bride wearing vintage blush dress walks down aisle smiling hand in hand with her bearded groom at this sustainable wedding with j.olson weddings

Weddings are beautiful events. Their existence is meant to bring family and friends together in a celebration of love, and increasingly, couples are incorporating their own meaningful values into the planning process. For many couples, planning a sustainable wedding is an important but daunting task. From concerns about additional costs to not knowing where to start, it can certainly be a challenge.

Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be difficult, and you don’t have to abandon the idea of hosting the best party ever. Instead, you’ll just have to be more thoughtful about your decisions and vendors to minimize your environmental impact. To make planning the day you and your partner deserve even easier, I’ve teamed up with Minneapolis-based sustainable wedding planner Kallan of Realm Planning to bring you some amazing tips for hosting a sustainable wedding.

Use eco-friendly wedding vendors and suppliers

When it comes to planning your sustainable wedding, where you choose to spend your money matters.

Seek out vendors and suppliers in your area who use sustainable practices. For example, hire a hair and makeup artist who uses eco-friendly products, and search for caterers and bakers who use in-season, local ingredients. Farm-to-table is all the rage these days, so search out local farms and other businesses that have sustainable practices and get you excited to work with them!

Speaking of buying local, do this whenever you can. Buying locally-made products is often more sustainable as the items don’t need to be shipped—plus you’ll be supporting your own community’s makers!

For a list of sustainable Minnesota vendors, check out Paikka’s recently launched sustainability program. This St. Paul wedding venue also offers a 10% discount for events that pledge to be eco-conscious.

**Be mindful of the materials you use**

You should also be mindful of the materials that you use. If paper invitations or stationery is an important aspect of your wedding day, try to go with a company that uses recycled materials. If some of your wedding items can’t be reusable, try to go for compostable. Better yet, can you nix the item altogether? Not only does what you buy matter—the amount matters, too.

This is especially true when it comes to food. Be realistic about how much food you’ll need, and ask your vendor what happens to the food afterward. Is it donated or can you or your guests take it home for leftovers?

The practice of being mindful about materials can continue after your wedding, too, if you decide to order photos or albums. For example, my photo printing partner Musea Lab creates print products using sustainable materials and takes care to ensure their printing process generates as little waste as possible.

Ordering prints and books directly from your photographer is much more sustainable than printing through larger online companies and photo-finishing chains like CVS or Walgreens. The materials used by professional photographer labs have the added bonus of being much higher quality, too.

Ask about your wedding venue’s sustainability practices

Some venues are more environmentally friendly than others. Consider asking your venue about their eco-friendly practices. Do they have an option for composting and recycling on-site? Do they have any reusable decor options? If they’re providing the food or beverages, where are those coming from? Can they offer you recommendations for hosting a greener wedding? In what ways do they go above-and-beyond to be more sustainable?

If you're unsure if your wedding venue can help to accommodate, or if you need someone to help you with asking these questions, hire a sustainable wedding planner to help make the most of your chosen venue.

Another sustainable wedding venue option is to go venue-free! For example, consider tying the knot in the midst of nature. There are many beautiful state parks in Minnesota that can be rented for weddings and events. Often, the rental fee goes towards caring for the park, so you can feel extra good about where your money is going. Not only that, but can you imagine a more gorgeous wedding setting? For example, check out this incredible camping wedding at Gooseberry Falls State Park that I had the pleasure of shooting!

If you choose to have a wedding at a park, just remember to follow Leave No Trace Principals —leave only footprints, and take only photographs!

Rethink your wedding attire

For most people, their wedding attire is something they plan on wearing once. It doesn’t have to be that way! Consider buying accessories and pieces that can be worn multiple times over the course of their life to extend their usefulness and reduce waste. A good suit jacket can be worn at future formal events, and a stunning piece of jewelry can be cherished for years to come.

Consider buying wedding attire made with sustainable materials or, better yet, shop second-hand. Ethical, handmade, and vintage dresses are becoming more common, and this goes for suits and tuxedos, too!

