We believe in sustainable wedding practices for SO MANY REASONS (see Values page) and if you are considering sustainability as part of your celebration, we commend you! We want “going green” with your wedding to be more than a buzzword and we know that it can be hard to decide where to start, or where to stand your ground. Some bloggers will tell you it doesn’t have to take extra effort to pursue environmentally friendly wedding ideas and that it’s just as easy as “regular wedding planning.”

We’re here to level with you: It will take more work. Just like it takes more work to live an eco-friendly home life with truly sustainable products and low-impact services, the same applies to your wedding. But it’s the good work! And it’s the work we are here for. So we want to make it just a bit easier to save the planet on your big day by doing some of the research for you and by providing tips to make the extra effort just one step easier.

COMMUNICATION:

think about the way you’ll send information to your guests.

How are you sending out save the dates + invitations?

If sending a physical invitation is a valuable part of your celebration experience, there are so many cool ways to do it in an environmentally friendly way. Online stationery companies like Paper Culture make their products from 100% recycled or compostable products, purchase carbon credits to offset their company’s footprint, and plant a tree for every order they receive. You can also print any item, from invite to menu, on a biodegradable material called seed paper that sprouts into flowers when planted in a pot of soil. Botanical PaperWorks has a line of goods on plantable paper available online. More and more, couples are moving to a digital presentation of their event information. We recommend having a website where guests can always reference information about your event (trust us, it will save you so much time repeating the same information tens of times over). You can leverage that website as a green solution to invitations by choosing a host that allows you to email your guests, like Zola. You can also pair a website with a third party service that puts an e-vite into your guests’ inboxes, like Paperless Post.

How are you structuring your website + registry?

This is another wedding tradition that has exploded into a world of options that include environmentally-friendly solutions. You can create an eco-friendly registry where you register for items that are sustainability-focused, like plastic-reducing cleaning lines, stainless steel straws, composting systems, reusable dining cloths, silicone cupcake liners, and metal tea bags. You can also register for items from stores that support environmental initiatives, like 1% For the Planet, B-Corp, or their own foundations like REI’s Force of Nature (hint hint: get some fresh outdoor gear and support amplifying women’s narratives in nature). In a similar vein, you can also create a charity registry, or add a charity fund to your registry. If you don’t need more “stuff”, or only need a few key items for your married family, choose causes close to your heart to place on your registry. Most registries have settings that allow you to set up donations or funds where guests can either select how much to contribute, or you can set a recommended donation. To leave a positive impact on our planet, choose foundations with a focus on the environment or on animal welfare. Some of our favorite charities include The Nature Conservancy, Splash, Environmental Defense Fund, Heifer International, and Oceana.

Did this blog give you ideas for your environmentally conscious wedding? Let us know in the comments below!

— Kate, Tapestry Creative Director + Founder

If you are interested in more environmental resources, check out our other blogs on being environmentally conscious in your wedding planning: