A guest article by our friends at Truly Experiences with images by Damien Vickers Photography from Nicola & George’s DIY wedding at home
The average wedding emits the same amount of CO2 as 4-5 people would in an entire year. If you add to that the hundreds of pounds of waste produced, to say that most weddings are not eco-friendly is an understatement.
Luckily, there are ways to keep the carbon emissions and waste from your wedding at a bare minimum. If you follow these tips for an (almost) zero-waste wedding, you can get married in style without harming the planet.
Keep It Local
Destination weddings were once all the rage, but flying all your friends and family across the world to see you tie the knot is simply not feasible if you want your wedding to have a low ecological impact.
Instead, keep your wedding local – though exotic climes may be tempting, there are so many magical wedding venues right on your doorstep. You can even extend this idea to your honeymoon too.
Keep It Small
With more and more people embracing the micro wedding, you might just be waiting for an excuse to keep the guest list limited to your nearest and dearest.
Limiting attendees to only those who are really important to you can minimize stress and make the day into a really special one.
Something Old
The fashion industry accounts for approximately 10% of global carbon emissions. Instead of spending a fortune on a dress or outfit you will only wear once, why not go vintage? There is no better way to keep it sustainable while at the same time honoring the past and embracing the timeless elegance of “granny chic”. And you can always have outfits altered to be a better fit, both size and style-wise.
Embracing vintage chic can go beyond just your outfits and your bridesmaids’ dresses. The current trend for vintage-style maximalism is a great opportunity to go hunting in junk shops and antique stores for décor inspiration. Repurposing second-hand items in new ways will give your wedding the elegance of the past combined with a quirky edge. So bring out your grandmother’s old doilies for place settings and teacups for champagne.
Something Borrowed
Wherever you can, hire instead of buy. Often, things like tables, chairs and crockery come with a venue, but if not, there are lots of places where you can hire beautiful wedding goods. Note that hiring from many different places means more CO2 emissions in the form of transport vehicles, so the more you can get from the venue or from one place, the better.
These days, there are even lots of options for hiring beautiful wedding gowns and stylish suits. If you think about it, it doesn’t make much sense to buy something you will only wear once. Another more sustainable option when it comes to wardrobe is to go a more casual route and buy a cute and funky outfit you will easily wear again.
Paperless Wedding Invitations
In all likelihood, you were planning to get in contact with guests via email or other digital communication anyway, which renders paper invitations not strictly necessary. But you can still make your invites beautiful and special by using an E-invitations service.
If you are set on paper invites, go for recyclable/compostable paper or something more sustainable like bamboo. One way to make your invitations extra-special is to use seeded paper that will grow into flowers if planted! Just make sure your guests know what they are supposed to do with their invites.
Look Into Zero-Waste Beauty Products
These days, more and more cosmetic companies are committed to being zero waste. Researching which brands are legitimately sustainable will take some time, but voting with your wallet is an important way to let brands know that consumers care about sustainability.
If you are hiring a professional makeup artist or hairstylist, contact them beforehand and let them know you’d like to eliminate as much waste from the process as possible and only want to use sustainable brands. If they say it is impossible, they may not be the right fit for you.
But there are certainly lots of professionals out there who will take up the zero-waste challenge. Who knows, you may even change their practices long term.
Find A Venue That Shares Your Values
When looking into venues, make a commitment to sustainability one of your top priorities. Find a place with its recycling and composting system, and one that already has its own wedding goods and décor. Ask them about how they keep their energy use low and minimize waste.
You should be able to tell by how they respond whether they are truly committed to sustainability or just paying lip service. When it comes to venues, it is important to feel that the place you choose reflects your values and takes your concerns seriously.
Choose Reusable Or Compostable Goods
There are many little things at weddings that can add up to a mountain of rubbish. From programs to menus to serviettes to drinks bottles, it’s easy to see how those kilograms of waste add up.
Wherever you can, choose options that are recyclable or compostable, and make sure you have clearly marked bins, so your guests know what goes where. Also, skip the bottled water for jugs of filtered water at your hydration station.
Stay Local & In-Season
When designing your menu, go for ingredients that are grown locally and are in season. This way, you can minimize carbon emissions while supporting local farmers. In-season produce is always the most delicious anyway.
If you really want to keep emissions low, consider a plant-based or meat-free menu.
If you are using a caterer, try to find one committed to sustainability, or talk to them beforehand to get them on board. It’s also a good idea to do research into sustainable wines or talk to your drinks supplier to make sure you are supporting brands that share your zero-waste ambitions.
