A Guide to Organizing a Sustainable Wedding Elopement
Being environmentally friendly is a trend everyone can embrace – especially when you decide to elope! In recent years the idea of eco-friendly wedding elopement has become incredibly popular in Europe.
Getting married is a big deal for everyone involved, including our beloved planet. Statistics show that an average wedding ceremony produces over 63 tons of CO2 and more than 180kg of garbage. Although elopements tend to amass less CO2 and garbage, the margin won't be remarkable without an intentional effort toward a “sustainable turn”. The good news is, sustainable wedding elopements are very possible! Continue reading to see what you can do to make your wedding eco-friendly.
Elopement in the Canary Islands - The Quiet Wolf Photography
We’ve created a comprehensive guide to help you plan your wedding elopement in a sustainable way, minimize your carbon footprint, and have twice as much fun!
Leave no trace
Keep it small
Choose local vendors
Make your elopement trip your honeymoon
Support ethical tourism
Plan a plastic-free elopement
Respect locals and other visitors
Save resources
Donate to environmental organizations
Elopement in Spain - Ginger’s Eyes Photography
Tips for Sustainable Wedding Elopement in Europe
The key here is to learn and hopefully change for the better and for the sustainability of our beloved planet. These tips will guide you in the right direction.
Plan to leave no trace
Research and forward planning are crucial. Ensure to research thoroughly about your elopement destination. This will help you minimize damage to the land, waterways, and nature in general. Make plans to have your ceremony on durable surfaces. This way, you minimize trampling on and destroying vegetation and communities of organisms. This will also help to sustain the landscape and help nature survive.
Keep it small
A characteristic of elopements is how they provide couples with the opportunity to celebrate their love as personally, passionately, and as intimately as they want. This makes for a more romantic experience, and what's more? It's a lot simpler to organize and very cost-effective! Furthermore, it has a lot less impact on the environment.
The advantage elopement weddings have over traditional settings is that they promote sustainability since they typically involve fewer crowds. Also, when taking photos avoid gathering many people in one beauty spot (including onlookers and guests). This will help leave fewer “footprints” on the environment and since there are fewer people, your elopement will produce less waste; a double win for the environment and sustainability!
Choose local vendors
Air travel accounts for the bulk of the carbon footprint for most individuals. Even though your dream is flying across the world to get married, you can still help to minimize your wedding’s environmental impact by sourcing as many locally available products and services.
Many small businesses are dependent on their local communities for survival. You can give back by sourcing products and services from vendors based on the location you have chosen to elope. This is a more cost-effective and sustainable option.
Make your elopement trip your honeymoon
Choose an epic destination for your elopement. While you're looking to say “I Do” in a dreamy location, also ensure that it is comfortable for both of you and has all the things that will make you enjoy your stay. This way, your elopement can also double as your honeymoon! This way you would have reduced environmental impact by a great deal!
Support for ethical tourism
Ethical tourism seeks to promote responsible tourism where tourists are more intentional about their actions on the environment, the locals, and the economy, and its consequences. If you're contracting a company to handle your elopement, contact one that actively supports ethical tourism.
Plan toward a plastic-free elopement
Although we are far from this goal generally, it only takes a little effort every day. We must continue to strive to eliminate or at least minimize plastic use for a more sustainable environment. This harmful material now makes up over 40% of the world’s ocean surfaces and its ingestion causes the deaths of thousands of sea creatures annually. It’s not a badge of honor or a competition, but staying plastic-free will go a long way toward saving our planet.
Respect locals and other visitors
One very crucial outdoor ethic is to maintain courtesy. This can leave a positive impact on other visitors around you and even cause them to actively participate in your quest for sustainability. Try to do everything considerably and in moderation. Reduce noise and pay attention to your surroundings.
Save resources!
Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!
Refuse to use products that impact our planet negatively.
Whatever you have to use, use less! use only what you need—reduce waste.
If you can use it again, reuse it rather than get another—it is still wasteful.
Recycle items that can be reused.
Source for locally available items instead of shipping them; this will minimize carbon footprints. This will also help and encourage local businesses. Live flowers can serve as centerpieces instead of cut flowers.
Donate to environmental organizations
For many people who cannot actively engage in sustainability projects and so on, making donations is one way to truly support the noble course. However, you should research the charities and NGOs thoroughly before sending in your support. This is important because many dirty businesses hide under the cloak of charity organizations. Notwithstanding, there are multitudes of genuine environmental organizations that work diligently to make our planet healthier and greener.
Elopement in the Canary Islands - The Quiet Wolf Photography
In summary
Planning an elopement in Europe is definitely not a piece of cake. There's so much to see and so much to do, you can quickly forget about the impact that the trip has on the environment and our planet. Considering having a sustainable wedding elopement is a wonderful idea. It helps to sustain the local flora and fauna to be enjoyed by more couples after you.
We invite you to consider a sustainable wedding elopement over the traditional option. Together we can make a positive impact on the wedding industry.
The choices you make can create a long-lasting impact on the environment. You never know, your wedding might just inspire another couple to choose a sustainable wedding elopement instead of a traditional wedding, meaning your impact can help to save waste for years to come.
Let’s plan your sustainable elopement in Europe! You deserve a sustainable wedding ceremony that synchronizes with your principles and values, not one that conflicts with them.
We are experts in organizing beautiful, memorable, and sustainable outdoor wedding elopement ceremonies, and we’ll love to help you plan your dream eco-friendly wedding elopement in Europe and beyond!
Get in touch now and tell us all about your sustainable wedding ideas! We can’t wait to hear from you!
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