Being eco-friendly is becoming more and more crucial. Many people are substituting brands for eco-friendly products and are promoting green living as a way to live while helping to conserve energy. For the people that want to continue their eco-friendly style on their wedding day, but still make it special, we have a few tips on how to plan an eco-conscious marquee wedding with style. At South West Marquees we are dedicated to being environmentally responsible.
In the last few years a few of the changes we have made in this direction are:
60 000 litre rainwater harvesting system that allows us to wash the marquees, service our toilets and run the whole yard off grid all year round in a sustainable manner.
We have had a new Coir style carpet developed that is focussed on durability as well as being able to be repeatedly washed, we really want to move away from landfilling old carpets so encourage all customers to choose this flooring.
Purchase of 18tonne ‘Mega Lorry’ where as we have previously used multiple trips in smaller vehicles, this year we up scaled our operation to include this large lorry that can drop multiple marquees in one trip, reducing our road miles and emissions.
We plant trees! Every year South West Marquees Maintain a local woodland and plant around 50 new trees.
For the future; this winter we are looking to purchase an all electric car for site visits and install a charging station so that visitors can charge up while they are here.
Seasonal flowers
Unless you pluck your flowers from your own backyard, buying out of season flowers can damage the environment significantly. Flowers impact the environment through land degradation, fossil fuel transportation emissions and even water usage.
When you buy out of season flowers, many are obtained from other countries, hence fossil fuel transportation. Seasonal flowers, on the other hand, are able to grow naturally in your local areas. You could also go one step further and try to find companies that use minimal water or water through rainwater collection.
You can keep the beauty of the flowers, while still be eco-friendly.
Minimising guests
Guests make a lot of waste, no matter how you look at it. Having a small guest count can help, as not only will it be a personal affair you will also reduce waste. A cosy wedding also means that you can opt for plated dinners, which means less excess food at the end. If you do opt for a buffet, however, consider what the options are for the excess food produced. This is a discussion you can have with the catering department.
Sourcing second-hand
Beauty can be found everywhere; you just have to look hard enough. There are so many news articles about people finding gorgeous second-hand wedding dresses, even people who have worn their mother’s wedding dress, after some tailoring. You can find amazing second-hand products for your wedding, and they will be eco-friendly as well as a fraction of the price.
After your wedding, it is also great to consider what you could give/sell to someone who is planning to have a wedding.
Renting
Anything that is deemed as single-use is not good for the environment; therefore, renting something that can be reused and not thrown away or shoved in the back of a cupboard is a bonus. You can even hire tables and chairs, lighting and flooring from us.
Contact us
We are on board with your eco-friendly needs but feel free to contact us if you have queries or questions. We would also love to hear any other ways you plan to be eco-friendly at your wedding, so let us know.