Just Got Engaged? Get Started on Planning a Sustainable Wedding
1930s Palm Springs-inspired design captured by Kaleigh Rae Photography featured on Ethical Weddings.
Tips & resources for a more mindful and eco-friendly wedding
Congratulations on your engagement! This is such a wonderful and beautiful time in your life and we hope you are taking the time to savor this moment. But like many couples, you’re excited and wondering what to do next. While you are over the moon, you are also wanting your wedding to be joyful, creative, and uniquely you…and not contribute to the ever-growing wasteful wedding industry.
If this sounds like you, you’ve come to the right place. We are here to support you on aligning your day with your values and, of course, celebrating and enjoying every moment along the way!
You’ll have a lot of choices to make in this process, but we believe you don’t have to sacrifice style and creativity for sustainability. So, we've put together a guide to inspire you and make it easier to have sustainable elements incorporated into your wedding day. Your wedding is such an important moment in your relationship, so why not celebrate your values and share those with your closest people?
We’ve got a few tips and resources to get you started, as you dive head-first into the planning process. Below we’ve outlined the first steps in planning to build a foundation that aligns with your values plus a free guide and timeline that you can download and keep on hand.
5 Steps for Getting Started on a Sustainable Wedding Planning Process:
Break from Traditions + Have Fun
2. Find the Dream Venue
3. Build Your Team
4. Create a Post Wedding Plan
5. Keep it Heart Centered
Break from Traditions + Have Fun
Enjoy the Process – The wedding industry is notorious for making couples feel like they don’t have enough or that everything is urgent. Especially when you get engaged. But the process does not need to start immediately the moment you get engaged or be stressful. It’s so important to enjoy it and not feel like you need to have everything figured out right away! So anytime things get overwhelming just take a break. Put off talking about the wedding for a bit and then come back when you feel energized and excited again.
Celebrate You Both – The moment you get engaged everyone is going to share their opinions and thoughts on what you should or shouldn’t do. While they mean well, this is about you both as a couple and you get to decide how you want it to go. So if you want a small destination elopement, then do it! If you’d rather not spend money on a million desserts or cakes you will never eat, don’t feel pressured! Even if Aunt Sandy isn’t happy, it’s ultimately your memories and your celebration of love. But be sure to connect as a couple early on and discuss your priorities and how you want to feel at the end of the day.
Ask Why — Save the dates, garter toss, large guest lists, photobooths, cake cutting, wedding favors… there are SO many traditions and things you feel you should do when planning a wedding. We are here to tell you that you don’t need to do or buy any of these things to have the best day. This is your time to celebrate your love and there shouldn’t be all this pressure to spend unnecessary money on stuff that you will only use one time and get tossed.
Ask yourself, why do I feel the need to do things a certain way? Is it societal pressure? Our family’s desires? How do we want to feel during and after our wedding? How can we design a wedding experience that highlights us without needing to spend extra money on things that don’t get us to our goals?
Wedding Photographer, Praise Santos, did things a little differently on her big day. By prioritizing how her and her SO wanted to feel the impact they had on their guests oozes with intention. Get inspired on Ethical Weddings.
Intimate ethical wedding design with photos captured by Cheers Babe Photo.
Find the Dream Venue
As the cornerstone of your wedding, your venue or location helps you set the stage for how you want to feel on your big day. It plays such an important role in how the day functions and how it reflects your style and personality. It’s also a big opportunity to showcase your values and have a positive impact on the planet!
Choosing a venue that aligns with your sustainability goals can help everything fall into place more easily behind-the-scenes. Look for a venue that already has a beautiful backdrop on it’s own and any tables and chairs + decor that you can use on site. This not only helps minimize the need for renting and bringing in a lot of furniture but also means you don’t need a ton of florals for maximum impact. You could look at city venue spaces with amazing lighting or furniture, or choose a venue that has nature scapes as the main features.
When chatting with venues ask about their on-site recycling (some still don’t!) and/or composting programs. Look for venues that use water-efficient appliances and fixtures, and use LED or renewable energy sources. Ask about sustainability efforts and if they are doing anything in the back of the house to support caterers and other vendors as well.
