How to have a sustainable wedding
how to Make your wedding more sustainable
It’s no secret that the wedding industry can be extremely wasteful. But sustainable choices exist!
As a documentary wedding photographer with over 200 weddings under my belt, I’ve been to a lot of different places, seen all kinds of weddings and met people from a huge variety of backgrounds. One of the things I can’t help but notice is that some choices are more wasteful than others. From single use items to wasted food, flowers flown in from abroad and lots of on the day travel, there are things that are quite simple for couples to change, often without any noticeable impact on their budget.
You don’t have to have a miserable wedding with no decoration or un-special clothes to be sustainable. When I’m talking about sustainability I’m considering more than just the environmental impact. That’s important, but so are things like the vendors you choose and their own approach to sustainability, the impact of weddings on the local economy, and how we can reduce waste in general.
Transport
Some weddings have up to four locations involved, and most of the time people will be relying on private transport to get from A to B. It can mean both partners getting ready separately, then a ceremony location, and a reception location. I’m not criticising this choice - there are usually solid reasons for it - but it’s not the low carbon option. There are other options though. You can get ready in the same place (this can include separate hotel rooms), and have your entire wedding in one venue. You can get married somewhere with accommodation on site. You can have a city centre wedding and walk between your venues. You can hire a bus to take everyone from A to B (and get the party started early).
The law about where you can get married should be changing in 2027, meaning that you can get married pretty much anywhere. For now a legal wedding in England and Wales depends on the venue having the appropriate license. Roll on that change!
Buy biodegradable confetti, or use petals
Avoid plastic, glitter and rice. The paper stuff sticks in the air longest and has the most visual impact, but some venues prohibit it, especially if there’s wildlife nearby.
Get yours from Flutter Darlings
Don’t buy single use items unless there’s literally no other choice
If you’re having a DIY wedding and needing to source things like glassware yourselves, look into hiring them. This also goes for tableware and decor! Hiring a stylist for your day is a great way to go about this, as they’re used to sourcing things that they can either keep and reuse for other weddings, or hiring on a one term basis just for you. A stylist will take care of all that stuff for you without you having to do any admin for it, just trust their vision.
DIY weddings often mean having to figure out what people are going to drink, unless you hire a bar, and companies like Majestic can help out in a big way. They can deliver your booze and soft drinks on the day, and your glassware, ice buckets etc all at the same time. They also operate a sale or return service, so anything unopened can be returned - even single bottles of wine.
Hire your glassware and ice buckets and let guests help themselves
Put your confetti in a big container instead of individual bags
think Vinted instead of Amazon, Shein, Temu
Open Vinted and type in “Wedding Decorations”. You might not strike gold, but you could find unused glowsticks, preloved mirrorballs, bunting, generic signage and more. We’ve lost so many excellent high street businesses that sometimes we feel we have no choice but to look on cheap import websites, but there are other options. And those other options mean real income for ordinary people, and not lining the pockets of tax avoiders. Where you put your money has a direct impact on sustainability, and when we can avoid big businesses that undercut local options, we should.
Choosing a venue
Not all venues are created equal. Some are part of large chain hotels, some are part of small groups, and others are active members of the burgeoning eco-tourism industry. This third option is something I find really exciting, and definitely worth looking into if sustainability is an interest of yours. I’ve worked at a few wedding locations around the UK who see their place in the landscape as stewards, rather than a simple transactional business.
Some wedding venues plant trees for every couple who gets married there, some use solar panels, some are rewilding their landscape and letting nature back in. But that doesn’t mean that you’re stuck with a converted farm in the middle of nowhere - a city centre venue might be the right option for you, plus it could be more accessible for your guests. A fact to remember is that wherever you book your wedding you’re keeping people in work. Additionally, you could be contributing to the upkeep of a site of historic interest, or somewhere really valued by a community.
Here are a few venues that I really rate for how they see themselves in their environment - and they’re not all rural.
Yellow Arch Studios sits in the regenerated Kelham Island part of Sheffield, and is primarily a music performance space. The music scene has struggled hugely in the last decade, and it’s important we preserve these spaces for future artists.
The Out Barn in Clitheroe is a family run space for hire, converted from a barn and jazzed up for weddings. It sits in the gorgeous Ribble Valley. Biomass heating, beekeeping and wildflower planting are all on the agenda.
Do you want to get married in a Victorian swimming pool in the middle of Manchester? Victoria Baths is a partially restored, lottery funded heritage site that you can actively support by hosting a wedding there.
Sefton Park Palmhouse is part of Liverpool’s heritage. It’s a conservation project in and of itself, part of a shared history. Hiring the Palmhouse for your wedding has a direct impact on the future of Sefton Park.
