Zero Waste Summer Wedding

After getting engaged to the love of your life, there’s so much to do and so many things to plan! We love the engagement phase, and our love for the engagement period is quite straightforward, it is when you’re excited to start a new journey in your life, a time of celebrations and planning. We know, right after you have the ring on your finger and are to-be-wed, the wedding planning bells start ringing. Also, we understand that planning a wedding is nothing short of a variety of tasks, including multi-tasking, and trying out different things for the wedding day. Since we know it is a long but fun process, we want to bring something else to the table too, which is a lovely zero-waste wedding! A zero-waste wedding is exactly what it sounds like, beautiful and without any waste. It is true that each year, weddings not only create pounds of waste but are also responsible for massive CO2 emissions. To combat that, you can plan a zero-waste wedding! You can also use the ideas that we mention in our blog to throw a sustainable wedding, if a zero-waste wedding is not possible, either way, you will have a wedding with low or almost no waste. With that said, let’s dive into different ideas that can be used to plan a wedding with zero waste, and can also be used for throwing a sustainable wedding! The ideas we mention above are amazing for summer weddings, but will also work for just about any wedding! You can use these ideas liberally! 

Digital Invitations 

Let’s start from the top! It is said that your wedding invitations help you set the tone for the wedding. And we agree with the thought. A great way to set the tone and amp up the excitement for your wedding is to choose a wedding stationery set that helps you spell out how your wedding is planned. For example, if you have a beach-themed wedding, you can have a wedding invitation set designed with coconut cocktails and beach balls, if you’re throwing a rustic wedding, then it could have a delicate illustration of the beautiful wedding venue. Other ways of incorporating the theme and ideas of your wedding day include using color combinations. For a beautiful wedding but also a sustainable one, you can do two things! One way to make your wedding eco-friendly is to use a digital wedding invitation. Instead of sending out traditional invitations, you can easily use a beautiful digital invite, which also has the benefit of reaching your friends and family’s mailbox in an instant! Apart from this, you can also use a beautiful plantable wedding invitation. This kind of wedding invitation is made out of seed paper, which can either be planted or can be 100% biodegradable. This wedding invitation will not only look beautiful but also help you to keep your wedding zero-waste. 

Wedding Venue 

A great way to make sure that your wedding is zero-waste and sustainable, you will need a good wedding venue. Instead of choosing a wedding venue by checking the prices and the aesthetic, there are a few more things you can look into. For example, instead of choosing two venues, one for your wedding ceremony and another for your wedding reception party, you can choose a beautiful wedding venue where you can have both of these events. This will help you reduce time and energy wastage because your wedding guests can simply choose to walk from this place to that. Also, when you’re looking for a wedding venue that fits your eco-friendly idea of a wedding, then you should look for a wedding venue with a “green certificate,” which means that the particular wedding venue is known to use and keep the wedding venue sustainable. Also, make sure that you look for a wedding venue with plenty of outdoor beauty and areas where your wedding guests can sit down on the evening of your summer wedding. More ways to make sure that your wedding is not only sustainable but also beautiful is to decide on sustainable and eco-friendly wedding decor and ideas, which we will get into in the next section. As for the wedding venue, make sure that the wedding has a beautiful collection of trees, canopies, or rolling hills or meadows. This will add a beautiful aesthetic to your outdoor summer wedding! If you have a beautiful wedding venue, you can have an amazing outdoor celebration! 

Wedding Decor 

If your goal is a zero-waste wedding, then one of the best ways to ensure that is to choose zero-waste wedding decor. Well, when we say sustainable wedding decor, we do not mean that you should switch to greenery and compostable wedding details. What we mean is, instead of buying the decor items that you need to create the wedding aesthetic, you should rent those. This means you should find a wedding vendor for the decor items as well! If you can find a vendor who not only rents out wedding decor but also helps decorate the wedding venue, will be a good option for you. Apart from this, you can choose to use sustainable or eco-friendly wedding plates. Sure enough, your wedding’s tablescape can be extravagant and beautiful, but the dinner settings can be eco-friendly. Also, you can rent the cutlery for the day. To make the tablescape’s wedding decor beautiful, all you need to do is choose a wonderful table runner and an exotic fruit display. The fruit display decor idea for your wedding tablescape can double down as sweet snacks that your wedding guests can munch on and also look beautiful. While we’re on the topic, another idea that you can use to make your wedding pretty you can also choose pretty glasses for your wedding guests to have their drinks and cocktails in. Additionally, to make this idea even better, you can have your wedding guests take their glasses back home as their wedding favors! Also, if you’re in two minds about the wedding centerpiece ideas, then you can also use fresh herbs as a replacement. These fresh herb plants can be bought, or you can also choose to rent them if you have a service like that in the area you’re in. If you buy potted herbs and plants for your wedding, you can take these back to your home, if you have a big garden or you can use these plants as indoor plants for your home. This way it will not be a waste! You can also choose to cascade wedding bouquets made of greenery and some flowers, which can be later used for your home and composted. Apart from this, you can also choose faux greenery runners, which will help you to use the decor you used as your wedding decor, and as a piece of home decor! 