That Goes For Flowers Too
There is a wealth of gorgeous flora that grows naturally right here in the UK. Talk to your florist to make sure all your flowers are grown locally and sustainably. You could even go for dried flowers for an autumnal, cottage-core aesthetic.
Attempting a zero-waste wedding does take a little more effort, but it’s not as hard as you might think. Your guests will admire your commitment and you may even inspire others to pursue a zero-waste wedding and lifestyle!
A guest article by our friends at Truly Experiences. Header image from our archives by Jo Bradbury Photography
Wearing a dress for your wedding that has been in your family for generations can be a great experience. Donning the dress worn by your mother or grandmother can make your big day extra meaningful and bring you closer to your roots.
Sometimes brides wear hand-me-down dresses for other reasons, such as sustainability or a tight budget, and in these situations the following tips and tricks are just as useful. Preparing for a wedding is a huge undertaking for the bride and groom and choosing your dress is often one of the most important aspects.
Some brides aren’t keen to use a hand-me-down dress, but for those open to the idea, there are many ways of making it your own without destroying the existing style.
Big Wedding Dress Decisions
Before making any final decisions about your dress, it’s important to do some soul-searching and weigh up pros and cons.
Wearing an heirloom dress can make the day more meaningful, but that doesn’t mean you’re obliged to accept something you find unattractive. There is no point in going ahead with a hand-me-down dress if you simply do not like it.
1. Be Realistic – Do You Really Like It?
A dress that’s been passed down through a family comes with a lot of expectations. A mother who has dreamt of their daughter walking down the aisle in her old gown might not even realise the pressure the bride feels to live up to that hope.
Weddings are already fraught with stress, so it’s important to decide within yourself whether wearing a hand-me-down dress is truly what you want. If you’re doing it for someone else you’ll have to accept the fact that you may not feel totally happy with your outfit.
Photographer credit: Jo Bradbury Photography
2. Heirloom Dresses
Some hand-me-down dresses are more meaningful than others, in the sense that they have been passed down through multiple generations rather than belonging only to the mother of the bride. These are usually known as heirloom dresses (as opposed to hand-me-downs) and can be extremely old.
Styles can range from ornately decorated gowns in a range of colours, to dresses with sweetheart necklines or scoop necks.
3. Necessary Alterations
It’s highly likely that any hand-me-down dress will need a few alterations in terms of size and shape. It’s important that the original owner of the dress is open to such adjustments. If they aren’t, wearing the dress could easily become a major stressor rather than a meaningful action.
Hand-me-down Dress Basics: Tips And Tricks
1. Where To Start?
Hand-me-down and heirloom dresses by their very nature are old-fashioned. However, some characteristics of vintage wedding gowns are luckily timeless.
If there are elements of your hand-me-down dress that are decidedly not for you, getting some advice from a dressmaker is a good first step before throwing out the idea entirely. This of course also depends on the expectations of the dress’s original owner. If the assumption is that you’ll pass it on to your own daughter, making drastic alterations to the style might be frowned upon.
2. Size, Shape And Fit
You’d be incredibly lucky to land a hand-me-down dress that fits you perfectly. When it comes to the size of a dress, a professional dressmaker will be more than capable of adjusting seams and darts to make it the right fit for your body. Making a dress larger is more complicated than shrinking it, but is still achievable.
Some style elements of older dresses are making a comeback. From the flowing styles of the early 1900s to Princess Diana’s elaborate taffeta and lace gown, it is obvious even to the untrained eye that fashions have undergone a drastic alteration.
Fashion styles change constantly and a dress from 1961 could be entirely different to one made in 1968 or ’69. With the evolution of wedding dresses, the ideal fit has also changed, along with standard sizing categories.
The shape of a dress is just as important as its size. Although some vintage styles have made a comeback, the way they accentuate different parts of the body still feels out of date. The trend of mini dresses in the 1960s seems to be becoming popular once again, but many 2021 brides prefer more modern styles and shapes.
These days, backless gowns, off-the-shoulder sleeves and “maximalist” details are all the rage. Taking a look at styles through the years, it’s clear that many older dresses could easily be altered to reflect current trends – while retaining their vintage feel.
3. General Condition
If a hand-me-down dress has been well-preserved with the intention of being worn again, there should be no issues with the quality and condition of the material and needlework. Sometimes, however, a vintage or heirloom dress will not have been stored correctly.
Fortunately, cleaning a dress isn’t a complicated affair. Vintage gowns can become discoloured easily, but soaking the dress in cold or lukewarm water with detergent can help to restore its brightness.
4. Making the Dress Your Own
Getting married is a big thing, and finding the perfect dress for the occasion is very important for the vast majority of brides. What a “perfect” dress is depends entirely on individual taste. Some brides have a clear idea of the gown they’re looking for while others arrive at their final choice through a process of trial and error.