We love to see venues like Paikka in St Paul that have their values stated right on their website and have a sustainability program with a 10% discount for couples who opt in.
Photography by Rebel Rabbit with an incredible design by Laine Palm at Paikka.
Building Your Team: Conscious Vendors
Finding a team of industry vendors that you trust with your sustainability goals and design vision is key to guiding you through the process. It’s okay if you’ve never planned a wedding or event before, that’s why these wedding pros are here to make it easy and magical for you to enjoy the ride. When you are prioritizing sustainability, your key vendors are going to be your caterer and florist. Finding the right vendors who already have sustainability goals as a part of their businesses are going to make everything else a little bit easier on your planner + help you have the wedding of your dreams! Look for vendors that prioritize local and seasonal in their sourcing and are working on reducing waste and plastic usage in the back of house.
Then add in your planner and photographer and let them in on your goals. Find the ones that are equally excited about sustainability or have other charitable givebacks built into what they do, because you know they are going to make sure your day is beautiful and execute your intentions behind the scenes.
We’ve created a quick guide that you can use to get started on what to look for with each vendor, but if you are curious about exactly what questions to ask each vendor to ensure you are finding the best fit for you, grab our comprehensive guide for conscious couples planning a sustainable wedding.
Finding caterers who already prioritize seasonal + local like Chowgirls ensures that your menu will not only support small businesses but will be delicious since they utilize the freshest ingredients that don’t need to travel as far to get to your plate.
Picnic table scape featuring delicious Chowgirls seasonal menu.
Create a Post Wedding Plan
It’s wild to think about all the waste that happens after your wedding, but so many people miss this step and end up with a bunch of stuff left over at the end of night. And let us tell you, nobody wants to be the one left with all the signage, vases, flowers, and cupcakes at 1 am after dancing the night away. Likely it all ends up in the trash. But with a little planning ahead of time, it can all find a happy home. So chat with your planner at the beginning of the process, about a post event plan to reduce waste and stress.
Here are a few ways to use your wedding elements as a way to give back:
Leftover Flowers - Chat with your florist about donations to places like Blue Birds and Blooms, Random Acts of Flowers, or Floranthropy. Many will deliver them to nursing homes, or if they aren’t salvageable, make sure to compost them.
Food Waste - Set out compost bins for the leftovers and plate scraps, and any meals that are left that haven’t made it out to the buffet or tables can be donated. Find a program like Meal Connect or a homeless shelter, non-profit, or a food bank willing to take your leftover meals. Make sure this plan is in place with your planner ahead of time. We have an entire program built out for supporting food rescue at events so reach out to us if you are an interested couple or planner.
Rent vs Buy items - Renting items like plates, glassware from your caterer, vases and table decor front our florist and signage from a rental company can significantly reduce the amount of waste you have and help with clean up at the end of the night. No one wants to be left with 100 vases and table runners after their wedding day. Reselling your items online is an option with facebook market or Wedding-Recycle.com, but it’s challenging to do and takes extra time later wheny ou want to just enjoy your marriage. So consider renting and have everything one and done at the end of your event.
Gowns - Consider reselling your dress on sites like StillWhite.com or donating your dress to a cause-based organization like Brides Against Breast Cancer. Encourage your bridesmaids to donate their gowns to awesome preloved marketplaces like Revu.
Working with florists like Minne Floral Co., who utilize seasonal and local flowers + reduce waste by not using floral foam, can help you donate or compost after your event.
Moment captured by Jessie Schira of backyard boho-style Minnesota Wedding designed by Minne Floral Co.
Keeping it Heart Centered Along the Process
As you plan, consider how you can share and incorporate what you and your significant other are most passionate about into your big day. Maybe it’s animal rescue, environmental causes, women’s rights, or youth education…it can be anything! There are so many ways to highlight this and your passion for the planet along the process.
But with so much to do, sustainability can sometimes be the last thing added to your list. We’ve created a timeline with eco tips and moments to think about sustainable swaps throughout the process. Grab our free guide here with a timeline and vendor tips and do let us know what questions you have along the way!
We would love to support you on this journey by helping you find the perfect vendors or joining you on your big day as your planner, sustainability-guide, and/or biggest cheerleader. Send us a note any time.
