How to have a sustainable wedding

She then made an increased effort to reduce the carbon footprint of her 100-person wedding to Peter English in October in a number of ways, including locally sourcing all flowers, food and drinks. But her wedding still had an estimated 22,000 kilograms of CO2 emissions, which mostly stemmed from her guests traveling to Australia’s Mornington Peninsula by plane to attend. She donated money to Greenfleet, a nonprofit that plants trees to offset CO2 emissions, so that she could have a carbon-neutral wedding. She also planted a flowering gum, a native Australian tree, on her wedding day.

“The tree-planting ceremony was symbolic of our commitment to holding an environmentally friendly wedding and a small contribution to offsetting the carbon,” said Dreghorn, 30.

Dreghorn, an ethical and sustainable fashion blogger, is one of many people who are defying an industry associated with excess and extravagance.

According to a study by the sustainability consultancy Edge Impact in 2020, the average American wedding emits 57,152 kilograms of CO2. You would need to plant 2,722 trees to offset this.

The study also said that COVID-19 restrictions reduced the average wedding carbon footprint by 93%, as travel was limited and couples were forced to have smaller weddings.

“I think the pandemic really showed that we could do weddings differently,” said Bryan Smith, 33, co-creator of Sustainably Wed, a documentary series about sustainability in the wedding industry. “We can change this industry, and we can still have meaningful celebrations that maybe don’t look like they did 10 or 20 years ago, but they can still be really impactful and special.”

According to Kat Wray, custodian of Less Stuff, More Meaning, the four biggest environmental impacts of a wedding are air travel, number of guests, meat and imported flowers. A clear solution would be to have a small, local wedding with a vegetarian menu — unless you have a large family or friends across the globe, or need to plan for certain cultural traditions that require meat options.

So, wedding planners and sustainability experts weighed in on five other ideas for an environmentally friendly wedding.

Setting Priorities

Wray advises her clients to start their planning process with a wedding mantra.

“What do you want your day to be about?” she said. “Write it down, and keep coming back to that as reminder of why you are doing it in the first place.”

By having a mantra and staying grounded in their priorities, couples can have an intentional and meaningful wedding.

For instance, Dreghorn wore secondhand shoes and purchased vintage plates from antique stores to help offset the environmental impact of her guests’ flight to the event in Australia.

“Weddings are an avenue for joyful activism,” Wray said. “It’s a way to embed your values, push back against cultural expectations and use consumer power to plan a love-filled event.”

Finding the Right Local Vendors

A photo provided by Lei Lei Clavey shows a flowering gum being planted by Brittanie Dreghorn and Peter English who had a carbon neutral wedding last October in Australia’s Mornington Peninsula. (Lei Lei Clavey via The New York Times)

Working with local vendors significantly reduces the environmental impact from long-distance transportation, shipping and storage.

Michelle Miles, founder of the Sustainable Wedding Alliance, suggests collaborating with a community of local vendors that values sustainability.

Local businesses are also more flexible, with the ability to keep up with requests and logistical dilemmas, Miles said. She recommends asking businesses questions about their sustainability policies, including what happens with waste, if they have compost bins and whether they’ve removed single-use plastic from their operations.

Gwenda Jeffs, owner of Green Union, an ethical wedding blog based in Britain, said to start by deciding on the venue.

“If you’ve chosen a sustainable venue that does all the necessary with energy, water, recycling, renewables, they may even have recommended suppliers,” she said, including caterers, florists, photographers and stylists. “It’s almost a one-stop shop.”

Renting

The majority of wedding decor — including balloons, lighting and cake stands — can be rented, ensuring zero waste and a lower price point.

Finding a venue that comes with the rentals and decor is a helpful hack. Similarly, vendors can have in-house items that they would then be able to reuse for future events.

Flowers

“Some people get lulled into that false sense of security thinking, ‘Oh, well, flowers are natural. It’s not really waste,’” said Jeffs, who has been a wedding florist for 10 years. But flowers have often been imported from countries with climates that are favorable for growth, or they have been forced to grow out of season and consequently use a large amount of energy.

Working with local florists to use seasonal flowers and foliage will significantly reduce a wedding’s carbon footprint. Jeffs also suggests “relinquishing the stranglehold of specific flower types and colors” and giving florists some free range so that they could work with blooms that are naturally in season.

“Give them parameters,” she said. “Maybe you’d say, ‘the cooler end of the spectrum’ or ‘the warmer end of the spectrum’ or ‘neutrals.’ Whatever it may be, give them flexibility to really get the best of what’s around at that time.”

Minimizing Food Waste

Quantities of food should be based on RSVPs, said Rosa Rolle, an expert on food loss and waste at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. She recommends a seasonal menu built with local ingredients and the use of reusable plates and dishes. She also suggests plated dishes, which tend to generate less waste than a buffet.

When there is leftover food, she recommends offering to-go containers made with biodegradable materials for guests to bring food home. In addition, nongovernmental organizations and charities such as Rescuing Leftover Cuisine pick up leftover food from weddings and events and distribute them, although there are local laws for food-donation safety requirements.

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