Sustainable Wedding Alliance

For Conscious Couples

Not every couple has sustainability at the forefront of their wedding plans, but here at the Sustainable Wedding Alliance, we believe your special day can be a beautiful reflection of your values, including your care for the environment. We offer a curated directory of sustainable venues and suppliers, alongside insightful articles and inspiration on our Conscious Couples planning blog.

Whether you’re already a champion for the planet or just starting your journey, join us in exploring how to make your wedding a celebration of love and responsibility.

Home » For Conscious Couples
Sustainable Wedding Alliance

What is the Sustainable Wedding Alliance?

Experience of working with couples, like you, directly means that we know that you wish you had a greater choice when it comes to sustainable, and ethical wedding venues and suppliers.  As responsible business owners,  the members of the Sustainable Wedding Alliance are focussed on making both their businesses and the events and weddings they are involved in, more sustainable.
 
Did you know that the average carbon footprint of a wedding in the UK is more than the average annual household footprint?

Each year, there are approx. 278,599 weddings in UK. We know that the average wedding emits 14,500 kgCO2eq* (or 14.5 tons CO2e), at least half of which could be reduced by making sensible, considered choices.

Imagine, if we could reduce all wedding emissions by half…  that’s a potential saving of over 2 million tons of CO2e that’s the equivalent to taking 2,666,460 medium sized cars off the road for a year! Remaining emissions could then be offset, which, based on the average wedding, and the type of offset chosen, would be in the region of £500-£700. Have you thought about how you could make your wedding more environmentally friendly?

*based on data collected by the Less Stuff More Meaning Wedding Calculator

Sustainable Wedding Alliance

Looking for sustainable suppliers?

If you’re looking for ethical, sustainable wedding venues and suppliers then you’ve come to the right place!  All our members are committed to making your wedding as environmentally friend as it can be. They all adhere to our strict code of conduct and are assessed annually on their sustainable practices.
 
All accredited businesses have undergone a sustainability assessment, created long term sustainable strategies and put in place the polices and procedures needed to ensure their business, and the good or services they provide have a positive environmental and social impact. All accredited businesses are reassessed annually.

 
Sustainable Wedding Alliance

Planning Blog for Conscious Couples

Love, Laughter, and a Legacy: Planning a Wedding with a Positive Social Impact
Love, Laughter, and a Legacy: Planning a Wedding with a Positive Social Impact

Planning a wedding with a purpose? Discover how to create a socially responsible wedding that reflects your values and makes a positive impact on your community.

Romance Meets Eco-Elegance: How Two Wedding Creatives Are Redefining Wedding Trends With A Commitment To Sustainability
Romance Meets Eco-Elegance: How Two Wedding Creatives Are Redefining Wedding Trends With A Commitment To Sustainability

Discover the enchanting world of sustainable wedding design. This editorial showcases innovative cake creations crafted with repurposed materials and locally-sourced British flowers, inspiring couples to celebrate love and the planet.

Your Wedding, Your Way: A Guide to a More Conscious Celebration
Your Wedding, Your Way: A Guide to a More Conscious Celebration

Planning a sustainable wedding? Discover practical tips to reduce your wedding's environmental impact while celebrating love and making a positive change.

Celebrating British Flowers for a Stunning, Sustainable Wedding
Celebrating British Flowers for a Stunning, Sustainable Wedding

Planning your wedding? Celebrate love & the planet with stunning, seasonal blooms. Discover the beauty & benefits of British flowers & how to get the most out of them. Read the full article for insider tips & a call to action!

Celebrate Love and Our Land: Planning a Wedding with World Environment Day in Mind
Celebrate Love and Our Land: Planning a Wedding with World Environment Day in Mind

Celebrate #WorldEnvironmentDay & your love story! Plan a sustainable wedding with tips for land restoration, reduced waste & a lighter carbon footprint using the SWA calculator.

What is a Wedding Carbon Footprint and How Do I Measure It?
What is a Wedding Carbon Footprint and How Do I Measure It?

Planning a low-carbon wedding? Use the Sustainable Wedding Alliance's calculator to minimise your footprint & discover eco-friendly tips for a beautiful, sustainable celebration.

