The way our environment is getting affected, most couples today are opting for eco-friendly weddings. Each couple choosing for an eco-friendly wedding is trying to contribute their part. They are leaving no stone unturned to make their wedding an eco-friendly affair. And trust that hosting an eco-friendly wedding is as easy as the regular weddings.
Believe it or not, eco-friendly weddings are not only good for the environment, but also they are good for your pocket too. Eco-conscious weddings are pocket-friendly. You can arrange for everything from your wedding invites to your wedding favors in an eco-friendly way.
If you are also planning for an eco-friendly wedding, then here are some unique and eco-friendly ideas to make your wedding an eco-friendly affair, believe you me all these are doable ideas.
Here we go…
1. Opt for E-Vites over Printed Wedding Invites
The amount of time, money, and paper that is wasted in printed invites is immense, and we all know that. Replacing your traditional wedding invites with the e-invites will not only help you avoid waste of plastic and paper that come along with printed wedding invites, but also it will help you save money and time as well.
Technology has made life easier, even wedding invites can be sent using networking sites such as facebook and whatsapp. And these invites are very much valid and analogous to the ones which were sent in the old days.
Not only this but also, you can use WhatsApp to send your wedding invites. That too personalized digital invitation cards not just a text message. These e-vites save a lot of time along with your money.
Whatsapp wedding invitations are unique and can be customized. Absolutely up to you, whether you choose to send a card, e-card, text, or a video. WhtasApp wedding invites are quick and secure. Now you don’t even have to worry about the parcels getting lost in transition.
However, if you still want to have printed cards at your wedding, there’s an eco-friendly alternative for that too that’s ‘seed paper invites’. Seed Paper Invites are made from biodegradable paper that is embedded with seeds, your guests can plant these invites in soil later.
2. Go for Eco-friendly Wedding Décor
You do not have to spend a fortune on flower décor on your wedding. We all know that flowers are perishable and once they are plucked they won’t stay for a longer duration. Hence, the best is to go for eco-friendly ways, instead of using flower décor on your wedding and affecting the environment, go for cloth décor.
Believe it or not, cloth decors not only look beautiful, but also add to the PIZZAZZ. You can get multi colored clothes and get the entire venue decorated with that. And trust it is really inexpensive. It is easy to get yards of your favorite fabrics and use it to cover almost everything from your tables to your ceilings. Believe you me, sheer fabric will create a romantic atmosphere at your wedding. All you need to do is get creative with fabric and create a romantic, and intimate atmosphere at the venue.
Besides, you can also use candles, ribbons etc. to create an enchanting ambience at your wedding venue. This will not only help you have an eco-friendly décor, but also it will make the venue mesmerizing that your guests will remember all their lives.
3. Go for Cruelty-free Makeup Products
Another way to have an eco-friendly wedding is – go for cruelty-free makeup products on your wedding and even after that as well. There are many brands offering cruelty-free makeup products, you can simply choose them for your makeup kit. Also, you can ask your bridal makeup artist to use only cruelty-free makeup products on your wedding too.
4. Replace Flower Centerpieces with Fruit Centerpieces
Sometimes centerpieces are inescapable, they are commonly used in a wedding. But it is not essential that you have to use only flower centerpieces only, you can even opt for fruit centerpieces. Believe you me, fruit centerpieces will look beautiful on the tables, and even your guests would be able to have some healthy stuff while waiting for your vows ☺ ☺ .
Well, you can even DIY centerpieces and make the whole setup look beautiful and unique. If not fruits, then you can opt for small planters on the table, or you can use empty beer bottles with light inside. Basically, the idea is to go for the ways that saves environment and look creative as well.
5. Deal with Food Wastage – Help the Needy
Food is a major part of any wedding, starting from pre-wedding celebration until wedding reception food plays an important role. Of course, couples need to feed their wedding guests well in each function, therefore a lot of food items are prepared and arranged at the wedding. However, not always the entire food is consumed in a wedding, and some portion still remains uneaten. Though most wedding caterers do their best to minimize wastage of food in a wedding, still wastage is inevitable part of any event of a large scale, such as a wedding.
Of course, the first thing that you should do to avoid any kind of wastage of food is to give accurate number of wedding guests to the caterer and work with your caterer beforehand. But even then it’s not a problem, in case of uneaten food in your wedding, you can use this as an opportunity to help needy people. To donate the food all you need to do is make a few calls to know what all will be accepted by homeless shelters, orphanages, senior citizens home, or hospice center. But you will have to plan this beforehand, as some of them won’t take prepared food, however some of them take. And you need to make calls well in advance and have a list of places where you can donate your food, as accordingly you will need to plan and arrange people to do the needful as well.
