Before the world stopped, one single wedding would produce an average of 400-600 pounds of waste. That alone was reason enough for me to make a change in Spinelli’s. I started doing research to learn more about what changes I should make, and I learned that 78% of couples are interested in including more eco-friendly decorations into their wedding—and we see a big trend of weddings moving to green.
During COVID-19, our couples organically made the shift to more sustainable events by mindfully opting for smaller guest counts, incorporating local foods, and choosing backyard weddings or single venue locations. The wedding industry has been forced to shift, and now intimate elopements and micro weddings are becoming the norm. As a wedding pro, we can encourage our couples to go green. Additionally, we can optimize our own businesses to go Green and continue the momentum of this shift. As we return to full-blown wedding season and work to balance the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we can optimize our wedding business to be more intentional and sustainable with some really subtle changes.
There are things that we can do to go .
One way we can help couples is by encouraging them to make small changes that may not have been socially acceptable before. Couples can continue to opt for paperless invites (as we’ve seen them do over the last year), but a paperless invite doesn’t mean that your bestie calligraphist is no longer needed! Stationery and flat lays are an important element of any wedding day , and you can still work with these artists to design the day-of paper goods.
What about offering to live stream your client’s event for out-of-town guests? This can cut down on total guest count and travel, but don’t forget to add Zoom support into your chargeable services! Or, pair your couple with a videographer who offers this on as an add-on for a small additional fee.
Continue to encourage rentals, small guest counts, local vendors, and single venue locations as we have over the last year. In doing so, we’re encouraging our couples to be more thoughtful, deliberate, and mindful in their decision-making and planning process. Prior to COVID-19, couples may have felt pressured to have their wedding at a certain type of venue or to invite their entire team from the office. We’re helping our couples make events more true to them, and in turn, end up producing more meaningful and sustainable events.
