Sustainable Wedding

Hi Kelly. You could reuse or borrow jewelry, shoes, and any other accessories. I wore colored shoes already in my closet though I spent months perusing websites for new white/ivory. I enjoy the feeling of wearing my wedding shoes on other special evenings.

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Hi Michelle. Thanks! I'm wearing shoes and jewelry that I already have. I'm going to buy a dress, hopefully secondhand, and will wear it again.

You can see if any of your vendors stay have items you can reuse. I'm renting a lot from my wedding coord for whatever I didn't have already - a porcelain cake stand, shepherd hooks, rug to stand on for ceremony, linens, plate chargers, votives. I'm borrowing the bud vases for guest tables from the florist. I am using real flowers from a local florist and she's using only locally grown flowers.
My FH built the arbor and he designed it to be disassembled in 3 parts so the venue can keep it and store it for other weddings there (it's a volunteer run community hall). He also built a wooden cake stand and we're going to let the wedding coordinator have it to add to her rentals collection.

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Thanks for the suggestions. I'm borrowing or renting all decor that isn't or won't be used in my home (I'm making quilted centerpieces that will serve as placemats at home).

Following! I’m planning on doing the same thing for my wedding! If I find out anything I’ll share on here!

Rent whenever possible because purchasing creates waste. Renting is also cheaper in the long run because people never factor in their time and sanity at minimum wage per hour in addition to the cost of supplies/transportation to and from/labor of setup and tear down/the process of attempting to sell everything


Real dishes and silverware instead of plastic, or use compostable with clearly marked trash bins.
Real flowers are biodegradable while wood/silks are not and will sit in a landfill forever.
Wear your own shoes and accessories and ask your attendants to do the same. Bridesmaids can wear dresses they already own.

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Real flowers are really carbon intensive. I'm getting married in October, so my choices would be very limited and I don't have anyone local that I can go to. I'm getting wooden flowers made from a fast growing (e.g. renewable) marshy plant. They can biodegrade or they'll keep as decoration. As I said before, nothing is disposable or single use.

No invites? Just wedding website and email unless there are older people who need that.


All used centerpieces, used florals from Facebook marketplace.
The only non sustainable things will be your dress if you don’t buy it used!

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Thanks. The centerpieces will be borrowed and household decorations repurposed for the wedding.

Many guests don't read their emails, so we're sending paper invitations via USPS and using recycled paper. We'll be asking guests to compost or recycle the invitations.

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Hi! Some things I'm doing are:

buying my own alcohol and bringing home the excess,

wearing shoes I already have and doing the same for the wedding party,

wedding party renting their attire,

(hopefully) buying a dress secondhand,

borrowing flameless candles as decorations from family and friends,

using quilted placements as centerpieces (topped with candles and flowers),

all real glassware/china/cutlery/etc

shuttle service

no plastic in any welcome bags, favors, or other paraphernalia,

all local food, drinks, and vendors,

all food scraps will be composted, left overs will be taken home and eaten/frozen or donated

wooden flowers from Southern Blooms

I know this is a lot, but hopefully some of it helps! I looked into flower options for a while. As far as I can tell, Southern Blooms has the lowest carbon footprint of many of the wooden flower options, silk flowers, and fresh flowers. The company has been really responsive to my questions about sustainability practices.

View Quoted Comment Hi Kelly!!! Thanks for sharing all that you’re planning on doing!! ♥️ I got my dream dress from a second hand wedding dress online shop on StillWhite! Any extra dresses I’ve gotten on ThredUP!
And yeah! I’m doing the same for alcohol, I live in Wine Country on the Central Coast in California, so we’re going to do local wines. And all food locally here as well!!
That is so cool you’re getting your flameless candles from family and friends! I really want to have some for our centerpieces/decor but they seem a bit pricy on Amazon. I might just just do one order. And yeah, real glassware and utensils would be a great idea. Where are you getting yours from?I love that you’ll be composting your scraps! We might to the same, take home leftovers!And good to know about Southern Blooms! I was looking into other options for florals since fresh flowers would be more expensive and wasteful. I thought about the wooden florals idea! So thanks!
I so appreciate your input! So far our Save the Dates I made on Typorama app and texted/emailed them to friends and family) and plan to do wedding invites online too.
We should totally keep in touch with our eco friendly sustainable wedding planning! So cool to see someone else doing it on here!

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Sounds like you'll have some fantastic wine! And yes, we should stay in touch!

My caterer is providing all of the glassware, plates, and silverware. He is taking care of it all so I don't have to worry about transporting or washing it.

I'm in Pennsylvania, but I found some municipal composting places that will let me drop off scraps from my wedding. I'm sure California has some too.

I'm not wearing a white dress, which is why I'm having trouble finding what I want secondhand. I have time though.

I've ordered test bouquets from Southern Blooms and I really like them (so do my cats). They have them already put together too, so you don't have to worry about making bouquets.

View Quoted Comment Oh great idea! I need to look into catering soon.
And cool! You’re in Pennsylvania! My fiancé and I are planning on visiting there this summer (to visit his family). California does have some composting places.
What color dress are you thinking? I’m sure there are nifty thrift stores in your area! And ThredUP might have some cool dresses too! Omg so exciting to know about Southern Blooms sending test bouquets! I’m thinking my actual bouquet will be real roses, but I’m also planning on doing (not real, hoping they look real though) roses all over the place in my wedding from decor to our chuppah!

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I'm thinking of getting a dark red ballgown, which I've been having trouble finding in my size secondhand. Most thrift store have smaller clothes.

Another option for flowers is preserving them. If you get environmentally friendly grown roses, you can preserve then in glycerin. It replaces the water and keeps flowers looking fresh, although they feel a bit waxy. I've done it but decided that I'd rather just buy flowers because I'm already DIYing so much else.

View Quoted Comment Oh! That is going to be STUNNING 😍 a dark Red Ballgown dress! I think that might be a challenge in general second hand. But if you stay patient, something will come up!
Thanks for the suggestion on preserving the flowers!

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Thanks! Patience is not something I'm good at, but I'll try.

View Quoted Comment I totally get it! Have you also thought about Etsy as well? It just dawned on me they could have something too!

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I'm actually going to wear the shoes I wore to my high school prom! They're in the color scheme (gold) and they're broken in, so they're perfect.

View Quoted Comment Awesome!!!!

Have you considered biodegradable seed paper for invites? Botanical PaperWorks is a women-run company in Canada. Paper Culture (California) uses 100% recycled paper and plants a tree with each order. I used them for Save the Dates and found their envelope adhesive, just ok. There are ways to go around that though.