[ECO]Can Your Wedding Be Sustainable? The Answer is Yes!

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Can your wedding be sustainable? The answer is yes!

I always thought that when I got married, I would follow the “how to have a sustainable wedding” guides to the T. In reality, things got very crazy very quickly, and at the time, I felt that I had put some of my environmental priorities on the back burner.  

When looking for topics to write about for Happy Eco News, I stumbled on another one of those “

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” articles. After reading and reflecting, I realized that my wedding was, in fact, more sustainable and eco-friendly than I had previously thought. Now, I should note that every single bride (and groom) is going to have their own vision for their wedding, and these “how-to” guides are not going to hit home for everyone. And that is okay!  This is only my experience that I’d like to share with you.

When planning my wedding, I was motivated primarily by cost and by minimizing waste. The wedding industry has huge mark-ups, and I did not want to fall into any of those traps. Here are a few instances where my commitment to the environment really shined through.

Paperless invitations

We decided against sending invitations through the mail. Instead, we created invitations on Canva and sent them via email. We also made a website with all of the wedding details and information. The whole process was incredibly easy and allowed our creativity to shine through. This was a great way to reduce waste and track all our RSVPs and guests.

Local venue

My dream was to have a wedding in the country in an outdoor and indoor venue that didn’t cost me an arm and a leg. I found a chalet near Montreal located outside a regional park. This venue checked all the boxes (I’m considering having more parties there). The venue was also committed to the environment and even had us sign a waiver to separate all of our waste (compost, recycling, and garbage) and use the proper bins they provided. Little environmental details like this convinced me that we chose the right spot.

Real, reusable dishes and cutlery

On more than one occasion, I was told that using single-use plates and cutlery would be the easiest and cheapest thing to use for a wedding. While I strived to make this wedding as simple as possible, I also knew in my heart that I would not be happy with single-use items at my wedding. We opted to rent dishes, glassware, and cutlery from a local rental store, giving the venue a more wedding vibe.

Flowers and decorations

If you know me or have been following

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, I love flowers and plants. It was important that my wedding had a lot of flowers. But, as I’ve mentioned, the markup for weddings is crazy. The price quadruples the second you tell a florist you want flowers for a wedding. My idea for table settings was to have annual plants (the kinds you find in at the garden centres), and people could take them home if they wanted. My mom even contributed some from her own garden to ensure we had flowers that had bloomed.

My bouquet, boutonnieres and corsages were made from flower bunches I purchased from Costco. And many other flower details came directly from my mother-in-law’s garden. For something that was truly important to me, I spent less than $150, and the result was spectacular.

Our decorations were also very minimal and tasteful. We used a lot of our own Christmas lights to brighten up the venue. And I strictly said no balloons.

Food and cake

Here is where my waste qualms really came into play. First off, I knew I didn’t want a wedding cake. They are expensive and, in my experience, rarely get eaten—the same thing with food. We wanted to ensure that we would have enough food and that it was good. We ordered the food from local Montreal restaurants and made a lot of our own food. People did not leave hungry! There were many leftovers, which some of our guests took home. For our cake, we bought a bunch of cakes from Costco (which are my absolute favourites), and they were eaten pretty quickly.

Thank you gifts

To each their own, but it really bothers me when the thank-you gift people give after a wedding is something that you can’t use or eat. Or even worse, if the bride and groom get stuck with extras because no one was taking them. I wanted to ensure that I gave my guests something that would be used and they would be excited to take home after the wedding. I’m pretty well known in my inner circle for my homemade cookies, so my husband and I decided to make three types of cookies as our thank-you gift. And every single package we made was gone at the end of the night and very well received!

Unfortunately, although I initially wanted to get a secondhand wedding dress, I did buy my dress at a store. Logistically, it made more sense. But I plan to keep my dress for my future children, and maybe they will want to reuse or repurpose it.

Looking back on this experience, I know that my wedding was unique to me, and a lot of work went into planning and executing this event. But I just want to show that it is possible to include sustainability in many aspects of your wedding. And it’s okay if not everything is eco or green; sometimes, it’s unavoidable. Just remember that if the environment is important to you, make sure to express it in every part of your life, big or small. You’ll be happy you did.

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