Undoubtedly one of the biggest and greatest days of your life, your wedding day should have no stones left unturned to be called beautiful and memorable. From picking out your favorite wedding cake to browsing through some of the most beautiful bridal bouquets online, your wedding planning session should leave you with a feel-good factor that you can cherish and pass on to your future generation as a good gift from this big day. Weddings are mostly accused of being wasteful in so many ways- from excess food being thrown away to leftover flowers being dumped in the garbage, weddings around the world leave a huge carbon footprint on our green planet which can be reduced if taken with the perfect measures. To do the right thing, eco-friendly wedding choices are the ideal way to go on about this. It is easy to see why so many brides are turning to eco-friendly wedding planning with some of the most timeless green wedding ideas and inspiration for hosting a sustainable wedding.

Your small step in green wedding planning can significantly reduce the carbon footprints that the wedding industry creates. By no means we want to say that you should skip your wedding party or forgo those gorgeous spring wedding ideas that you have always wanted on your wedding day, but there are eco-friendly ways for a sustainable wedding that can help to reduce wedding waste and lessen the carbon footprint that your big event might produce. If you are an eco-conscious bride and want to reduce your event's effect on the environment, there are plenty of small changes you can make that will have a major impact. We have witnessed so many couples opt for eco-friendly wedding ideas- like having a wedding without flowers or hosting a no bouquet wedding while joining the bandwagon of some of the best floral trends of this new year. There is no way you could do every one of these things as there are many ideas for an eco-friendly wedding. Some of these ideas may feel obvious, and several may feel small in their impact.

Our favorite eco-friendly wedding flower ideas:

Potted plants 

One of the most common and popular eco-friendly wedding flowers ideas that you could use is potted plants as your wedding centerpieces and decor, instead of fresh flowers. Replacing single-use floral arrangements, you can buy or even rent potted plants for your wedding ceremony and reception and open up to options like using tall topiaries for lining the wedding aisle and potted wedding centerpieces. You can use live flowers, succulents, moss, and even live grass as these live plants make beautiful wedding décor that can be reused, resold, or used as eco-friendly wedding favors after the big day. Beautiful tablescape ideas for your reception do not have to be expensive as simple ideas like miniature roses or banks of fragrant herbs can prove to be wonders for styling your wedding reception florals on a budget. This unconventional wedding flower idea can also be used to create eco-friendly wedding invitations, where you can invite your guests with little potted plants or succulents, leaving them with something to remember your wedding forever and helping you go paperless on your wedding.

Dried up wedding flowers

Surprisingly, this is one of the best and ongoing trends for brides searching for bridal bouquets online! Bouquets of dried flowers including dried lavender sprigs and multi-colored dried rose bouquets are great for weddings in hot climates. You can take your time to pick, or buy, and dry your own flowers and add your creative DIY wedding floral details for your wedding bouquet. You can look up the internet as there is a whole art to drying up flowers so that these flowers do not end up looking sad and wilted. If you are looking for wedding floral options for your fall wedding or winter wedding, dried flower ideas for nuptials can be your perfect pick as many local flowers simply aren’t in bloom and many fall botanicals look wonderful when dried. Dried flowers can easily be used again in your home or can be resold to another bride after your wedding day making it a perfect choice for eco-friendly weddings.

Paper bouquets 

Probably the first thing that will pop up when you search for 'cheap wedding bouquet packages', paper bouquets for weddings are becoming increasingly popular, especially among eco-conscious brides. From having an incredible potential of being super eco-friendly to being one of the most affordable and cost-saving wedding floral alternatives, wedding paper bouquet ideas are perfect for all kinds of weddings. Whether you are a rustic, classic, edgy, bright, romantic, or fun bride, crafting your own wedding bouquet or asking some of your girlfriends to join hands for making incredibly gorgeous paper bridal bouquets can help you to nurture the eco-friendly soul and harness the creativity inside you. These highest quality DIY paper bridal bouquets can be anything from peonies and roses paper bridal bouquets that can inspire your spring wedding affair to rustic and deep-hued paper blooms for inspiring the dark-themed wedding that you have imagined for yourself.

Organic cotton bridal bouquets 

These are the types of wedding flowers that do not come to mind generally when exploring eco-friendly options. Can you imagine your whole wedding party holding fluffy and soft cotton bouquets with small pops of color? The idea is a beaut! One of the most easily available and loved natural materials that have a very rustic look, cotton looks beautiful when used in its raw form. The unpredictability of this new wedding floral trend makes it one of the most perfect choices for an alternative bride who wants to explore eco-friendly wedding floral options before placing an online order. Just like dried flowers, the cotton bouquet trend is becoming increasingly popular with outdoor weddings and barn weddings as fabric flowers can withstand all temperatures and can be used long after the wedding day is over as eco-friendly wedding gifts. Especially coveted as one of winter wedding favorites and classic white detailed wedding, getting your hands on some organic raw cotton can enable you to put together a pretty, unique, and eco-friendly wedding bouquet that is perfect for a sustainable wedding.