Duddon Mill Farm in Cheshire provides all the facilities you need for a DIY wedding. This family-run venue sits in 70 acres of parkland, with lakes and meadows, and they have a stated dedication to conservation.
Whitebottom Farm in Stockport is a blank canvas space for hire, with a bar, space for all your own caterers and even a choice of performance spaces. You can camp there too, so no expensive late night taxis to soulless hotel rooms!
The dress, the suit
Regardless of what you choose to wear, there are so many options besides buying a brand new outfit. The resale market for wedding dresses is always thriving - far fewer brides plan to keep their dress than you’d initially guess. And there’s a vintage market too. You can buy used, or vintage, and take your it to a local dress alteration service to get the best fit (the tip here is to buy a size or two bigger than you need, so they have extra material to work with). Equally, don’t be afraid to look outside the wedding dress norm. I’ve seen some ace fashion choices by brides wearing Vivienne Westwood and The Vampire’s Bride - both of which can be found on Vinted.
Suits can be rented from so many different places, depending on style too. You absolutely don’t need to kit yourself and six groomsmen out with brand new gear.
One thing I’d always recommend buying new is a good pair of shoes, one that you plan to wear for decades and get resoled as needed. Made in England docs or Solovairs are brilliant for this.
Vintage beading will always bring the drama. A dress like this can definitely be sold on after use.
It doesn’t have to be bridal to be bridal. Bryony chose a funky veil after going for a Vinted option for her dress. Personally I think it works brilliantly!
Reduce, re-use, recycle
Shopping on reselling sites like Vinted is a doable way to go about this, but you can also look at things you might already have. Lots of people decorate with things they already own, particularly old family photos. Table plans are often a great creative outlet, and also a way of using items that might otherwise be discarded. Likewise, if you’ve an abundance of stuff after your wedding, pass it on. You could sell on Vinted, donate to charity or give to a friend who’s planning their wedding. Use social media to make sure people know you have stuff needing a home - don’t wait to be asked.
Parts of your wedding outfit can be repurposed. Luigi wore Vans because he loves them, so he bought a brand new pair for his wedding day and continued to wear them with his normal clothes afterwards.
beg, borrow (and maybe don’t steal)
A natural extension of reduce, reuse, recycle, is borrowing things for your wedding. I’m not talking about getting out of paying for things, but if a friend has recently got married and has some decorations kicking about in need of use, or loads of glasses, or something else in abundance that you’d be otherwise buying from a shop, why not see if you can use it too?
Food
A wedding dinner menu from The Long Table, a CIC with a focus on sustainability
This is a big one, figuratively and budget-ly. Food is often an emotional choice - we like to share our favourite meals and styles of eating with people we love - and some choices are definitely more sustainable than others. I’m not going to tell you that you must go vegan to be sustainable, or anything like that. In fact I’m going to discuss the different types of caterer I see at weddings, and mention some ideas you might not have thought of before.
Most catering companies are quite small, and they’re expensive to run. Food costs a lot, and running costs are high, especially if they’re transporting their own cooking facilities. I’ve seen a lot of brilliant caterers go out of business in the last few years (RIP the HipHop ChipShop, you were legendary), and I’ve seen some seriously talented cooks put gourmet meals together on barbecues in fields.
Go to a restaurant
Getting married at a registry office? Kill two birds with one stone and walk to a local pub or restaurant for your reception and meal. Every town or city centre has an abundance of interesting eateries with space for hire. Like this New Years Eve wedding in Manchester, that saw a ceremony at Hallé St Peters followed by food and a party at Nell’s Pizza!
Find a social enterprise
There’s a social enterprise in Stroud called The Long Table. They catered a wedding I photographed in Gloucestershire a few years ago, and they’re still going strong. Their whole premise is on social inclusivity - that you sit next to people you don’t know, so lone diners are always in company, and people pay what they can towards their meal. This was a high quality meal, made from locally sourced ingredients and the company has a policy of choosing regenerative agriculture. I wish there were more businesses like this! If you find a caterer with these policies, definitely pay them a visit and discuss your requirements.
Have your cake, and eat it too
If you’re going to the expense of a cake, insist it gets served. Venues are getting much better at putting the cake out for it to be eaten, but it’s not always a given.
I’ve had post-wedding catch ups with couples who’ve mentioned they’ve got a freezer full of cake because it didn’t get eaten on the night, and I think that’s such a shame. You’re in control of this, so if you want to cut the cake earlier in the day and have it brought out with canapés, then do it! Or just have it after your main. No one needs two puddings in one day, as lovely as the idea might sound.