Check out your local consignment shops (you may even be able to find wedding-specific ones). If you’re still turning up blank, check out online shops like The Reformation and Still White. You could also consider a designer that uses repurposed materials like Linyage, who uses vintage lace and dresses to make custom modern wedding tops, bodysuits, and skirts.

If you have a wedding party, don’t make them buy something they’ll never wear again. Consider being flexible and perhaps letting each person choose a style that suits them but also fits the overall aesthetic. Some brides have asked their bridesmaids to wear dresses they’ve already worn for other weddings or formal events, and it turns out great. Get creative with it!

Consider your wedding flowers

From bouquets to table settings, flowers are not only a beautiful part of wedding day decor, but one of my favorite details. But where do these flowers come from, and what happens to them afterwards?

If you can, work with a local florist and talk to them about their eco-friendly practices. The number one thing to ask is if they source their flowers locally. It would also be great to ask if they are able to use sustainable materials when preparing bouquets and decor.

You can also consider purchasing your own florals from a local flower shop in Minnesota like Ergo Floral or Foxglove Market, and assembling your own pieces with in-season flowers from your area or garden.

After your wedding, consider what you’ll do with your flowers. If you plan on disposing of them, consider exploring composting options. If you’re having trouble letting go of your beautiful florals, consider giving them a second life by repurposing them as decor, or having your flowers dried and preserved.

Do sustainable wedding gifts differently

When considering your wedding, ask yourself if you believe traditional party favors fit the vision of your day. If not, that part of your budget might be better spent elsewhere to improve the overall experience of the day.

If you do decide to incorporate wedding favors, consider providing something consumable, genuinely useful or thoughtful. The best gifts will be ones that fit your values, unique story, or shared interests. These considerate gifts are much more likely to be cherished by your guests. And, of course, be mindful of how they’re packaged or wrapped. Some sustainable wedding favor ideas include:

Gifts from a local maker, gift shop, or artisan
Baked goods or treats from a local bakery
Unique reusable bags — for example, Baggu
Locally-roasted coffee beans
Locally-made spirits or craft beer

When considering your own gifts and wedding registry, consider adding donations to an environmental charity to your list, or ask for monetary gifts that can go towards a honeymoon.

This is a great alternative to more traditional gifts that you may not necessarily need, especially if you already have most of what you need in your home. If you do still need items for you and your partner's home, consider asking for items that are built to last. Using something for as long as possible helps reduce household waste, and can help save you money as well.

Offset unavoidable CO2 emissions with donations

Avoiding CO2 emissions entirely may not be realistic for your wedding. Whether you’ve always dreamed of getting married back in your hometown, or some of your nearest and dearest need to travel to be there, sometimes it’s unavoidable.

Did you know you can purchase carbon offset credits to help offset your carbon footprint? By purchasing carbon offset credits with a company like TerraPass, you help to fund initiatives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Hire a sustainable photographer for your wedding

Whether you’re hiring your wedding photographer locally or they need to travel, ask them what they’re doing to keep their business green.

For example, as a sustainable wedding photographer in Minnesota, being environmentally friendly has always been an important part of my business, and I’m always actively looking for new ways to reduce my carbon footprint. I purchase carbon credits with TerraPass each month to mitigate emissions created by travel and utilities, and partner exclusively with Musea Lab for my print work. A portion of each print sale purchased through Musea and J.Olson Weddings is also donated to Water.org and Charity Water.

These small changes and actions I take not only help me align my business with values I care about but help me ensure that my business can have a positive impact.

Since we’re already in the midst of re-thinking weddings, why not make sustainability part of the new normal? Now more than ever we’re seeing how crucial it is that we take care of our planet and that we do it now.

If you’re looking for a wedding photographer in the Minnesota area who utilizes sustainable practices, I would love to chat about your wedding. Check out my portfolio and, if you think we’d be a great fit, reach out so that we can get to know each other better and discuss your celebration.