Some Zero-Waste wedding tips

Flowers

Choose locally grown, seasonal flowers, “certainly from a carbon-footprint perspective if not a waste perspective,” says Ariella Chezar, author of the forthcoming book Seasonal Flower Arranging: Fill Your Home with Blooms, Branches, and Foraged Materials All Year Round.

To cut back on waste, make sure your florist isn’t using foam in centrepieces and other arrangements. “It’s one of those products that is non-biodegradable and is totally unnecessary,” says Chezar.

Next, plan how your florals will be repurposed after the event, she says. Many organisations will pick up arrangements and give them to nursing homes and other institutions. If nothing else, make sure flowers are composted instead up ending up in a landfill somewhere.

“Or you can forgo cut flowers altogether in favour of potted plants, which can then be gifted or planted. There’s certainly no waste there,” Chezar says.

Food and decor

Choose cloth napkins, and authentic tableware, glassware and plates, rather than disposables.

“It’s easy enough to rent, borrow or find things at thrift shops,” says Kellogg, who used her abundant collection of Mason jars and borrowed items for her reception.

“Sometimes an eclectic mix of plates and glasses can be fun,” says Johnson. As for food, Kellogg says, “I took my crock-pot to the butcher, had him put in 4 pounds [1.8kg] or 5 pounds [2.2kg] of [steak], and served pulled [steak] and pulled jackfruit for the main dishes,” Kellogg says.

She and Johnson both recommend colourful displays of fruits, vegetables or even flower petals as table centrepieces that guests can take home and enjoy.

Gifts

“Instead of traditional wedding gifts, we asked guests to each bring a side dish or something to drink, and contribute to our honeymoon fund,” Kellogg says. Other couples ask for donations to their favourite charity, or contributions toward a goal, such as a down payment on a house.

Attire

Like tables, chairs and linens, wedding dresses and tuxedos can be rented. Vintage or secondhand dresses are also popular, and can be tailored to size. Some designers now make Zero-Waste dresses using fabric scraps otherwise destined for the trash.

“Zero-Waste weddings are a recent trend in France. This year I even designed for a client a wedding dress made from pieces of her grandmother’s wedding dress,” says Laetitia Drouet of the Frenchbased Kamelion Couture.

Invitations

“For my wedding invitations, I bought card stock and painted a design on the front, but these days I’d say paperlesspost.com or another email option would be the best ZeroWaste option,” says Johnson.

If you’re set on paper though, “go for recycled paper with vegetable ink,” says Sylvester. Some types of paper are embedded with seeds, so guests can even soak the invitation in water and then plant it.

Party favours

Centrepiece and other decor items, like flowers, fruits or vegetables, can double as gifts for guests, as can things like votive candles.