Clever ways to reduce waste at your wedding
A buttercream wedding cake - entirely edible and delicious
I’ve recently come across some brilliant ways of reducing waste at your wedding. Obviously have a buttercream cake, nobody eats fondant, but check these other ideas out.
Send recyclable, bamboo or even seeded paper (which can be planted to produce baby flowers) invitations. Or even e-invitations. If sending invitations makes you feel a bit sad, why not send e-save the dates and get folks to respond to you if they really cant make it. Then just send paper invitations to those who are available.
Vegan handpainted invititations by Treasure Studios
The funnest way to reduce waste at your wedding is surely to buy a recycled or vintage wedding dress. So many talented dress makers and designers can create your perfect dress using previously worn gowns. Once you start browsing the galleries of storyofmydress, gaiaandnyx,or altergirlsglasgow you’ll very quickly realise that buying a new wedding dress is nothing short of lunacy. A couple of my customers have had their mothers’ wedding dresses altered to suit them - how precious?
A 1950s wedding dress, originally bought from Harrods, and beautifully restored by Cara at Story of My Dress
Even your rings could be recycled. London based jeweller Amanda Li-Hope remakes existing jewellery into stunning contemporary designs - even if it involves mixing items of different caratage. A fabulous tribute that could bring an unworn but much loved item into constant wear.
A stunning emerald engagement ring transformed by by Amanda Li Hope
I can’t imagine a wedding without abundant fresh flowers, but there are a few things you can do to reduce the amount of stock that will be simply thrown out afterwards. For a start, you could repurpose your bridal and bridesmaids’ bouquets as table decorations at your reception. Ask your florist to avoid the use of foam as a base for venue arrangements, most are used to working with alternatives now anyway, and consider using plants instead of flowers. These can be gifted to guests as well. Many florists donate wedding flowers to local care homes and refuges after they’ve cleared down. If yours doesn’t is there a helpful guest who could arrange for this to be done for you?
When it comes to gifting, guests may initially gasp a little drunken ‘bless!!’, to discover the tiny birdcage wedding favour that you have had expensively engraved to commemorate your special day, but isn’t a container for five sugared almonds actually a bit useless? Consider giving something useful. My sister in law made every guest at her wedding a little ceramic bowl, which was personalised with a removable tag. Such a touching gift AND somewhere to keep the radiator key, 38p and a few bits of Lego.
These little bowls - made by the bride!!
If your other half is male and will be attended by an army of groomsmen and ushers (bit needy?) you could deck them out in matching ties made from vintage textiles. General Knot & Co is based in the US but ships worldwide. If you only have the groom, best man and dads to brand, try eBay for vintage Liberty print ties or similar.
A mountain of food goes to waste at weddings. Think about offering canapés instead of a starter. I’ve cooked at hundreds of wedding and there are never any canapés left but often people struggle through the main meal. It also means folks are mingling for longer before they sit down. Have cake for pudding instead of a dessert. Obviously I’d say this but why pay for a beautiful bespoke cake that nobody eats? Even a fairly elaborate wedding cake could work out cheaper per head than a plated dessert. Don’t have a fondant cake though, nobody eats fondant.
Fondant that nobody ate