OKAY GUYS, REAL TALK TIME. Your elopement or wedding is meant to be the best day of your life, but it can also be one of the most wasteful! Packaging tossed in the bin, leftover decorations dumped, excess food thrown away, ALL OF YOUR AMAZON BOXES (well let’s be honest, probably sitting around your house for way too long, but then EVENTUALLY) DISPOSED OF! All of these wasteful choices are probably unintentional and you probably aren’t meaning to be giving Mother Nature the middle finger when planning your special day, but she’s taking it that way nonetheless. Now, of course I’m not telling you to avoid all of your cute details or skip the catering, but consider making small changes in your day that can have a major impact on the environment!

Planning an eco friendly wedding DEFINITELY doesn’t have to be harder than planning a normal wedding, and all it takes is a few intentional choices to make your affair more green! Ready to stop unintentionally saying “Eff you!” to the environment in your wedding planning choices?! Let’s dive in!

Ring In The Earth-Savings!

THE RING. Usually the FIRST decision made when planning. And even though you probably haven’t even started planning your elopement yet at all, you can still start yourself off on an environmentally friendly path by making this decision wisely! When picking out a ring, make sure to track the origins of your stone! Let’s try and not use blood diamonds as the symbol of our eternal love, okay? You can also make a safe choice by choosing a lab-grown diamond instead of a mined one! Lab grown diamonds are often less expensive but are just as beautiful as the others! Its very hard to even tell them apart. Another option is proposing with vintage jewelry or secondhand jewelry!

Let’s Dress With Earth-Friendliness!

Another way that you can be kind to the earth is your dress choice! There are many designers that create dresses in sustainable methods, and by choosing a local one, you substantially reduce your pollution footprint! Another option is to buy a used or a vintage dress! Etsy is FULL of gorgeous vintage gowns or you could hit up your local vintage shop in search of a treasure!

Renting the dress is another eco-friendly decision you can make! Rent the Runway is a great place to find some gorgeous gowns that get shipped right to you! And you don’t even have to worry about getting them cleaned afterwards!

Wedding Dress for Rent and Poshare are also good options for renting your dress!

The Power in Flowers

If you’re choosing a bouquet to carry on your elopement, consider going with a sustainable florist. Most work with local flower farms or grow their own flowers and it greatly reduces the need to transport flowers from overseas! Did you know that most roses and orchids are flown to the US from another country? And they’re used PRIMARILY for weddings! Let’s reduce the footprint even more by asking if your florist can compose of your bouquet after you are done using it if you don’t have a way to do it!

Another thing that you can do with your bouquet when you are done with it is donate it to a local hospital, nursing home or homeless shelter!

The Gift Of Giving Green

Keep sustainability at the forefront of your mind as you register for gifts that support your mission! Ask for reusable ziplock bags, metal tea bags or anything else that you need! Register at stores that support environmental initiatives or ask for gift cards to local stores or restaurants! You can even ask for people to fund your honeymoon fund instead of gifts as a way to reduce wrapping and packaging and everything else that will just end up in a landfill. Starting a Honeyfund registry makes it super easy for you to receive gift cards and money for airfare, hotels, restaurants, and experiences that make your honeymoon more fun!

Leave No Trace

Another way that we can reduce our impact on the environment during your elopement is by observing Leave No Trace principals! These principals are Plan ahead and prepare

1. Travel and camp on durable surfaces

2. Dispose of waste properly

3. Leave what you find

4. Minimize campfire impacts

5. Respect wildlife

6. Be considerate of other visitors

We can make the obvious decision to not walk off of the trail or litter, but we can also do this by only having native flowers in your bouquet or having your guests throw confetti made of native plants instead of confetti! Always make sure that you always pack out what you packed in and do your part to lessen your footprint on the earth! Even though its your wedding day, you still shouldn’t take any rocks, feathers or shells from the location as we want to leave the location just the way we found it! Be careful not to let any squirrels snag a bite of your wedding cake or snacks either as it can disrupt their natural behaviors. (Even though they are super cute when they chomp on things!)

So there you go! I hope these suggestions helped you on your quest to have an environmentally friendly elopement! If you have any questions or suggestions on more ways we can help the earth toss me a comment below!