It’s no secret that weddings can create a lot of waste, but you might be surprised just how much waste the average wedding creates… 400lbs of trash and 63 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent! As wedding planners, we’ve seen firsthand how much waste weddings can produce, but the good news is that they don’t have to! There are simple and practical ways that you can reduce the amount of waste created by your wedding and we’re here to share our favorites with you.
Before we get into it, we want to acknowledge that we’re not perfect and no one is when it comes to creating less waste. However, as professionals in the wedding industry we want to take the opportunity to speak on this issue and provide some simple swaps, tips and choices you can make to have a more sustainable, waste-conscious wedding.
"We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly."
- Anne-Marie Bonneau in the book “Zero Waste Chef”
Recycling
Recycling your decor after your wedding instead of throwing items away is a great way to be less wasteful. Platforms like Facebook Marketplace and eBay are great for selling or giving away your used wedding items that are still in good condition. Recycling gives your wedding decor a second life and helps someone else save some cash on their own wedding, it’s a win-win!
You can also give your wedding flowers new life by donating them after your wedding to hospitals and nursing homes for others to enjoy. Plus, if you book your wedding planner with Driftwood, we’ll take care of donating them for you the day after your wedding so you don’t have to worry about anything.
Something you may not know about is that you also have the option of renting your florals. Something Borrowed Blooms is a flower rental company that allows you to rent and return silk or artificial flowers for your wedding. This is a great option for a simple and sustainable approach to wedding florals and they still look just as gorgeous as real flowers!
Renting
Speaking of renting items for your wedding, there are so many options available to you to rent including decor, placeware, linens, linen napkins and more! With rented place settings, they will be taken back, cleaned and used again and again as opposed to disposable dinnerware that would get thrown away. As for decor, there are endless options of what you can rent, including accent pieces like bud vases, votive candle holders, vases, signage and more. Driftwood offers decor rental options for our full planning couples and individual items can be added for day-of coordination clients as well for an additional cost. Keep in mind that renting is often a higher budget option but is so worth it if you have the budget available for it! Some of our favorite rental vendors that you can check out are Event Rents, Pine & Poppy, Table du Jour and Patina Rental and Design.
If rented placeware is out of your budget, you can purchase compostable or bamboo dinnerware instead. Using aluminum cups at the bar is also a great option, as aluminum is endlessly recyclable. There’s even options to get them customized to match your wedding aesthetic!
While we’re on the topic of dinnerware, something to note is that choosing a buffet style dinner can be more waste-conscious than a plated dinner. A buffet allows you to box up the remaining food to be eaten as leftovers rather than throwing out the leftovers on each guest’s plate.
Purchasing Secondhand
Finding ways to purchase items secondhand not only makes things more affordable for you, it also contributes to a more sustainable wedding when items are used over and over for multiple weddings rather than being thrown away. Scanning Facebook Marketplace, thrift stores and garage sales are all great ways to find items that fit your aesthetic. You can even sometimes find full wedding decor hauls on Facebook Marketplace leftover from previous weddings. Over the last few years, we’ve seen lots of couples leaning more toward mix-and-match glasses and plates from antique malls and thrift stores for their wedding dinnerware, which makes for such a unique, beautiful look and lowers costs at the same time!
Did you know you can even buy your wedding dress secondhand? There are a lot of consignment wedding dress shops that sell clean and well taken care of, used wedding dresses. A great option local to Spokane is Dearly Consignment Bridal, a shop run through Honest in Ivory where you can buy used dresses for more affordable prices!
Second Look Exchange
As you're planning your wedding, we want to encourage you to think about small choices you can make that will produce less waste, for a more sustainable wedding. And we have the perfect event to help you get started. Next month, Driftwood Event Planning is hosting our annual Second Look Exchange on November 8th, 2026 at the Box Car Room in Spokane. The event is a wedding decor swap where past brides can sell their gently-used wedding decor to current brides looking for the perfect items to fulfill their vision. This will be the perfect place to get started with finding your decor secondhand and also check out some amazing local vendors and services!
Vendors:
Taking on the challenge of making your wedding more sustainable and low-waste isn’t always easy but it’s such an important issue to be conscious about. Again, there’s no pressure to be perfect, just try your best and do what you can!
We’d love to see you at Second Look Exchange on November 8th, get your tickets here!
