There is one trend everybody is talking about and it is sustainability.
You hear about it everywhere: at work on TV and from your friends, so if you are a trendy modern couple you just have to follow! I believe it is very important to be cautious of the impact you make and planning your great day with sustainability in mind will help to set this exiting chapter of your life off on the right foot.
What is sustainability and how can it be addressed in the context of your wedding?
According to Brundtland Commission defined sustainable development as development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”[1] Therefore, sustainability is made up of three pillars: economy, society, and the environment. We will leave out “economy” as organizing an event for your friends and family is a good thing, not only for you, but for the economy as well, as it just “loves” when we spend money. We are left with people and planet.
One of the easiest solutions is not to buy new things specifically for your event. In a lot of cases it is actually also will help you to minimize your budget. There are plenty of rental services starting from a wedding dress to the elements of décor, but rememember although it might has a positive impact on your wallet it might take away too much of your time. One of the compromises can be to rent a dress and a grooms suit in the specialized agency. I have been to a multiple weddings where bride went for a rental dress and I think it is a good alternative. All the brides looked stunning nevertheless. If you saved some money on your outfits you can invest some in the decorator. I know by experience that creative people like to be challenged and limited budgets sometimes lead to pretty amazing solutions. The most agencies typically work with a pool of suppliers to rent furniture and other elements of décor from. All agencies know good platforms where they can get perfect second hand items to fit your wedding theme. A good advice will be to support natural and eco-friendly theme in your décor.
Dinner is an important part of your wedding and an easy way to make your wedding special and eco-friendly. There are plenty of venues which support local suppliers, can provide you with biological food and have proper waste management in place. You just need to look around and ask the right questions. It is also very important to calculate the right amount of food for your guests; an experienced wedding planner can also do it for you. In such country like the Netherlands one of the interesting eco friendly solutions will be to organize your wedding at one of the local boederij related restaurants, which also can add a pretty unique charm to your Dutch wedding.
If you are the bride and you don’t feel like renting a wedding dress there is also a sweet option to remake an existing dress, perhaps your mothers. Unless you are skilled yourself or have just a right friend for the job it will be an expensive option. It is highly unlikely that you will be perfectly satisfied with the design or the way it looks, so you will need to look for a good professional. Although expensive if you happen to have great marriage experience in your family such dress will carry a lot of positive energy and be of a great sentimental value for you and your family.
There is also an option to just google Eco-friendly wedding gowns in your country, but frankly speaking it’s not that easy not to only find what you want, but also not to be fooled that that sustainable dress you are paying premium for truly is a sustainable choice. I myself went through this entire process about a year ago. I made my research trying to learn about lace sourcing and how all that amazing decoration elements ended up on those dresses. One of my conclusions was that it’s incredibly hard and the best strategy to simplify it for yourself is to decide what sustainability means to you. My dress was tailor made by a small clothing design studio consists of 3 very talented self-employed ladies. Together we designed a beautiful perfectly tailored for my body very “graphical” plain silk dress, made from branded sustainably sourced eco-silk. The most expensive part was the silk, as real high quality silk with no involvement of child labor is more expensive than polyester, but if you’re vegan, you might want to think about getting a cotton voile gown, or maybe even polyester will be your preferred choice. So if you want a new, traditional, sustainable dress, be prepared to pay.
There are some of known EU brands which offer some sustainable solutions:
Rosa Clara – Made in Barcelona of textiles made in Spain, some of the exclusively for Rosa Clara. Not all are pure silk, so proceed with caution and lots of questions.
Rembo Styling – Made of silk and French Chantilly lace in a beautiful production facility in Portugal with lots of natural light and a garden to work in.
Jesus Peiro – Made in Italy of French and Italian fabric.
Allessandra Rinaudo – Made in Italy from Italian fabrics.
As already mentioned earlier it’s great to highlight your dedication to sustainability in your wedding theme. You can do it by for example selecting a venue surrounded by nature or in repurposed industrial building and adding simple compositions of modest field flowers. You can also bring attention to your eco-friendly theme by using digital invitations or by printing on a recycled crafted paper with no extra decoration. You can also go for a hand-written, by a calligraphy artist, invitations instead of printing. In our idoperfection store we offer beautiful handmade wooden ring boxes, which were carefully crafted by my father from the fallen tree brunches. Each box is truly unique. Popular Boho style fits perfectly into eco theme.
Sustainability is not only a popular trend, but also something our planet and society desperately needs. It is very complex topic, so think what it means to you, what aspects are the most important in your opinion, set up your principles before diving into the exiting process of wedding planning. Having a clear set of criteria’s will help you in your decision making process and will bring additional positive energy to your big day.