Planning your Sustainable Summer Wedding – It’s not too late!
Planning your Sustainable Summer Wedding – It’s not too late!

Planning a summer wedding? Celebrate your love story with a conscience! This article offers practical tips for a sustainable wedding, minimising waste & embracing local produce.

But First, Love the Planet: Why Sustainable Weddings Are the New “Something Borrowed”
But First, Love the Planet: Why Sustainable Weddings Are the New “Something Borrowed”

Ditch the waste and embrace eco-chic! This article explores why sustainable weddings are the new "something borrowed" and offers tips for a stylish, planet-friendly celebration.

Ditch the Disposable, Embrace the Delicious: Your Sustainable Wedding Starts with the Venue!
Ditch the Disposable, Embrace the Delicious: Your Sustainable Wedding Starts with the Venue!

Ditch generic venues & embrace sustainability for your wedding! Discover how seasonality & ethical choices can make your big day epic and environmentally friendly!

Why Saying “I Do” to Sustainability Makes Your 2024 Wedding Sparkle Even Brighter
Why Saying “I Do” to Sustainability Makes Your 2024 Wedding Sparkle Even Brighter

With a little creativity and planning, you can create a sustainable wedding that's not just magical for you and your partner, but leaves a positive footprint on the world you'll share for years to come.

Featured Member: The Orchard at Munsley
Featured Member: The Orchard at Munsley

The Orchard at Munsley is an exclusive hire tipi wedding venue set in a cider apple orchard in the heart of rural Herefordshire.

Sustainable Wedding Alliance: Your Partner for a Greener Wedding
Sustainable Wedding Alliance: Your Partner for a Greener Wedding

At Sustainable Wedding Alliance, we believe that your wedding day should be a celebration of love and commitment, without harming the planet. That's why we've created a community of eco-conscious wedding businesses that are dedicated ...

Sustainable Wedding Alliance: Your One-Stop Shop for Planning a Sustainable Wedding
Sustainable Wedding Alliance: Your One-Stop Shop for Planning a Sustainable Wedding

Sustainable Wedding Alliance is the only directory of its kind. We are committed to helping couples plan sustainable weddings.

Featured Member: Bespoke Live
Featured Member: Bespoke Live

Bespoke Live is a SWA Accredited Music & Entertainment Agency that provides amazing musicians and bands for celebrations, parties and weddings across the UK and beyond.

Featured Member: SpinKreative
Featured Member: SpinKreative

SpinKreative is a SWA Accredited Wedding Photographer based in Hertfordshire in the East of England whose style is a mix of relaxed, candid and reportage.

Featured Member: The Green Aisle
Featured Member: The Green Aisle

The Green Aisle is a family run business offering pre-loved and ex sample wedding, bridesmaid and prom dresses and bridal accessories located in Yorkshire and the North East.

How to Have an Eco Wedding Without Sacrificing Style
How to Have an Eco Wedding Without Sacrificing Style

Sustainable weddings are becoming increasingly popular as couples look for ways to reduce their environmental impact. In this article we explore the ways to plan a sustainable wedding without sacrificing style.

What are the challenges when planning a sustainable wedding
What are the challenges when planning a sustainable wedding

Planning a sustainable wedding in 2023 is not without its challenges, but by following the advice outlined in this article, you can minimise your wedding's impact on the environment.

Featured Member: Greenfox Bakery
Featured Member: Greenfox Bakery

Claudia at Greenfox Bakery is a wedding cake designer based in South London that specialises in buttercream wedding cakes. Claudia is also the first cake maker in the whole of the UK to gain the Sustainable Wedding Alliance Accreditation.

Couples’ Choice: Why the SWA Accreditation Matters for Today’s Wedding Planning
Couples’ Choice: Why the SWA Accreditation Matters for Today’s Wedding Planning

The Sustainable Wedding Alliance accreditation promotes sustainability in weddings, offering couples eco-friendly wedding businesses for a meaningful and conscious wedding experience.

5 sustainable wedding gifts for conscious couples
5 sustainable wedding gifts for conscious couples

If you want to give a wedding gift that will mean more than just ticking something off of a list, then these 5 sustainable wedding gifts for conscious couples will give you some great inspiration.

