Help us to help our planet, one wedding at a time.
Did you know, that an average UK wedding generates approximately 14,500kg of CO2? To put that figure into perspective, it is the equivalent of 29 grand pianos.
A shocking figure, but you can help change this...
Decor & Gifts
The average UK wedding uses 18kg of single-use plastic and there were in the region of 246,000 weddings in the UK last year alone, generating approximately 4,900 tons of plastic. This plastic ends up in landfill and potentially pours into our oceans every year where it stays indefinitely. By making adaptations to your decor and gift ideas, you along can reduce this figure.
Welcome Signs and Table Plans
We are seeing a dramatic rise in perspex and plastic welcome signs and table plans at our venue, and sadly most of the time these only have a single purpose on one day, unless kept as a keep sake. We encourage you to consider the use of more sustainable materials and source venue dressers who share the same care and concern for the environment.
Wedding Favours
Another consideration is the material used to contain your favours, whether they are mini alcoholic favours in plastic bottles or welsh cakes wrapped in cellophane. By simply changing these to glass bottles and cardboard boxes, you are helping our environment.
Confetti
Even if the box states 'biodegradable' it can take a very long time for paper confetti to break down. The best confetti you can use if dried flower petals, and this is the only confetti we allow to help protect our beautiful parkland.
Garden Games
If you are considering games for your guests to use on our front lawn, we encourage hiring these from a supplier who doesn't use plastic. By hiring them, you know they will be used time and time again.
Floral Oasis
This is used by numerous florists to hold your flowers. Floral foam is plastic and because of its cellular foam structure, it can easily crumble into microscopic fragments, adding to the global issue of microplastics. Floral foam is not biodegradable meaning it will exist for an indefinite period of time. Please consider this when choosing your florist, as this alone would make a huge difference to our planet.
If you would prefer not to take your flowers home with you after your special day, we will donate them to a local nursing home so they can have another life and brighten up someone else's day.
Faux Cake Tiers
A very common trend we are seeing is the use of polystyrene faux cake tiers for those that want an additional cake tier without the additional expense. This is another material that will exist indefinitely, that can be prevented. The cutting of the cake symbolises the commitment you have to one another, so have a cake without the faux tier to symbolise the commitment you have to helping the planet.
Balloons and Flip Flops
It goes without saying that balloons can have a detrimental impact on our environment, even biodegradable! As for flip flops, we totally understand that feeling towards the end of a long night on the dancefloor, when you are desperate to take your heels off, but single use flip flops also contribute massively to the amount of single-use plastic generated by a single wedding.
Travel
Do you have numerous guests who will be joining you for your special day, travelling from afar? Instead of travelling in separate cars, consider organising a coach or encouraging a car share to help reduce their carbon footprint.
What are we doing to help?
In addition to implementing the above, we have also been looking at our kitchen offering to see how else we can help.
Did you know, forests cover 30% of the earth's land, and agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation, i.e. soy for animal feed/palm oil. Rainforests could be wiped out in just one hundred years and the rate of deforestation is at the equivalent of 30 football fields, every single minute.
With this in mind, along with our Executive Head Chef, we have pledged to make more sustainable food choices like using locally grown products and ingredients; sourced from the gardens of Bryngarw Country Park, local organic suppliers, free range and ethically sourced meat and dairy, seasonal fruit and vegetables and minimising and cutting out any palm oil-based products.
We have created menus based on food that it plant-based at its core to minimise duplication and waste, we have also minimised the use of cling film, replacing this with recycled or recyclable packaging alternatives. Should there be any waste, we will be sending excess dry goods to local charitable organisations and food banks.
We all have an ethical and moral responsibility towards our planet, the people and wildlife that inhabit it and to future generations.
By considering and implementing more sustainable changes to your wedding plans, you are going to help save the planet one step and one wedding at a time.
We are already playing our part, help us to make an even bigger difference by playing your part too.