If you already know what you want, then work with someone like a dressmaker or seamstress to see how a hand-me-down dress can be altered to fit your preferences. Bodices can be tightened or loosened and sleeves can be adjusted to be either longer or shorter. Bouncing ideas off someone you consider stylish can help if you are less certain about your desired ensemble.
Something Old, Something New…
While mum’s wedding dress is a very special gift for any woman, your wedding will also be one of the most memorable events in your life, so don’t settle for a style that you don’t truly like.
Fortunately, it is always possible to adapt even the most old-fashioned gown to reflect your taste – tap into your inner dressmaker and enjoy the process.
If there was one blog feature I could hold up to the world and say, “here: this is why I’ve been blogging for ten years”, it’s this. I’m in love with the beauty of this seaside elopement which reminds me of my own wild beach. The images are out of this world. But it’s the words from Suffolk wedding photographer Beth Beresford which really grab onto my heart and stay there. As we head into 2022 with sustainability a real focus for our wedding blogging future, I only wish I could articulate, anywhere near as beautifully as she does, what Beth has captured here. Words and images by the fabulously talented Beth Beresford Photography. Full supplier list (and these guys are all SO amazingly good at what they do) below.
Photographer – Beth Beresford Photography https://www.bethberesfordphotography.co.uk/
Stylist & Planner – @make_our_day_
Dress designer – Maggie Sottero https://www.maggiesottero.com/
Textile Designer – Mia Sylvia https://www.miasylvia.co.uk/
Make up Artist – Emily Chantal https://www.emilychantalmakeup.com/
Florist – Suffolk Flower Garden https://www.suffolkflowergarden.co.uk
Stationery – Lovely Letters https://www.etsy.com/shop/lovelylettersuk1/
Hair – Glow Occasion Hair https://www.glowoccasionhairspecialist.com/
Furniture – Anthology Vintage Hire https://www.anthologyvintagehire.com/
Jewellery – The Vamoose https://www.thevamoose.com/
Decorated Shells – Brandyoak Cottage https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/BrandyoakCottage
Ribbon – Penelope’s Child https://www.penelopeschild.co.uk/
Napkins – Myrrh & Honey https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MyrrhAndHoney
Cake – @whiskandwonderful
Table Runner – Magpie Linens https://www.etsy.com/people/MagpieDecorLinens
“Waste not want not” as my Nana would say as I begrudgingly shuffle my unwanted veg around my plate with my fork. Whilst I hate to admit it, she was right. She was born in an era that survived the second world war, that included rationing, repurposing fashion, reduced workforce and a number of other challenges. I do have a love of shiny things but as is becoming clear, the world will not survive the level of consumption at its current rate.
As we come out the other side of an extraordinary experience, there is a laser focus on what is most important, a lightbulb moment if you will. Family, friends and love. Weddings have picked back up in a rapid fashion, but with more meaning and appreciation, rather than it being an excuse for a party. That was where the idea of an all eco elopement was born.
We titled the shoot “Rewilding”, reintroducing nature, reacquainting wild happy hearts and nurturing the sentiment of the wedding. Everything sourced for this wedding inspiration was economically kind, recycled (or upcycled) and reused.
I would love to know how many wedding dresses sit in ornate boxes, folded carefully away in tissue paper, sat quietly in attics around the UK. The dress in this shoot was second hand, bought off ebay for £100, the original owner had paid £1500 for the first wear of this exquisite Maggie Sottero dress. So we sent it to Mia Sylvia, who using carefully selected natural materials hand dyed the dress to give it an ombre dip dye effect.
As we know, a large proportion of the cut flower industry creates a serious carbon footprint. Flowers are grown in humid controlled greenhouses, then refrigerated and transported thousands of miles. There is of course the impact of water consumption and pollution from the various pesticides. I have heard the words slow business banded about often, the implication of time and patience, love and nurturing an entity. This was what we wanted for the cut flowers. Mel, of Suffolk Flower garden, is one of a number of florists bringing back home grown flowers. Grown on her own land, she fosters and nurtures these flowers in an economical way.
Glass is one the few materials that can be recycled with little to no diminishing returns. Over and over again. Name places and plates were made from recycled glass, their attributes allowing them to lend themselves to any style and colour scheme imaginable.
Furniture absolutely made this shoot, Amy from Anthology Vintage hire lent a few of her incredible pieces. She has scoured charity shops, auctions and fairs to find the furniture she hires out. Tables hand made in house from recycled wood. Her items see hundreds of wedding in their lifetime, oh if they only had mouths, the stories they could tell.