Branches 

Whether you plan to DIY your wedding flowers or hire a pro, be conscious of your choice of flower suppliers. Using wood flowers or flower branches as an eco-inspired floral theme is becoming a popular wedding trend among eco-friendly couples. With the ability to create dramatic heights without blocking guests’ views of one another, plant or tree branches have the ability to act as statement decor pieces without going overboard. You can work with a florist or opt to cut branches by yourself and design a dramatically detailed photo booth, which will go on to create photo ops for your wedding guests. You can also create an intense effect of flowering branches in winter by using a technique known as “forcing.” The results are stunning, but if you have never forced branches before you should consult with a florist and have a backup plan. There are many online wholesalers who source farm-to-table flowers for weddings and can be your perfect sustainable wedding florist.

Recycled fabric bridal bouquets 

One person’s trash may be another person’s treasure! Made from all the scraps of materials that one throws away from sewing projects, these natural eco-friendly bridal bouquets are made out of sustainable fabrics that do not harm the environment. Fabric bridal bouquets are usually made out of pastel-colored rolled ribbons or delicately folded muslin that can inspire your Valentine's Day-inspired wedding affair. Old fabrics and textiles are repurposed over and over again which can also be the idea for your "something old" for the wedding. These fabric bouquets are not going to die or get ruined and your bridesmaids will be able to hold onto lasting memories of your wedding day. You can also make these fabric bridal bouquets with your friends and have your own gala time with the girls before the big day.

Sharing wedding flowers with another bride 

Don’t like the idea of spending a wad of dollars on flowers that will ultimately wilt and end up in the trash? Instead of having single-use wedding flowers, consider sharing your eco-friendly bouquets and arrangements with another bride who is getting married the same weekend as yours. There are many online sites that match brides together to share the cost and stretch the life of their wedding flower arrangements. You can also rent your wedding flowers from several high-quality wedding floral sites as they can ship everything right to you at just one-fourth of your original wedding floral arrangement costs. It can be also your idea for "something borrowed" without actually borrowing something.

Grocery store flower bouquets 

If you are a laid-back eco-friendly couple looking for inexpensive wedding floral options, you can source them from your nearest Costco or any other departmental store as these local grocery stores have certain kinds of flowers on sale almost every day. From warmer colors to spring and summer blooms, from white carnations to beautiful greenery options, you can fill up your bridal bouquet as these grocery stores are a hotspot for beautiful and cheap local flowers. You can put the flowers in a sink of cool water as soon as you get home and quickly snip the bottom of the stems at an accurate 45-degree angle to protect them from infections and prevent drying. Place them in beautiful vases and containers and make your own DIY wedding floral arrangements.

Bouquet of fresh herbs 

Forgoing traditional wedding florists and swinging by the local farmers’ market for your wedding flowers can symbolize just the sentiment you need for your upcoming marriage! Herb wedding bouquets made out of fine botanicals and fragrant herbs can stimulate all your senses by looking and smelling amazing. Especially loved by warm weather and boho brides, fresh herb bridal bouquets can give you options ranging from fresh mint, bay, dill, parsley, rosemary, thyme to fragrant lavenders, eucalyptus, roses, ranunculus, and hydrangeas. This wedding tradition came from ancient Greece and Rome where brides used to go straight to the herb garden for their wedding day blooms and carried aromatic bundles of garlic, herbs, and spices for a number of superstitious and symbolic reasons. This cost-friendly wedding bouquet option will look and smell ahh-maze-ing!

Wildflower bouquets

Loved by romantic and boho brides and couples getting married in the countryside, there is something undeniably magical in the unruly mess of freshly picked wildflower arrangements. If you have lived in the country or have your own backyard filled with floral inspirations, it will be no secret for you why wildflower bridal bouquets are perfect for outdoor weddings! Whimsical and natural in every sense, wildflower wedding floral arrangements add dreaminess and fairytale-like vibes to pretty much any style of wedding. For bohemian, garden-themed, and country weddings, wildflower arrangements bring a rainbow of colors that adds to the diversity and unexpectedness of these casual and laid-back weddings. We can't stop fawning over the effortless combinations of wildflowers ranging from red poppies, light lavender, purple vervain, blue cornflowers, white chicory mixed with wheat, sprigs of rosemary, or pampas grass and bulrushes, creating a sense of wilderness and natural wonder.

When you combine several small wedding planning decisions they add up to give us bigger results. When we think about eco-friendly wedding flowers and green wedding ideas, we straight away imagine going into the wild, cutting ourselves a bouquet of wildflowers, and calling it a bridal bouquet. Sustainable wedding ideas do not necessarily have to be harder to adopt than planning a less environmentally friendly affair as there are so many inspirations and ideas online. From using fake flowers for wedding centerpieces and having a paperless wedding to wearing flowers at your wedding instead of jewelry, your wedding can have eco-friendly wedding decorations that can inspire future brides and couples planning their wedding, especially the ones who want to create a difference by reducing wedding-related wastage. With more and more options for eco-friendly wedding decorations on the market and greener options for catering, going green on your big day will not only be easy but also inspire everyone around you to do some good to the environment in a hassle-free way.