How are you striving to be Eco-Friendly in your wedding planning?

I know this is an older post but I am very interested in the concept!

We are trying to avoid buying "new" stuff -- we've been saving glass jars, oil and vinegar bottles, etc. for our florals.

No fake flowers. No "favours" -- we are letting our guests take home the floral centrepieces and bouquets.

We're also doing a plated dinner to avoid the buffet waste.

Contemplating sending paper invites on "seed" paper.

I've also told my bridesmaids to just buy a below knee length dress in black that they feel comfortable in which hopefully means it will be worn more than once!

Renting is one way to save on eco friendly items than going full out. It helps to save on the cost as well as the fresh going bad in a few days in the case of flowers. Marketplace such as kijiji, FB, and Letgo are great sources to find everything you want quantity wise. Tealights make excellent décor on the table for light.

We rented a lot of the decor and also used lots of flowers (potted and fresh cut) which are biodegradable. We also had wedding favours that people would actually take home and use (small mason jar with a spice mix). We also didn't use confetti or anything like that and avoided straws with the drinks.

No straws for sure and all of our decor is rented so no garbage. ill be selling items after so no garbage there either

Our venue actually just sent out a blog post about their sustainability efforts and I was mucho impressed!

- No plastic straws; biodegradable takeout containers; water refill stations and asking guests to reuse water glasses to cut down on water used by dishwasher

- Gardens and vineyards watered using irrigation with collected rainwater

- 55-60% of their food and beverages are locally-sourced

I really strive to be as eco-friendly as possible in my day-to-day life so our wedding will be no exception:

- Ring is moissanite (lab-grown; ie. environmentally-friendly and ethical)

- My dress is manufactured in Toronto; my shoes are from a vegan and carbon-neutral company; guys are renting suits instead of purchasing

- Decor is minimal; buying used; selling/renting out after the wedding

- Edible favours in reusable containers

- Paperless programs, menus, wedding website instead of a bunch of details cards, etc.

- Plated dinner avoids excess food waste

We are trying in little ways! Cutting down on paper where we can. Renting/ or re using decor items where we can. I'm curious to here from someone who successfully had a zero waste wedding?

I'm keeping decor to a minimal. I plan to reuse what decor I have purchased in the future or resold (seating chart in picture frames that I'll use for pictures later, lantern for cards, etc.) We're serving our own cake, and I've made sure that the cutlery, napkins, and plates are all compostable/biodegradable.

Our caterer only supples plastic cutlery and paper plates so we went with a decor company to use dinner plates and copper cutlery And then of course we had a recycling bin for all the alc. beverages that were in can form as well as the bottles.

We have bought a few things second hand, and my wedding dress was a sample and not made brand new just for me. So far I've gotten a terrarium for our card box and 2 dozen vases with candles from online yard sale pages. We plan on selling our decor items after as well to continue the green cycle.
We are planning on making our centerpieces and my bouquet out of faux flowers so they can be used by other couples after us. Faux flowers seem to be the thing that sells fastest on the local second hand wedding sites so fingers crossed!

We're skipping favors to reduce waste and having our wedding at a venue that doesn't use disposable cutlery, dishes, or glassware. We've also skipped a full meal to reduce food waste (but mostly to save us a lot of money).
So far all of our green elements have also been more budget friendly too which has been a great bonus!

All my centerpieces are bought second hand and being reused. I will also try to sell them to another bride to use. I have bought second hand wherever I could.