6. Host a Day Wedding
Wedding in a natural light will be mesmerizing! More often than not, couples opt for a night wedding celebrations as night weddings are said to be more fun. But the truth remains that night events require extensive use of electricity and fuel-run generators, which is not a great idea for a couple who is environment-conscious. So, hosting a day wedding is the best option to go eco-friendly. Also, day weddings are pocket-friendly, as you are going to save a lot of money on lighting and other things.
7. Make the Best Use of the Venue
If yours is an outdoor wedding, then the best is to make the best use of your venue. It is again a wonderful way to have an eco-friendly affair. Make best use of your surroundings for your wedding décor, for instance, trees and plants in your venue can be decorated in a unique way to create a beautiful ambience.
8. Use Edible Cutlery
Another wonderful way of hosting an eco-friendly wedding is to have edible cutlery instead of having regular cutlery at your wedding. There are many vendors who are producing edible cutleries that too in unique flavors that everybody at your wedding will like. Using edible cutlery is a beautiful way to save environment and minimize your wedding expenses as well.
9. Opt for Natural Confetti
People love to use party poppers confetti, yeah because they look enchanting. But that doesn’t add to the environment anyways. So, it is better to shower the couple with dried flowers. Or even if you are using fresh flower petals for the flower shower, you can still utilize the petals. For that all you have to do is – get in touch with an NGO that uses these petals to make incense sticks and herbal colors and let them utilize these petals further.
10. Say ‘NO’ to Plastic
However, plastic has become an inevitable part of our lives, but it’s high time and we all need to learn to say NO to plastic now. As plastic is the biggest threat to our environment. To have an absolute eco-friendly wedding, the best is to not use plastic items at the wedding. If it is not possible to avoid completely at least we can try to minimize its use. For instance, most weddings use plastic glasses for water, instead we can opt for metal tumblers. Metal tumblers can be rented. Likewise, wherever there is some use of plastic, make sure you go with an alternative.
11. Go for Up-cycled Decor Elements
Undoubtedly, sustainability and reusability is the key to eco-friendliness. To have an eco-friendly wedding, the best one can do is to use up-cycled décor elements. For instance, you can use potted plants as the table centerpieces, it will simply add to the wedding décor. And for the wedding signage, you can go for handwritten chalkboards signs, as, these boards can be rubbed, and reused.
12. Use cloth Jaimalas
Yeah, cloth jaimalas are also available in the market. And trust that these jaimalas are a great alternatives to the flower jaimalas. If you really plan to have an eco-friendly wedding, then jaimalas should also be replaced with the cloth ones. Also, the benefit of using cloth jaimala is you can have it as the keepsake of your wedding for lifetime, as these jaimalas do not get ruined or perished. Try out!
13. Opt for Eco-friendly Wedding favors
Wedding favors has always been an indispensable part of Indian weddings. Everyone loves gifts, and giving wedding favors is also a way to make your guests happy. There are myriads of options to choose from for your wedding favors. But giving something that is environment-conscious and will always remind them of your big day even after ages will be a perfect gift for your wedding guests. You can opt for eco-friendly wedding favors like seeds, live plants, saplings, bamboo toothbrushes, plantable paper greetings, home-made cookies, jute bags, etc. These are basically less fussy favor options that almost everyone will adore. The idea is to give something that your guests won’t leave on the table.
14. Go for Eco-friendly Thank you notes
Last but not least, instead of sending a printed thank you note the most eco-friendliest way to send a thank you note is to send all your guests an e-note to say thanks. It will not only help you save lot of paper, postage expenses, but also it will save a lot of time and money!!
And finally…….
Hope you like these fourteen unique and eco-friendly ways. These ways will not only allow you to host an eco-friendly wedding and reduce the impact of weddings on the planet, but will also serve as a source of inspiration for your wedding guests to practice the same in their families. Today, what we all need are the will and effort to make eco-friendly weddings a reality. Believe it or not, but the truth remains that we are a few generations away from an apparently uninhabitable earth. Now it’s time to opt for environment-friendly approaches at home and taking part in nature conservation outside if we really want to save the environment now and for generations to come.
Thanks for reading, hope these ideas help!!
Host an eco-friendly wedding and contribute your part to the environment!!