Wedding Details

When we talk about wedding details, we mean to add some extra things that we did not talk about in the previous section. As the last thing we discussed was wedding favors, you can also choose other options for your wedding guests. For example, instead of choosing an elaborate seating chart or escort cards for your wedding guests, you choose pretty succulent plants, which your wedding guests can use to find their seats at the reception party and can also take back! If you want to use another idea for a wedding favor or you want to add more wedding favor ideas to your wedding is to choose an eco-friendly gift like plants, a seed package, or even handmade soaps in wicker baskets. These ideas work well for outdoor summer weddings. If you want to add wedding signage to your wedding, but you want it to be sustainable as well, then you can use big frames with a photo of you and your partner, or a photo of you with your close friends and family. Then you can use a chair or a cushion to prop the frame up and use a marker to add the signage to the glass in the frame. This not only makes for modern wedding signage but also helps you keep these frames as keepsakes. All you need to do is, wipe off the writing! You can also choose to add vintage wedding details or use thrift shops to look for vintage wedding accents. These accents can not only be used as an extra decor idea for your wedding but will also make for an amazing home decor idea and addition! 

Creative Wedding Gifts 

If you’re planning to be sustainable with your wedding ideas, then we have some ideas for you to choose from and incorporate into your wedding. A great way to keep your wedding sustainable is to be creative with your wedding registry as well. Instead of choosing to ask for gifts, you can choose to experience new experiences. For example, if you’re looking to travel to some new place, or you have been meaning to take your partner to the pottery class, you can put that on your wedding registry. This way, your wedding guests will help you do something productive and keep your wedding eco-friendly. Another way to make your wedding eco-friendly is also to suggest and let your wedding guests know that you’re accepting e-gift cards instead of traditional ones. This will also help you keep your wedding and its wastage to a bare minimum. 

Extra Things to Keep in Mind

It is true that a wedding can cause massive waste. But that is true only if you don’t plan your wedding and what to do with things after. With some foresight, you can learn what to do with the leftovers and the decor items. As we discussed earlier, you can simply choose to not buy new decor items for your wedding. Instead, you can try renting them, which will help you create a beautiful aesthetic for your wedding, help you in maintaining your wedding budget, and also help you reduce wastage. Another way to incorporate it into your wedding is to ensure that your wedding dress is sourced from a sustainable wedding brand. If sustainable wedding designers are not attractive to you, you can easily look to choose a wedding brand that sells used wedding dresses, this helps you choose an attractive wedding dress and helps you be eco-friendly. And if your heart is set on buying a wedding dress and you already have an eye on something, you can either decide to donate your wedding dress later or resell it, this way you will give back to the world. Another way to make your wedding eco-friendly is to ensure that you don’t throw away the leftovers from your wedding dinner. You can easily find a place or a community that may need the food that is wasted on you. So, be sensible with the leftovers and what you do with the wedding decor ideas and details. 

With that, we are at the end of our inspiration blog on zero-waste wedding ideas and sustainable ideas. We hope that these ideas help you to choose the wedding idea that fits your idea of a dream wedding. The ideas that we mentioned above can help you choose to create a wedding with almost zero waste. Sustainable weddings are not all that difficult to plan if you know exactly what to do. Although we are sure there are more ways to make your wedding eco-friendly and zero waste and we haven’t covered all of them, we hope that the ideas above help you choose a beautiful wedding idea. If you have decided on throwing a sustainable wedding, then we’re sure you will use the ideas from our blog to plan your wedding! Before we leave you for the day, we will like to leave you with some practical advice. If you’re planning to throw an eco-friendly wedding, make sure that you start planning your wedding in advance and ensure that you do a good job with research!