Today’s eco-conscious brides and grooms are stepping up to do their part to minimize wedding day waste.
Event venues and vendors are putting more effort into being eco-friendly, as Lauren Kay, an executive editor at The Knot, a leading wedding publication, told The Associated Press.
“A lot of vendors are really educating themselves on ways to be more sustainable in an effort to meet the demand,” she told the AP. “We’re seeing across the board much more interest and recognition around sustainability.”
Nearly 70% of the 15,000 couples surveyed by The Knot told the publication they did or plan to — if they have a wedding in 2022 — include environmentally friendly activities and decor, such as buying secondhand or upcycled items, using recycled paper and minimizing single-use products and food waste.
Nearly one in three couples think that vendors “should be more proactive in providing eco-friendly suggestions” in addition to providing “transparent” sustainability practices, The Knot’s annual wedding survey also reported.
Sustainable wedding services that have caught couples’ eyes include wedding attire consignment or thrifting, accessory rentals, post-event food donations, faux flowers, recycled invitation paper, biodegradable products and clean energy sources.
The Associated Press cited a real-life couple, Lena Kazer and Quinn Alvarez, of Los Angeles, as an example of one that held a sustainable wedding.
On Saturday, May 21, the couple tied the knot in their backyard with 38 of their closest friends and family.
Quinn Alvarez and Lena Kazer got married on May 21, 2022, in LA. The pair tied the knot in their backyard with 38 guests. Sustainable wedding elements they included were recyclable dinnerware, reused clothes and furniture. (Gayle Riedmann via AP)
They opted to use their household furniture in place of seating rentals, minimal floral decor, thrift-store ornaments, batch cocktails and recyclable or compostable dinnerware, including utensils, cups and plates.
Kazer wore her sister’s wedding dress and her mother’s veil, which gave the items a second life.
The couple also skipped a dress code, so guests could wear what they wanted instead of having to buy new outfits.
“Both of us are a little disgusted by the extravagance of the wedding industry,” Kazer told the AP. “We agreed we would use the resources that we have and avoid buying anything that we won’t continue to use.”
More than 2,492 miles away from Kazer and Alvarez in the northeast are Kate Winick and Sean Ir of New York, another eco-conscious couple who practiced sustainable wedding plans.
For their Sunday, May 22, wedding, Winick and Ir told the AP they planned to get married in Northport, New York, with a backyard wedding.
Kate Winick and Sean Ir got married in Northport, N.Y., on May 22, 2022. The couple told the AP they incorporated secondhand and reusable items into their wedding day. (Kate Winick via AP)
They opted to ditch anything that would only be used once or could end up in a trash bin in the near future, the couple said.
Items that couldn’t be skipped were bought secondhand.
