For Conscious Couples
The Sustainable Wedding Alliance is a network of environmentally aware wedding businesses striving to make their businesses and the weddings they produce more sustainable.
What is the Sustainable Wedding Alliance?
Each year, there are approx. 278,599 weddings in UK, however this year, due to the postponements, it’s estimated to nearly double, to be 550,000+.
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 3,985,500 tons CO2e that’s the equivalent to taking 866,847 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?
How important is sustainability to you and your wedding?
Looking for sustainable suppliers?
Member Directory
Planning Blog for Conscious Couples
Featured Member: Willow & Rust
Samantha is a wedding planner and stylist based in Derbyshire, specialising in Unique Outdoor, Sustainable Weddings with a Vintage Glam style.
Featured Member: Wellbeing Farm
The Wellbeing Farm is a passionate family business offering a fun, unique and sustainable service with high attention to detail, quality food and great facilities. Based in Lancashire it is the first venue to have received B Corp ...
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
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.
Featured Member: Laura Hillman Weddings
Laura is a London based bespoke luxury wedding planner and strategist with 18 years of experience designing show stopping and stylish celebrations across the UK. Laura provides a calm and stress free planning experience for modern couples allowing them to relish in every aspect of their big day and focus on what’s important, whilst she creates the magic behind-the-scenes.
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?
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
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?
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.
Featured Member: Sarah Hoyle Photography
Sarah Hoyle is a romantic, natural and organic photographer working across Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire and the Cotswolds. Committed to being environmentally conscious, sustainable and is currently working towards her accreditation.
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
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’.
Featured Member: Wild at Heart Ceremonies
This month's featured member is Wild at Heart Ceremonies, a Midlands based celebrant that is passionate about nature and sustainability. We talked to her about celebrant ceremonies, vows and what she's been up to recently.
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
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: Ellie & Liv
Ellie and Liv’s strives to be as environmentally friendly and sustainable as they can be. Ensuring the material, process and journey are all considered when designing and making your wedding stationery.
Featured Member: The Wonder Bar
The Wonder Bar is a pop-up bar service operating in Wales, passionate about sustainability and serving drinks with the best quality ingredients. Find out more about why they started and what they're doing to protect our planet.
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
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.
Featured Member: Featherstone Flowers
Featherstone Flowers is nestled in the rolling Hampshire hills. A passion project of the owners, Jess and Katie are champions of sustainable growing and floristry techniques.
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 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?
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?
Kate Atkinson, Founder of Bridal Reloved and Sustainable Wedding Alliance Ambassador tell us how buying a wedding dress can be sustainable.
Planning a sustainable wedding
“Organising a wedding is hard enough, I don’t want to feel bad about creating unnecessary waste or harming the environment! I want my wedding to be a positive experience for everyone so I’m doing my best to make it sustainable as possible.” Abena Poku-Awuah
Our Mission
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 believe that we are trustees of this planet and it’s our duty to not only make sure it survives but thrives. We respect not only the planet in our care but all those that walk on it.
Our Values
As a purpose driven business, our values are such an important part of who we are and what we do.
We act with integrity at all times | We respect our planet and all that live on it | We promote collaboration over competition | We are open and honest in our communication | We embrace change, new ideas and approaches | We are continuously learning and improving | We empower our communities, giving them the confidence and support they need to thrive