An elopement that puts love back where it belongs, in nature, reacquainting with the wild.
Beth Beresford Photography is an English Wedding member. Discover more & get in touch!
Web: https://www.bethberesfordphotography.co.uk
A guest article by English Wedding member Little Green Wedding
Did you know that your special day can be a source of amazing waste? No one wants to cut corners on their big day, but recent research shows that on average each wedding is responsible for over 20kg of single use plastic waste and over £500 of food is thrown away after each reception.
Signature invitation by Little Green Wedding
For an Eco-conscious bride or couple, they should be looking to reduce waste before the wedding even starts. Many couples now are opting for sustainable wedding rings, however the next stage of wedding planning offers a considerable opportunity to showcase your green credentials.
Pre-day wedding stationery such as Invitations, RSVPs and Save the dates are traditionally made from virgin paper stock, adorned with glitter and metallic foils to give them a luxury look – none of which is recyclable.
Even those papers made from Kraft brown ‘recycled’ paper can be environmentally damaging.
Foliage invitation by Little Green Wedding
The alternative of digital stationery is workable, but often does not convey the sincerity that a paper based product allows.
To create a special effect, Little Green Wedding has invested in a range of Tree Free alternative papers to make beautiful, luxury wedding stationery to entice a range of sustainably minded customers.
Their best selling products are made from Tree Free paper which is actually reclaimed cotton from the textiles industries embedded with a range of beautiful flower and vegetable seeds.
They have a growing stock of pre-made designs in complimentary themes and work on custom items too. Not only are these products eco-friendly, they allow the recipient to grow a little memento for your big day, and happy couples can have fun growing a flower garden with RSVPs after the event.
They even have wedding stationery made on a range of other paper stock including sugar cane, Elephant Poo and Eco Cotton.
On your special day itself, waste can again rear its ugly head, but you can keep your whole stationery line in range with matching place cards, Order of Service, Menus and other stationery ideas.
Classic invitation by Little Green Wedding
SunSea invitation by Little Green Wedding
Discover more & get in touch!
Web: https://littlegreenwedding.com
Header image by Hannah Timm Photography. Laura & Oliver’s Coed Hills wedding is here in our archives.
Steering a wedding blog along the right path is a fun part of everything we do… and we’re always looking to be better.
After covid (is it too soon to say that? Probably but…) we’ve learned a few things: family and human connection are massively important.
At the beginning of 2020 we were all about sustainability in weddings – and at that time, sustainability meant carbon footprint and reducing plastic, reusing and recycling and so on.
It kinda feels like the world changed in the last two years, and we want to keep changing too. That whole Be Kind thing? That stuck. We want to be the nice, ethical wedding blog.
The wedding media – magazines especially – is so often about the things you NEED TO BUY for your wedding. (And oh it’s so beautifully subtle isn’t it?) But the truth is that you don’t actually need to buy anything for your big day. Has any wedding blog ever told you that?
Weddings can be very, very affordable.
We’d like to. And to be honest, we’re probably going to keep saying it, rather a lot.
So over the coming months we’re going to focus harder than ever on sustainable weddings – but not just green stuff.
We’ll start with affordable weddings: how much should you spend? (Oh, and a little word about ‘average wedding budgets’… a pet hate of ours! Expect a rant…)
In a nutshell, you should spend what you can happily afford. No more. And no loans. Weddings will be different for every couple, but we promise a £200 wedding can be as beautiful as a £200,000 one.
We’ll have things to say about balancing affordability with personality (because that’s where the beauty comes from).
Sustainability in weddings should mean more: it should mean ethical and affordable weddings, and celebrations which do no harm.
But what harm can a wedding possibly do?
Okay, so – mental health. Waste. Debt. Plastic.
When you dig down into the details, there’s so much to think about – from your outfits to favours to where the eggs in your wedding cake came from.
We’ll be talking most of all about how to do good when you’re planning your wedding though.
There is so much we’re excited to tell you about –
Simpler budgeting. Looking after your mental health. Charity (in a hundred ways!). Supporting independent businesses. Recycling. Community. Offsetting. Vegan weddings. Not to mention the joy of gathering family and loved ones together for the celebration of a lifetime.
We’ll be publishing a whole bunch of articles about having a sustainable wedding over the next few months.
If you’d like to have your say – especially if you’re planning a sustainable wedding, or maybe send us in a little quote or a guest article we’d love to hear from you! contactenglishwedding@gmail.com
In the meantime, did you see Boo & Charlie’s sustainable micro wedding on the blog? She wore a Raimon Bundo designer wedding dress… from a local hospice charity shop. His suit was from Oxfam online. Need we even SAY more?!