So you want to plan your eco-friendly wedding this year? With environmentally friendly products and services becoming much more popular, you might think that it would be easy to do this, but if you want to stay on trend there are a few things to take into consideration that will not damage the planet any further.
Wedding décor
Using recycled materials and locally produced items, you can dramatically reduce the environmental impact of your wedding. Try fresh flowers for decoration – these are biodegradable and can be taken home by guests at the end of the day. The one thing you really need to avoid are balloons. While most people favor them because they are cheap, cheerful and easy to use, they are not the environment’s best friend. The actual rubber material used to make them is harmful for the environment and can easily end up in the water system where they can be consumed by fish and birds. You could as an alternative, decorate the room with rented items such as parasols or create your own from recycled paper.
Eco-friendly confetti
While many people still use the less-than green variety of confetti, they love the idea of an environmentally-friendly version. Flower petals are the best choice here – they are biodegradable and let’s face it, they look much better in the wedding photos than tiny pieces of colored and coated paper. The paper version can actually be around much longer than you might think and it is so easy for it to be picked up by birds too. You could make your own confetti. Why not get your own flower petals, dry them and then crush them so they are in fairly small pieces? They retain the color and will still look great in the photos. You can mix it with birdseed too if you prefer – the birds will be attracted to the seed so it doesn’t just hang around on the pavements. Don’t mix the petals with rice – this can be damaging if the birds pick it up.
A bird’s eye view
Up until a couple of years ago if you wanted aerial views of your wedding, you had to hire a helicopter. Needless to say not many couples chose to go down this route, mainly because of the cost but some people were also mindful of the environmental considerations. However, this year aerial photos are going to be big news at all weddings and this is due mainly to the rise in popularity of the humble drone! You can get aerial photos of your big day without seeing a spike in your carbon footprint – why not ask one of your guests? There are a lot of people who own drones these days and the cost should also be fairly low.
Finally – don’t forget that recycled gold and jewelry are big news at the moment. Ecoura can supply you with renewed gold rings that have not had a dramatic environmental or social impact.