Sustainability is one of the year’s strongest trends, reports wedding specialists, Brides. This is good news considering the fact that the average wedding has a hefty carbon footprint—around 60 metric tones. The main reasons for this figure include transport, flowers, and unsustainable fashion and food choices. The good news is that it is easy to bring your CO2 footprint down to practically zero by making a few key choices.
Choosing an Eco-Friendly Venue
The magic begins by choosing an eco-friendly venue for your reception—one that is run on solar energy and that has due water savings policies in motion. If you have a sustainable home that is run on solar energy and that has a water collection tank, then celebrating your wedding in your backyard may be an excellent way to keep things eco-friendly. For one thing, home is probably closer to friends and many family members, so they won’t need to rack up travel miles to get to the celebration. Secondly, your budget will go further, and you can spend a little more money on eco-friendly features like bamboo plates and cutlery, hiring eco-friendly furniture, and preparing green wedding favors for friends. Just a few ideas that will delight your eco-warrior guests include Bamboodu’s Bamboo Flask or Coffee Cup, Eco-Friendly Bamboo Cutlery Set, or Cheerful Gift Box. Thirdly, home weddings offer guests more flexibility, and they can spend less time and resources by bringing their kids to your wedding if you decide to throw a child-friendly bash.
Reducing Guests’ Carbon Footprint
There are three main ways you can reduce the travel-related footprint of your guests. The first is to ditch a destination wedding and celebrate closer to home or in a destination where most of your guests already are. The second is to provide hired transport (for instance, by hiring an electric bus, van, or other vehicle to transport your guests). The third is to simply provide guests with useful routes and combinations, so they can easily reach your venue via public transport.
Offsetting Your Wedding’s Carbon Footprint
Use an online calculator to work out the size of your wedding’s carbon footprint, so you can offset the exact amount. There is a plethora of offsetting organizations you can donate to, including Native Energy (a public benefit corporation offering offsetting programs for individuals and businesses); Terrapass (which supports projects certified by the Climate Action Reserve and other renowned bodies); and 3Degrees (whose work is centered on carbon reduction and removal). Offsetting is a magnificent way to motivate you to lower your CO2 footprint at the planning stage.
Serving Guests More Plant-Based Dishes or Going Vegan
The wide array of vegan caterers, restaurants, and recipes means that vegan cuisine is increasingly growing a reputation for being as delicious as it is healthy. Food production currently accounts for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse emissions, and the mass of animals raised for slaughter on Earth outweighs wildlife by 15-to-one. You don’t have to serve a fully plant-based meal, but doing so will significantly lower the carbon footprint of your reception. Just a few dishes you can consider include pumpkin-filled ravioli, tofu slider, roasted squash and spinach risotto with toasted pistachios, cauliflower fritters with a parsley dip, and more.
Sustainability is a hot trend in weddings. Throwing a green wedding is easier than many think. It simply involves finding ways to reduce transport costs, give eco-friendly gifts, and enjoy a plant-based meal. Couples can also offset their carbon footprint by donating to laudable causes that are near and dear to a couple’s heart.
