The Importance of Sustainability in the Wedding Industry

We love love, and we love celebrating love and helping you create your unique love story. However, we are all-to-aware of the impact that our industry has on the environment. The Green Bride states that the average wedding produces 400 pounds of garbage and 63 tons of CO2. With an estimated 2.5 million weddings per year, that is about 1 billion pounds of trash and as many emissions as approximately 4 people would produce in a year, in just one single day (link).

It is incredibly important to us that we do our part to decrease this waste in whatever way we can and encourage others to do the same! This looks a little different for everyone- but we highly encourage every couple to consider the environmental impact as they are planning their big day.

Our Commitments to the Green Movement

While most of our business is service focused and not based in selling a product- there are still several things that we do to contribute where we can and foster environmentalism in others.

Office Practices

We, as a team, are committed to incorporating sustainability in our day-to-day office practices. This includes defaulting to emailed receipts unless a paper copy is requested; and when we do print, making sure our printers are set up double-sided to save paper. We digitize as much of our record keeping as possible and reuse as many of our office supplies as we can- down to our sticky notes.

Sustainability also factors into why we are by appointment only. In addition to giving our brides privacy, this helps us make the most efficient use of our office time and reduces our carbon footprint by decreasing the amount of empty time that our lights, AC, electricity, water etc. are being utilized at a higher volume.

Creative Practices

A large portion of the problem with the wedding industry is the amount of throw-away or ‘trash’ generated as a by-product. Keeping things out of landfills is a high priority for us. Not only do we save and repurpose as many odds and ends scraps as we can from brides who don’t want them, turning spare applique, beading, and bits and bobs into veils, garters, and other redesigned accessories. But we also offer it as a service in the studio to try and encourage others to do the same. Talk to us about turning your hem scraps into scrunchies, bows, and other memorabilia that you will actually use instead of just allowing all that fabric to land in a rubbish bin.

Custom Scrunchies from our Starling Creations line.

We are also mindful of how we council brides on bridal styling. We spend a lot of time with our brides discussing the final look and all that includes; everything from shoes to jewelry. We always want you to achieve the vision you have in your head; but we do try to temper that with our social responsibility to the planet. We believe weddings should be reflective of who you are as a couple, and as a result we try to coach people away from single-use options. Choose wedding jewelry that you will love wearing again and again. Pick shoes that you will be able to wear again. Consider the longevity of your bridal look accessories when you’re putting it all together.

Other Ways to Incorporate sustainability into your Wedding.

There are many other things you can do to help reduce the carbon footprint of your wedding and highlight sustainability as you plan your big day. A few of the most impactful are also simple and easy to do. There are a myriad of options and resources available to assist you in making your wedding more planet friendly. We’ve highlighted our favorite attire-based ideas below.

Hire Sustainable Vendors

Your vendors and the people helping you on your wedding day are a huge factor in how much waste is produced. Talk to your vendors as you book about what their practices are like. Some states and areas even have vendor groups of companies that are vetted. Zola and the Knot have a filter you can use if you are using a service. If you’re a Washingtonian, check out Emerald Hour Wedding Society, they offer amazing information.

photo credit: Emma Fox with Let’s Go Sig Photography, Vendor info RavenWerks Guild

In some ways, the easiest thing you can do to plan a more sustainable wedding is hire vendors that have practices in place, as that is where the bulk of wedding waste is.

Shop Consignment for your Wedding Gown

We LOVE consignment gowns! Consignment is not what many people think it is. Many consignment boutiques do carry local consignment (dresses that have been worn by brides and then consigned). These dresses are vetted thoroughly for condition, style, and quality. Additionally, most consignment boutiques mostly carry over stock and discontinued sample dresses. Meaning they are typically only a year old and have never been in an actual wedding, just a show room floor.

This is not only a way for you to help keep something out of a landfill, and support a small business, but also save money planning your wedding. Most consignment bridal shops are selling 20-40% off original retail. You can always tweak your dress in alterations and then you still get the option of keeping your dress after or consigning it back if you want to recoup some money.

Some of our favorite consignment boutiques in Washington include:

·       Astraea Bridal- Our partners here in Downtown Mt. Vernon across the way. Laura and Leslee really know what they are doing when it comes to bridal styling and create an amazing, personalized experiences that really make you feel comfortable and safe. Gowns range from $500 to above $3000 with the bulk of them landing in the $1200-$2200 and are hand-picked and carefully curated by Leslee and Laura to offer a wide range of classy and on-trend styles in as many inclusive sizes as possible.

·       Brides for a Cause- a non-profit bridal boutique that technically has multiple locations across the country. They are technically not ‘consignment’. But the money raised from selling these donated gowns goes to fund all kinds of women-focused charities.

·       Blue Sky Bridal- This West Coast Bridal Consignment Boutique has several locations including Seattle and Portland and their gown prices range from as low as $800 to as high as $9000 selling at 20-60% off original retail. We’ve been to their Portland Boutique and had a beautiful shopping experience.

Let your Bridal Party Thrift their attire

The days of mandatory matching dresses are over. Many modern weddings opt to have bridesmaids all wearing different dresses in the same color or color palette. With the way the fast fashion industry contributes to landfills and carbon emissions, we strongly urge brides to let their bridesmaid’s thrift or buy consignment for their gowns. Being a bridesmaid can be expensive and that can be hard for friends, even if your best friend wants to help on your big day. Allowing your friends to thrift their clothing can also make things less stressful for them. It can also make for a fun wedding activity to do together.

This helps merge a more sustainable wedding with a touch of individuality. AND it ensures that each of your bridesmaids will get to wear something that they feel comfortable and good about themselves in. Very few things are worse than being forced into clothing that makes you feel exposed or bad about yourself for hours on end in front of lots of people. Especially when you KNOW pictures are going to be taken that will probably be on someone’s wall for all time.

In Conclusion

This list is by no means comprehensive, and there are tons of other resources out there for those wanting to put their best ‘green’ foot forward while wedding planning. We highly encourage couples to consider the environment when they are putting together their big day. If we can help in any way- or help you connect with other resources, we are always happy to help!

 XOXO,

-The Town Seamstress Team