Eco Friendly Wedding: Tableware and Food

It has been a while since my last Eco Friendly Wedding post. My previous posts are: 'Decorations and Locations' and 'Bouquets and Centerpieces'.
I already mentioned the impact of flowers in the bouquet and centerpieces post and suggested plants or other kind of centerpieces instead. Now we also have table placements which are often done on paper, I love the idea of writing the names on found pebbles or leaves. Zero impact on the environment and free of charge a win-win, you'll only need to write the names by hand, a small price to pay I think!

Tableware is another issue, I have a huge dislike towards plastic tableware, we already have so much plastic everywhere, why use them when it can be avoided? Porcelain tableware is an option, could be even bought second hand, washing it all is less fun though and they get pretty heavy.
Another option I liked are biodegradable palm tree leave plates and utensils, they look so pretty, chic and they are eco friendly, love it all!

Food is one of the biggest problem when it comes to environment impact, but food is also often a delicate issue to talk about.
All food needs water to become eatable. Meat uses the largest amount of water per kg and has a huge impact on our planet, my friend Stephanie wrote a blog post about the environmental impact of meat, worth the read if you are interested!
Not everyone eats meat anyway so making your wedding a vegetarian one has several advantages:
-No need to make separate type of foods for vegetarians
-Meat being the most expensive of foods you save a lot of money
-By not using a whole bunch of meat you used less resources and your wedding is much more eco-friendly.

Beside making it vegetarian, a few more things that will save both resources and money are:
-Buying local dairy products, vegetables and fruits, which are usually without those horrible plastic packaging, did not travel to reach destination and are also fresher
-Buying seasonal vegetables and fruit (just like with flowers), they taste better, are cheaper and are so much friendlier for the environment
-Instead of having plates prepared full with food which most likely half of it will end in the trash, an open buffet is wonderful to avoid waste. Everyone can take the amount they want and can choose what they want. All leftovers will be on the serving plates so can be taken home by the people who worked at the wedding and most likely had no time to eat so they'll appreciate it.
Here are 73 open buffet/ food bar ideas for weddings.

If you have any more tips to save resources for a wedding I'd love to hear them!

Eco Friendly Wedding; Decorations and Locations

Continuing to find eco friendly solutions for weddings I thought about the amount of decorations required for a wedding. Thousands and thousands of dollars are often spent on decoration. Mostly flowers again which are as explained in my previous eco friendly wedding post horrible for the environment. So you spent all that money and leave a big carbon footprint for something that will be thrown away a few hours later. I am not saying that you have to marry in a plain boring place, however you can solve the whole decorating solution by choosing a location that is pretty without any help. The picture above was of a wedding from one of our customers who had her wedding on a beach, you can see in this post how they hardly had to decorate the place and they did not use any flowers, even the bouquets were not real flowers.

This forest wedding is magical! Only some lights and they were ready to go. We have so many magical places in the world no need to decorate :) I love this location I think it is much more memorable for the guests too as it is unique and special, it is in a camp with loads of outdoors activities.

And of course garden weddings. This can be a hired place but also your own yard or of a relative or friend. The trees in the picture above are much prettier than any men-made decoration if you ask me, without any additional cost or environmental damage.

Other locations I came across which are unique and do not require much decorations are: Library weddings, Farm weddings and Park weddings. To make it even greener it is best to choose a location which is closest to most of your guests so that not much travel is required.

Another picture of the beautiful beach wedding of our customer, for which we made a hairpiece, brooch, boutonnieres, earrings, bridesmaids jewelry and flower girl jewelry.

Would you choose any of these locations? Or do you know any other than these that would not require flowers and other waste to make it pretty? I'd love to hear them :)

Eco Friendly Wedding; Bouquets and Centerpieces

Weddings are a big deal, although it does not always happen it is planned as a once in a life time thing and often no costs are spared.
Besides the high costs weddings are often also not friendly for our planet, there are a lot of aspects that can make a wedding eco friendlier and even cheaper because of it. I am planning to write a few blogposts about this and am starting today with the flowers.

Flowers are often used as centerpieces on each table, bouquets for the brides, bridesmaids and flower girls, and as decoration.
Unfortunately most flowers available at flower shops have a very big carbon footprint, which is especially sad as all these flowers will be seen for one day and than end up in the trash. I myself have never liked flowers as they die quickly, I much prefer a pot with a nice plant which I can enjoy for many years, this idea can also be kept in thought while planning a wedding.

If you always wanted fresh flowers on your wedding, checkout local and especially seasonal flowers,  they are much friendlier for nature and also cheaper a win-win. Who knows maybe you even have a friendly neighbor with a beautiful flower garden :)

1. Center piece from Projectwedding 2. Succulent bouquet from loverly 3. succulent decor from weddingchicks

But even though seasonal and local flowers are a much better eco option, they still will die, so I love the idea of plants, especially succulent plants. They are beautiful, don't need much water and can handle a day easily as a bouquet. You can also have little pots with succulents as wedding favors and the center pieces will look great in your home and friends homes for many years, even your bouquet could be planted as succulents can propagate with only the leaves.

If you are not convinced yet, check out these 70 succulent plant wedding project at dearpearlflowers!

Paper flowers and decorations are also a great option, recycled paper of course like magazine leaves or newspaper, later they can all go in the recycle bin. Maps could be used for the travelers or music sheets for musicians.

Checkout at idoityourself for how to make such a bouquet yourself.

Center pieces are where most flowers are used for, instead of flowers other objects can be used too, no need to go traditional. Love the idea of this backyard wedding from glamourandgrace where the bride and groom created center pieces with arrangements of beloved personal objects from their own home, their parents, and friends. No waste, no costs!

There are many more alternatives like fabric flowers made of upcycled fabric, pinecones are also great for bouquets and decorations, the amount of flowers can be reduced by using a lot of alternatives for decoration.

And of course we make bouquets too! Ours are made with beach findings like sea urchins and shells, vintage fabrics and brooches and lots of love :) If you are in the middle of planning your wedding I hope you have come up with more eco friendly solutions for the flowers. I will be writing more posts for eco friendly solutions for wedding related things.