Planning an Eco Friendly Wedding

Planning a wedding is an exciting experience, but the amount of information and a seemingly endless list of suppliers vying for your attention can be overwhelming. To organise an eco friendly wedding, or at the very least, find suppliers that are eco conscious, can be even more challenging.

The good news is, planning an eco friendly wedding doesn’t have to be a headache, it can be just like planning any other wedding. As an eco friendly wedding supplier myself, I am always looking to connect with other like minded, environmentally conscious suppliers in my local area. I was recently afforded the opportunity of meeting some of them at the Eco Wedding Show in Cambridge.

Eco friendly Wedding Suppliers

If you’ve just started planning your wedding and are on the lookout for eco friendly wedding suppliers in the East of England then look no further.

This blog post offers contributions from a range of wedding supplies who prioritise sustainability and provide their eco friendly wedding products and services with the environment at the forefront of the business ethos.

From venue, food & drink, dressmaker, stationary, cakes, flowers and of course photography, this list of eco friendly wedding suppliers covers most (if not all) of the suppliers you might be considering whilst planning your wedding.

Based in and around the Cambridgeshire area, these lovely wedding suppliers all make for an ideal choice for anyone planning an eco friendly wedding day and looking to simplify the planning process.

You can now choose amazing wedding industry experts with a clear conscience.

1. Eco friendly Wedding Venue

Willow Grange Farm

As a wedding venue, Willow Grange Farm always have the environmental impact of a wedding front of mind and take many steps to be as eco friendly as possible.

Clara from the venue says.

“We’ve tried to be as sustainable as possible with our building materials. For this reason, we installed safari lodges and shepherd’s huts for accommodation offerings as these don’t require a concrete base. Everything within the shepherd’s hut is local to where they were made (Somerset), from the light fittings being hand crafted locally, to local wool for insulation. We have used reused materials as much as possible throughout the entire site.

We provide a food bin and a recycling bin to the caterers to ensure the waste is separated and recycled where possible and only use eco cleaning products.

We offer farm to fork with our own beef and pork, one of our preferred caterers only uses Willow Grange Farm beef for weddings with us and we use a lot of local suppliers for our bar stock such as Moonshine Brewery, Pinkster and Cambridge Gin.

The venue itself has lots of water butts around the farm, harvesting rain water to ensure we can water our lovely trees and plants and we add to this by planting a tree for every wedding that takes place on the farm.

We encourage our couples to make choices that are more sustainable and recommend suppliers, all of which are local to us and share our values. We also suggest that couples make the right choices about their decorations, for example, dried flowers can be bleached and coloured using harsh chemicals – you can get beautiful dried natural flowers. Potted plants can be a really nice touch as they can be given as favours/ thank yous and you can take them to plant in your own garden as a wedding keepsake.

Other reusable decorations such as bunting, using bottles for flowers (and you get to have fun drinking the contents!), reusable glass and vintage items. We advise against balloons.

For the catering, we ask for reusable mugs/ glasses from suppliers rather than disposables. Unfortunately, many disposable products proclaim to be compostable, however, in reality, there are only a couple of plants within the UK where these can be composted and ultimately the products end up in landfill.

Portion sizes – when a couple getting married mention that one side of the family has small appetites, they are offered smaller menu choices as an alternative option to reduce waste.

We offer a minibus shuttle from the local train station as well as electric charging points and bike storage. and couples and their guests are requested to use natural, biodegradable confetti only.”

Website: Willow Grange Farm  Contact: Clara.

2. Eco Friendly Wedding Planner

Green Soul Weddings

Green Soul Weddings, run by Hannah Mullens, specialises in helping couples to achieve their dream celebration whilst caring for our planet and taking a more sustainable approach that aligns with their values and beliefs.

Whether couples are looking for full support throughout their whole planning journey, or would like a professional to call on for advice, inspiration and guidance at any stage of the process, Hannah offers a flexible and tailored support option to suit their needs.

With a passion for making sustainable the norm within this industry and making it a more accessible and convenient option for all, Hannah believes that every small change we each make will all add up to make a big difference.

Website: Green Soul Weddings Contact: Hannah.

3. Eco Friendly Wedding Photographer

Damien Vickers Photography (Me!)

Whilst a wedding photographer may not be the biggest contributor to your wedding’s carbon footprint, there are still things to consider. I use no printed material in my marketing (I no longer even have business cards, I now use QR codes straight to my instagram). Delivery of my work is all done digitally via a password protected website and no use of throwaway USB sticks or presentation packaging.

When my couples opt for a wedding album I use Folio Albums, a UK based album manufacturer with strong environment values.  It’s significantly more eco friendly than importing albums from overseas.

My biggest effort to offset my impact on the climate is to have a tree planted for every wedding I shoot. I contribute to an environmental charity called Ecologi, this is a great way for couples to mark the occasion of their wedding, whilst giving something back to the planet.

Website: Damien Vickers Photography Contact: Damien.

4. Eco Friendly Wedding Dresses

Ivy & Gold Bridal

Ivy and Gold Bridal is a boutique in Cambridgeshire focusing on stylish, sustainable and affordable wedding dresses and separates.

All items are ex-samples from designers or pre-loved bridalwear, which means all these beautiful pieces are being recycled rather than going to waste and they’re a fraction of the original RRP.

Website: Ivy & Gold Bridal Contact: Pippa.

5. Eco Friendly Wedding Flowers

So Blooming Beautiful Designs

At So Blooming Beautiful Designs, Candice uses eco-friendly practices such as using rain water whenever available, no use of floral foam and the use of seasonal flowers. She re-uses any containers and buys from local suppliers whenever possible.

Website: So Blooming Beautiful Designs Contact: Candice.

