Today’s couples are increasingly prioritizing their eco-footprint when it comes to their wedding planning--and with good reason! As the push to be “greener” continues to grow, it begs the question: How can we make our destination events more environmentally friendly?
Luckily, there are plenty of strategies that will provide your client with the best night of their lives, while still minimizing the overall impact on the ecosphere.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
The venue is typically the first piece of the puzzle when planning any event, and these days, there are more resorts committed to preserving the environment through sustainable practices. By limiting water consumption, using solar panels to heat the property, recycling, and even growing their own sustainable foods, many properties are going above and beyond to play a part in the green movement.
GET ONLINE
While paper invitations and other printed goods are lovely, there are more ecologically responsible solutions for eco-friendly couples. Digital save-the-dates are not only greener, but also allow conveniently allow guests to book their transportation and accommodations while they’re already online. If paper products are a must, using recycled papers for invitations, programs, menus and the like can be a great option for conservation.
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE
Reducing waste production can be as easy as considering reusable items on the Big Day--from canvas welcome gift bags that can double as beach bags to glassware for the toast. Remember--the more uses an item gets out of its lifetime, the greener it is!
MENU CREATION
With destination weddings, sourcing local ingredients is an environmentally friendly way to bring in the regional tastes while also instilling a fun and unique flavor to the meal. In addition, the ingredients not only will be fresh but also potentially lead to cost savings when it comes to the final catering costs--all while providing a more diverse culinary experience for couples and their guests.
OFFSET FAVORS
To truly reduce a wedding’s environmental impact, there’s always the option to purchase credits toward offsetting its carbon footprint. These contributions will go directly to organizations that fund emission-reducing projects, which can help make up for any unavoidable traces left by the wedding. A bonus of offset credits is that they can double as favors for guests who traveled to attend--no need to make extra room in their suitcases!
And if you’re looking to leave a lasting impression, connect with the resort to see if it will allow you to plant a tree to honor your celebration and thus give back to the earth.
There are plenty of ways to personalize a wedding getaway so that it’s in line with a couple’s values, and “going green” is just one of the many wonderful ways to do so.It will make their special day so much more meaningful when they know that they are helping out the planet.
Rebecca Hochreiter is the vice president of marketing and customer engagement at DestinationWeddings.com, the world's leading destination wedding and romantic travel planning company. DestinationWeddings.com has worked with nearly 25,000 couples and half a million guests to plan dream destination weddings. DestinationWeddings.com is one of the award-winning brands in the Celebration Travel Group collection.
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