Featured Member: Ashmolean Museum
Featured Member: Ashmolean Museum

Set amongst Oxford’s dreaming spires, the Ashmolean Museum is a magnificent venue for a wedding, civil partnership or celebration. The neo-classical architecture, iconic entrance, grand sweeping staircases and opulent galleries offer stunning and romantic backdrops.

Featured Member: Jacqui O
Featured Member: Jacqui O

Jacqui O is an awarding winning luxury wedding and event floral brand, with beautiful flowers at its heart, pleasuring the senses with the sweetest fragrances, tantalising textures and mesmerising arrangements.

Featured Member: Oxford Fine Dining
Featured Member: Oxford Fine Dining

Oxford Fine Dining are extremely proud of the trusted reputation they have gained over the past decade and are very privileged to have been given the opportunity to cater at some of Oxford’s most esteemed and prestigious venues and have an extensive and impressive portfolio of weddings.

Featured Member: Libby Clark Photography
Featured Member: Libby Clark Photography

Libby Clark has been a Wiltshire Family & Wedding Photographer since 2010 and runs her business from her home in a little village near Salisbury, Wiltshire. Very aware of the environmental impact her business creates, Libby takes steps to be as sustainable as possible.

Why choose a sustainable wedding venue?
Why choose a sustainable wedding venue?

When starting your wedding planning one of your first tasks is likely to be drawing up a shortlist of wedding venues to view. If you'd like to have a sustainable wedding, it's also the first opportunity you have to make a positive impact.

Worried about the impact on the planet with your wedding flowers? Here are some sustainable alternatives…
Worried about the impact on the planet with your wedding flowers? Here are some sustainable alternatives…

Are you worried about the impact on the planet your wedding flowers may have? Want to understand what you can do to have a positive impact or what alternatives are available?

Nature tours launch for sustainability focused wedding venue, Kinkell Byre
Nature tours launch for sustainability focused wedding venue, Kinkell Byre

The Nature Conservation Tours, which will run every September to March, will be led by owner Rory Fyfe, who currently lives on the farm and launched the ‘Rewilding Kinkell’. The tour will explain the reasons why rewilding is so important and how it will benefit the land.

Kinkell Byre expands wedding offering after almost 20 years of success
Kinkell Byre expands wedding offering after almost 20 years of success

Sustainability is an important focus for the business, which offers a “weddings for the wild” package, including caterers who use locally sourced food and florists who grow their own native flowers locally. The venue suggests several ways to reduce waste and offers means of offsetting the carbon footprint of weddings.

Featured Member: Lilac & Lace Floral Design
Featured Member: Lilac & Lace Floral Design

Rebecca creates natural, effortless wedding flowers across Kent and the South East.

Edible, eco-friendly wedding favours your guests won’t leave behind
Edible, eco-friendly wedding favours your guests won’t leave behind

Favours aren’t a must have at a wedding, but are a great way to say a little thank you to your guests for joining you on your big day. Making them edible means they’re practical and can eco-friendly too.  We know from experience, edible goodies rarely get left behind! Whether it’s s quick treat for now or to take home, they tend to go down a storm.

How to create your on the day wedding timeline
How to create your on the day wedding timeline

When planning a sustainable wedding, the timeline is one of the first things you should think about. Although it seems like some time in the distance, an on the day timeline will likely influence many other aspects of your day. Ensuring that you are making the most of your season, is key to having a sustainable wedding.

How can you plan a planet friendly wedding?
How can you plan a planet friendly wedding?

Sustainable wedding planning has, in the past, was seen as quite niche, but the world is changing! Our 2022 survey told us that 90% couples consider sustainability when planning their wedding. And that number is only going to increase as couples, like you, become more aware of their impact on our planet. So where do you start if you want to have a sustainable, environmentally friendly wedding?

What is the best season to get married in?
What is the best season to get married in?

Without doubt the most sustainable way to plan a wedding - Think about your favourite foods, when local produce is in abundance, flowers are looking their best, how much day light there is... 