6. Eco Friendly Wedding & Event Design.

Hall & Co Event Design

Elizabeth says “For our decor hire department Stories Event Hire we buy both new and second hand furniture. We are very happy to repair items to give them a new lease of life rather than them going to waste.

Our floristry team also re-use a lot of our dried elements such as the pampas seen at the show by renting them out as part of larger installations but then bringing them back to re-use. A lot of the stems we had at the end of the aisle have been used in 5-6 installations rather than buying more each time”.

Website: Hall & Co Event Design Contact: Elizabeth.

7. Eco Friendly Wedding Cakes.

The Iced Vegan

Trudy  says “The Iced Vegan is proud to be a 100% vegan business, providing delicious wedding cakes that are loved by vegans and non-vegans alike across the East of England and beyond.

I believe your wedding cake should be more than just the final event at the end of your special day. It should be an expression of yourselves and stand out to your guests, be ridiculously tasty and talked about for weeks to come! 

Creating beautiful cakes no one would believe are Vegan by using quality, local and organic ingredients where possible. All my cakes are baked fresh to order and are complemented by my homemade jams, sauces and vegan curds. 

I use a green energy provider and source ingredients as ethically as possible and in bulk to reduce packaging and the carbon footprint. In addition, I look to recycle packaging wherever possible and am invested in continuously improving and making environmentally beneficial changes to my business.

With amazing flavour combinations for sponges and fillings, not only will your cake be vegan but I will help you to ensure the design and flavours capture your personality and celebration perfectly!”

Website: The Iced Vegan Contact: Trudy.

8. Eco Friendly Wedding Stationery

Elli & Liv

Simone says “Ellie and Liv specialises in designing and creating wedding stationery that’s meaningful as well as beautiful. Inspired by the natural world, and passionate about protecting it, I source and use sustainable, recyclable materials of exquisite quality, and keep my processes as kind to the environment as I possibly can.

I work with couples to build layers of detail into the design of your invitations, save the dates and on the day stationery, so that the finished products are gorgeously tactile, full of your stories and kinder to the environment.”

Website: Elli & Liv Contact: Simone.

9. Eco Friendly Wedding Decorations

Meraki

Shulla says  “At Meraki we try hard to consider our environmental impact. All of the clay we use is air dried, reducing the use of fossil fuels, our packaging is either already recycled or completely recyclable (including our packaging confetti), we buy in bulk to reduce carbon emissions, our office is completely paperless and we even walk to the post office to post your lovely items. You can therefore shop in confidence knowing that your product has been created with kindness.”

Website: Meraki Contact: Shulla.

10. Eco Friendly Wedding Treats

Tiffinity And Beyond

Jayne says “I am a chocolate baker and I make Tiffin; a rich chocolatey treat. Whilst my main business is online I have started making Tiffin towers for weddings. They are a great alternative to a wedding cake as they have no food waste, Tiffin lasts very well and brides can order the exact amount they need.  For my business sustainability is very important; I make plant based Tiffins, I am moving my packaging to being as close to fully recyclable/compostable as possible and I recycle all my ingredient packaging through supermarket schemes/Terracycle.”

Website: Tiffinity and Beyond Contact: Jayne

11. Eco Friendly Catering.

The Tea Pod

“We specialise in delicious Fairtrade organic teas, milkshakes, vegetarian sweet & savoury crêpes and vegan waffles, all made-to-order and kind to our planet.  Our packaging is all recyclable or compostable and a low carbon footprint was built into the business plan from the start. My entire supply chain is within a 10 mile radius – some are as close I can walk to them! I provide uniforms for staff and was delighted to find some items were made from coffee cups!

I order fresh ingredients the day before an event to avoid wastage, I encourage people to reuse containers where possible and at weddings we are happy to serve food onto china provided by the event or the couple.

I also deliberately chose a trailer – bought it second hand and refitted it with high performing LPG fittings which are serviced regularly, so they will last. The household only runs one vehicle and that is a ECO 6 model.

We love working with people and venues who share our values.” 

Website: The Tea Pod Contact: Therese.

12. Eco Friendly Drinks

Edmund’s Box

“Edmond’s Box is a family run business utilising a reclaimed vintage Horsebox and recycled interior parts. We only use recyclable and or compostable cups and nearly all of our waste is recyclable. We also use one of the most economical generators on the market for when we are unable to plug into mains power.”

Website: Edmund’s Box Contact Iain.

13. Eco Friendly Wedding Band

Joyrider

“As a band we are conscious of our impact on the planet. We car share as much as we can; we often take our own food and drinks to venues in reusable containers and we limit the paper usage by using iPads for set lists etc. We always look, as a band and group of individuals, for ways we can further reduce our impact.”

Website: Joyrider Contact: Jennifer

14. Eco Friendly Musician

Jessica Diamond

Jessica Diamond is an international, modern, fusion violinist. She brings an essence of class and sophistication to your Civil Ceremony, Drinks Reception or Dinner.  Dressed in elegant outfits, Jessica’s repertoire is vast covering Eastern and Western cultures, to Pop and Film music genres. Your audience are sure to be wowed by her performance.

Jessica Diamond’s business is consciously eco because she is a Vegan! When she can re-use items for work she does, and she has had her violin since the age of 11.  Jessica uses her social media platforms to educate her audience to try to help make this world a better place.

Website: Jessica Diamond Contact: Jessica.

I hope you find this post useful as a reference tool when looking for eco friendly wedding suppliers in Cambridgeshire and the surrounding area. I certainly welcome any opportunity to work alongside these great suppliers at future weddings.

If you would like to see more of my wedding photography work and what my approach is to weddings please view my homepage.