal designer. Ethically hand making luxury silk gowns in the UK, Lou’s gowns are breathtaking. They are so incredibly romantic, femmine and i'll say it again, breathtaking.
I love getting cards and invites but I hate the waste. The thought of sending out 150 invites out for a wedding and the same in thank you cards and save the date cards, to be honest it made me feel a little uneasy, until it crossed my mind that we could go digital! Now with us deciding to go small scale we aren’t going to need invites but we will be looking for announcements cards, and it looks like digital will be the answer and I have fallen for Paper Flower Prints style. Ana, the creator of Paper Flower Prints also offers paper versions to go alongside your digital prints, for say Grandparents who perhaps do not use the internet or digital platforms.
There are also lots of companies offering biodegradable and compostable stationary so its worth looking into to if you really want printed invites.
So there you have it, my little round up into the top eco alternatives and brands to help make your wedding day more eco friendly. And those of you thinking you have guessed some of our wedding ideas/locations/venues from the list above, you are sadly mistaken. You'll have to keep on guessing...
Sending you all well and positive vibes.
Rx
*Disclaimer: I have absolutely no affiliation with any of the products mentioned. This is not an ad or paid collaboration in any way, Just me sharing the love.
Thaanks for this blog post