Featured Member: 4YaParty Weddings & Events
Featured Member: 4YaParty Weddings & Events

Mercedes, a qualified venue stylist and founder of 4YaParty prides herself on having great customer service and high attention to detail. Based in Bexley on the South London and Kent border, 4YaParty is a venue styling and prop hire company with sustainability at the core of everything they do.

Eco anxiety – what is it and how you can stop it?
Eco anxiety – what is it and how you can stop it?

Planning a wedding can leave you feeling overwhelmed, particularly if you are environmentally conscious and but you’re not alone. In this article we look at what eco-anxiety is and what you can do if you have it.

Eco Friendly Confetti – Buy It or Grow It?
Eco Friendly Confetti – Buy It or Grow It?

For many years natural, biodegradable confetti has been the only type of confetti allowed at many wedding venues. As with much of the wedding planning process we know that it's probably something you've never typed into a search directory before... and probably wont again.

Featured Member: Amethyst Weddings
Featured Member: Amethyst Weddings

This month's featured member is Sian from Amethyst Weddings is a vegan, sustainable wedding expert based in Hampshire who has won the PETA Vegan Wedding Award for the ‘Best Wedding Planning Service’.

How important is sustainability to couples planning their wedding?
How important is sustainability to couples planning their wedding?

We recently ran a survey on couples that are planning their wedding, or recently married to find out how important sustainability was to them. And the results speak for themselves... 

Weddings for the Wild
Weddings for the Wild

SCOTLAND: The Big Picture is a charity that works to drive the recovery of nature across Scotland through rewilding. 'Weddings for the Wild' brings you and your guests closer to rewilding, allowing the big day to contribute to the transformational recovery of nature.

Featured Member: Sheepdrove Wedding Venue
Featured Member: Sheepdrove Wedding Venue

Less than 2 hours from London and set in beautiful West Berkshire countryside with stunning views and spectacular scenery, Sheepdrove is a venue like no other and exclusive to anyone that has a wedding there.

Sustainable Wedding Planning: Getting rid of the unnecessaries
Sustainable Wedding Planning: Getting rid of the unnecessaries

When we say unnecessaries, we're talking about all those little things, all the elements that are nice to have, but when you look at the waste and cost (both financially and to the planet) aren't truly necessary. 

Congratulations to Hayne House our 1st Accredited Venue
Congratulations to Hayne House our 1st Accredited Venue

Congratulations to Hayne House Wedding Venue, our first accredited member. Hayne House have been working hard to make the venue more sustainable. Reviewing their waste, removing single use plastic and joining the Race to Zero campaign.

Event Cycle: Saving leftover event items from landfill and creating a positive impact in the process
Event Cycle: Saving leftover event items from landfill and creating a positive impact in the process

Event Cycle was created to tackle the problem of single-use items at events and weddings across the UK, preventing things being sent to landfill, ensuring they have a life after your wedding.

What is a sustainable wedding dress? What makes it sustainable?
What is a sustainable wedding dress? What makes it sustainable?

Sustainable fashion is about slowing down the process, looking at all the elements that go into making a garment, and considering the environmental and social impact of the end product. But where do you start when looking for a sustainable wedding dress?

Is it just a dress?
Is it just a dress?

Kate Atkinson, Founder of Bridal Reloved and Sustainable Wedding Alliance Ambassador tell us how buying a wedding dress can be sustainable.

How important is sustainability to you and your wedding?

We’ve launched a survey to find out how important sustainability is to couples, like you, across the UK, that are in the process of planning their wedding.

Planning your big day is no doubt buzzing with decisions, and sustainability might be one buzzing around your minds. Is a sustainable wedding something you’re dreaming of, or are you unsure where to start?

We’re here to listen! In just 3 quick minutes, this anonymous survey will help us understand how couples like you think about sustainability when planning their weddings. We’ll unveil the results here, on our website, in May.

Whether you’re a full-on eco-warrior or just dipping your toes into the green scene, your voice matters. By sharing your thoughts, you’ll help us: Uncover what sustainable wedding elements are most important to couples, craft resources and tips to make those eco-dreams a reality and help the wedding industry become more mindful of the planet.

Planning your sustainable wedding? Follow us on Instagram