3 Ways to Repurpose Your Wedding Décor
Photography by Nicole Marie Photography
Today is Earth Day, and we want to share a few tips on how to make your wedding more sustainable! Weddings can be pretty wasteful if you’re not intentional with planning and sourcing your decorations. One easy way to reduce waste is to choose decorations that you can repurpose after the wedding is over! Read on for 3 categories of wedding-day items that are truly easy to repurpose if you plan ahead.
Choose signage and stationery worth keeping
When it comes to your wedding-day signage and stationery, there are lots of ways to ensure that you can reuse them after the wedding is over! We personally love the custom neon sign trend, because they make great décor for your home. Place it above a bar, create a statement wall in your home office, or use it to light up your outdoor living space. Not only are they aesthetically pleasing, but they’re functional too!
Want custom signage but don’t have the budget for it? There are tons of ideas on Pinterest for DIY signs using a Cricut! Create your own signs, then remove the lettering afterward for wood or acrylic boards that can be used again and again.
If you have leftover wedding invitations, keep them for the memories! Pop one into a frame and add it to a gallery wall with your wedding photos, or use them as the cover page for photo albums that you can gift to family and friends. If you still have some left after that, consider shredding them to use as filler for a keepsake box of all your wedding-day treasures!
PRO TIP: Worried about having to throw away lots of programs, menus, and place cards? we suggest Working with a local stationer to create beautiful wedding-day paper that doubles as a favor so your guests want to take them home!
Plan ahead to preserve your wedding flowers
If you want to preserve your wedding florals, you need to plan ahead! There are tons of artists who can help you dry, preserve, or press your flowers. Get in touch with them 1-3 months before your wedding to ensure they have availability for you! We especially love when couples have their flowers preserved in epoxy resin - they make a beautiful piece of artwork for your home!
You can also dry your own flowers! Just hang them upside down in a warm, dry place until completely dried out. Now you have a pretty arrangement for your home, or you can turn them into confetti!
Have way too many flowers to preserve? Gift them to your guests! Plan ahead to select friends and family to whom you want your centerpieces to go, or just allow any guest to take them at the end of the night. Just make sure to keep the vase for your florist!
PRO TIP: Did you know you can donate your wedding flowers? Reach out to your local assisted living communities, women’s shelters, and hospitals in advance to see if they accept flowers, then have a member of your wedding party drop them off the day after your wedding.
Choose personal items that have a greater purpose
If you’re like most couples, your guest book and card box will end up in storage after the wedding and you might not look at them until your anniversary. Why not intentionally purchase items that you’ll love to display and reuse? Take inspiration from Mackenzie + Blake’s guest book table, where they used a record player as the sign and records as the guest book. You can take it up a notch and hire a company like After the Tone to record messages from all your wedding guests, then they’ll mail you a vinyl record of your loved ones’ voices!
Another way to bring in items with a purpose is to replace your card box. With the proper signage, anything can be a card holder! Find a beautiful bowl or basket that fits your wedding design and complements your home, then when the wedding is over you’ll have a useful item for your living space. You could also find a keepsake box that acts as a card box on your wedding day, but holds all your wedding memories after. This is a great place for your shredded stationery and dried flower petals!
PRO TIP: Need to decorate a small area at your venue, like a dessert table or mantel? Bring in framed engagement photos from home. then you can just hang them back up after the wedding!
Hire a wedding planner to help with the rest
Need more help making your wedding day effortless, elevated, and eco-friendly? You need a wedding planner! Hiring a wedding planner means you’ll have help with every step of the planning process, and we can help with booking vendors and sourcing décor that meet your sustainability goals.
At Availed Wedding + Event Planning, we offer a variety of wedding planning packages in Minneapolis and beyond so you can get the help you need. Send us an inquiry today or set up a free consultation with our Lead Planners!
Thanks for reading, and happy planning!
