Media
We are happy to speak and contribute to articles on sustainability within the wedding industry.
If you’d like to get in touch, please contact us using the links below.
Who is the Sustainable Wedding Alliance?
The Sustainable Wedding Alliance’s mission is to drive change to create a more sustainable wedding industry. Raising awareness and tackling climate change and attitudes, by proactively encouraging businesses to develop future thinking strategies and make responsible decisions.
We inspire and educate couples, encouraging them to make conscious choices when planning their wedding.
Founded in 2020 by Michelle Miles
Press releases
Sustainable Wedding Alliance Partners with betternotstop to Launch B Corp Bootcamp for Accredited Members
Sustainable Wedding Alliance partners with Better Not Stop to launch B Corp Bootcamp for accredited members. Learn how this collaboration empowers sustainable wedding businesses to pursue B Corp certification and enhance their positive impact. Read more...
Sustainable Wedding Alliance Achieves Bronze Carbon Literate Organisation Status
The Sustainable Wedding Alliance (SWA) has today announced that it has been accredited as a Bronze Carbon Literate Organisation, highlighting the organisation's dedication towards tackling climate change. Read more...
Michelle Miles, Founder of Sustainable Wedding Alliance, Shortlisted for Pioneer of the Year
Michelle Miles, the visionary founder of the Sustainable Wedding Alliance, has been shortlisted for the prestigious Pioneer of the Year award by the Better Business Network. This recognition highlights her exceptional contribution to the wedding industry and her unwavering commitment to sustainability. Read more...
Features and Mentions
Bloomberg Opinion
An Opinionated Guide to Big, Fat, Green Weddings
Michelle Miles, founder of the Sustainable Wedding Alliance, says that high-end aspirational weddings bear responsibility for their effects on the planet because of the influence they have. The same goes for magazines and influencers, which tend to promote “over-opulent weddings with a ton of floral foam,” she said, referring to the single-use, non-biodegradable plastic that keeps flowers hydrated. “The content that we are putting out as an industry really needs to be achievable for people.”
The Guardian
How to have a sustainable wedding: six tips for a greener ‘I do’
Opting for local caterers who source seasonal food further reduces transportation emissions. “It’s also about supporting the local economy, and building biodiversity locally,” says Michelle Miles, who runs the UK wedding vendor collective Sustainable Wedding Alliance. Because unpredictable factors like weather can affect the availability of local produce, Miles recommends couples keep their menus general: for example, “not committing to, say, local green beans, but rather saying ‘seasonal green vegetables’ so that you have the flexibility to deliver”.
New York Times
How to Have a Sustainable Wedding
Working with local vendors significantly reduces the environmental impact from long-distance transportation, shipping and storage.
Michelle Miles, the founder of the Sustainable Wedding Alliance, suggests collaborating with a community of local vendors that values sustainability.
Local businesses are also more flexible, with the ability to keep up with requests and logistical dilemmas, Ms. Miles said. She recommends asking businesses questions about their sustainability policies, including what happens with waste, if they have compost bins and whether they’ve removed single-use plastic from their operations.
Reducing Food Waste
The results of our sustainable couples survey were featured in the Independent article ‘Is a zero-waste wedding possible? Meet the company making it their mission to do so‘.
Yet, many Britons have become much more eco-conscious, and demand for sustainable weddings have risen. According to the Sustainable Wedding Alliance, 78 per cent of couples who took part in the group’s wedding sustainability survey said overall sustainability was a factor that was important or very important to them.
This article highlights how important it is to reduce food waste in the wedding industry.
Bridal Buyer
The Future of Bridal Fashion: The Sustainable Wedding Alliance
The Sustainable Wedding Alliance is a network of environmentally conscious businesses passionate about creating a sustainable wedding industry. We chat with founder Michelle Miles to find out more about their origins and their active role in making a difference.
Glam
15 Tips For Planning An Eco-Friendly Wedding | Weddings of the past few decades have continued to grow more and more extravagant.
We try to encourage couples to think about the life cycle of a product,” Michelle Miles, founder of the Sustainable Wedding Alliance, tells The New York Times. “So, for example, if you are ordering table runners or napkins, can they be hired rather than purchased?”
Luxury London
Environmental concerns have never been more important to engaged couples. We spoke to Luxury London about how you can plan a wedding that doesn’t harm the planet.
“… suggests asking potential venues about their sustainability policy before booking, as well as what they’re doing to balance people, profit and the planet.”
Building a Community
We’re proud to be a partner of Green Union, in March 2021 they told their audience how we were ‘Helping Environmentally Conscious Wedding Businesses Come Together To Create A More Sustainable Industry‘.
Naturally, this is a mission that is close to our hearts here at GREEN UNION! The network’s founder, Michelle Miles, and I first became acquainted last year when she submitted a couple of fantastic styled shoots as her alter ego, Fusion Events & Weddings https://fusionliveevents.com, and I was delighted to welcome her as a GREEN UNION Partner earlier this year.
Our Wonder Women
Our founder, Michelle Miles was interviewed as part of the University of Oxford’s Wonder Women series.
What is your definition of entrepreneurship? To me, it about freedom; I come from a family of entrepreneurs, I grew up exposed to my family’s own business model. It gave my parents the freedom to spend time with their family. When I joined the world of work I was shocked by how regimented working routines were, and I struggled because of it. Being at a desk for a certain time and duration just didn’t make sense to me. To really flourish I needed freedom, and it’s one of the factors that helped me to make the jump into starting my own business, working hours that suit me
In this interview, Michelle shares how she started her career, why sustainability has become her passion and what’s next for her and the Sustainable Wedding Alliance.
Sustainable Bridal Fashion
We were asked by Brides.com to shed light on sustainable bridal wear and what couples are looking for when searching for environmentally friendly outfits.
According to the Sustainable Wedding Alliance, “More designers than ever are choosing to work with sustainable fabrics and are advocating [for] slow fashion.” They also reveal that companies are now offering eco-conscious options to help complete an entire bridal look, like creating vegan bridal shoes.
“Being sustainable isn’t just about reducing waste or energy consumption, it flows through everything we do, in our businesses and at the weddings we produce. The most common thing we hear when talking to business owners is that they want to be more sustainable, but taking the first step can make them feel a little overwhelmed. That’s where we can help, by giving them the resources and support they need to develop a business with sustainability at the core.”
Michelle Miles, Sustainable Wedding Alliance, Founder