Florals/Greenery
Kitty Bigonesse is a florist in North Wales
There have been leaps and bounds within floristry in the last decade, and sustainability is now a core focus of many brilliant, talented florists. Fresh flowers aren’t always the done thing now either - some people want just greenery, others want a dried flower bouquet, and faux flowers have come on hugely. We could spend a lot of time going back and forth on the merits of fresh vs dried, so instead I’m going to focus on where and how the flowers are grown, and how they get to you.
Many florists take their carbon footprint and provenance of their flowers very seriously. Some grow their own, and trade seeds with other local florists, and some might choose to grow flowers that are indigenous to Britain. I think that these are key considerations if you’re looking for a sustainable option.
transport
Elder and Wild - Nottingham
Moorfield Flower Farm - Stockport
Fern Floral Design - Derbyshire
The Petal Story - Cheshire
Put your flowers on your tables
Don’t feel you have to keep your flowers in your bouquet all day. You can have extra bits and bobs in little vases, and if you don’t want your bouquet to wilt you can pop the flowers in vases and jugs and have them dotted about the venue. A lot of venue stylists and coordinators are happy to do this on the day, and repurpose flowers for tables, down the aisle - anywhere you want really.
Ask your guests to take some dried flowers home with them!
Wedding Favours/gifts
Most people like to give their guests a small gift at their wedding. Take it from me, the ones that are most gratefully received are ones that don’t need to be taken home. While it’s lovely and thoughtful to carefully construct something unique for each guest, that’s a huge burden on you! And you don’t even know if they’ll like it.
Avoid the heartache and frustration. Here are my recommendations for popular, sustainable wedding favours.
Fudge, brownies, cookies - all welcome.
Skittles! Just enough for a mouthful, not enough to spoil the meal they’re about to eat.
A personal letter to each guest. Easier than crafting something, and it takes up next to no room in a pocket or handbag.
Little samples of Tony’s Chocolonely (a sustainable, and delicious, brand of chocolate).
Ash and Zoe opted for tiny tambourines. These could be passed on if guests didn’t want to take them home, and they were so much fun for people to use as the newlyweds walked into their meal.
Choosing your wedding vendors
Most of us are single person micro businesses. Booking a photographer, florist, videographer, musician or other tiny business directly puts food on a family’s table. There’s a direct impact on the local economy if you choose a local business, but I appreciate that sometimes the choice of vendor comes down to creating a personal connection with them, or not being able to find anyone local who feels quite right. I’ve photographed weddings all over Britain, so I’d be a hypocrite if I insisted that you must pick hyperlocal businesses, but it’s a factor when we’re talking about sustainability.
Another factor to consider is how seriously your vendors consider their own sustainability. For instance, does your florist import anything, or are they involved in seed swaps with other local florists? Does your photographer use AI to edit all or part of their images? What does your caterer do to cut waste? The good news here is that good business practices are in and of themselves more sustainable.
Create a lasting memento
Wedding guestbooks are a tradition for a reason. As someone who’s approaching their 12th wedding anniversary, I’m surprised at how often I like to look at my guestbook. Not everyone signed it, so we filled it with the cards people put in our letterbox, and we printed some photos and stuck them in the pages too. It’s a lovely, full, homemade memento of our day, and it’s something my daughter loves to look through. It’s not particularly fancy - a blank kraft pad from Muji - and I’ve seen people create their own interactive versions of guestbooks on the day.
When you’re choosing something like this, remember it’s something you’re going to want to have forever. Think about whether you’d prefer something you can stash away, or if it’s going to be visible all the time. Think about how it’ll age - will it stand up to sunlight? Being held or touched? Mostly though, choose something you like.
Stay Local
This is perhaps the most controversial choice I could urge you to make when you’re considering sustainable options, because what might be local for you probably isn’t local for your guests. But think about the number of people needing to travel for your wedding. If you choose a destination wedding, everyone travels. That’s half a Ryanair flight, twice, for one wedding. But chances are if you stay local - whether that’s your own locality, or where you or your partner grew up - there’s a very good chance that a significant chunk of your guestlist doesn’t have to travel too far. Travel is a huge contributing factor to the environmental and economic cost of planning a wedding, so the most sustainable option simply removes it.
And lastly - please avoid cheap custom satin pjs
I’ve often wondered how many of these are in landfill. You know the ones I mean - a set of cheap PJs for bridesmaids to wear on a wedding morning that are then screen printed with names or words. You can buy generic sets or get custom prints. And I can’t imagine that they’re anything but single use.
I’m all for giving gifts to the people who are a key part of the day, and I agree that it’s cute to have matching items. I just cannot see a justification for these PJs. Alternatives I’ve seen that look great and last more than a single wash: muslin PJs from M&S, stripy pink PJs that only cost slightly more but are hugely better quality, and screenprinted, colourful kimonos.
