Sustainable Weddings
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Your wedding day, delivered consciously

Sustainable Wedding Choices

Planning a wedding is such an exciting time, one of life’s truly joyous opportunities to bring together family and friends in celebration.

Traditional weddings with all of the wonderful elements they include to make the day special unfortunately don’t show a great deal of love for our planet.

At a time when so many of us are naturally thinking about the choices we make in life and the impact they have on the environment we have found many couples choosing Whatley for their wedding venue based on our sustainability credentials and we love this. If the environmental impact of your wedding is an important consideration in your planning we can offer the perfect solutions.

You don’t have to commit to an all-encompassing green wedding, we can help you create your perfect wedding day and make informed sustainable choices that will reduce your overall carbon footprint for the wedding celebrations.

Our recommendations to reduce the negative impact of your wedding:

Venue choice – choose a venue that already has excellent and evidenced sustainability credentials, this will ensure that everything they do as part of their operational procedures is geared to reducing carbon at every stage. We have also won many industry awards for sustainability; not least a Green Michelin star for sustainable gastronomy.

Whatley is working with partners EarthCheck.Org to robustly measure its carbon reducing actions.

We have been through the EarthCheck evaluate programme, achieving  Silver accreditation in September 2022.

View our environmental and social sustainability policy

Menus – our chef Ricki Weston has have created menus that focus on local produce to reduce the food miles of your menu. If you prefer to offer a menu that is fully vegan or vegetarian this will still have the wow factor for your guests. Think also about what you offer guests during the evening or for other parts of the celebration to ensure that food waste is kept to a minimum. When it comes to the wedding cake we can assist with recommendations locally and we also work with some excellent eco cake brands. To avoid wastage go smaller on your cake size, it is better that guests enjoy it on the day with minimal leftovers and think about your decorations too, edible is definitely the best option or fresh petals.

View our consciously created menus
Luxury Eco Cakes from Love from Lila 
 

Wine and drinks – consider English vineyards for your wedding wines, we work with some excellent suppliers and our Gusbourne English sparkling wine has won many industry awards and will delight your guests. We work with a number of local drinks suppliers including Sapling Spirits who have created climate positive vodka and gin. As part of your wedding celebration we can showcase our Citrus Drop Cocktail using Sapling Vodka or we would be happy to create a bespoke wedding cocktail.

English and sustainable wine and drink options

Flowers – such an important part of your wedding day, we work with some excellent local florists who can help you choose seasonal flowers grown in the UK that will provide beautiful bouquets but also reduce air miles. Malmesbury florist Emily Hepworth of Persephone Violet works with local suppliers and growers, Emily is committed to delivering a wedding service with a reduced environmental impact. “At Persephone Violet we sponsor our foliage trees paying for their upkeep and maintenance and to provide the foliage we need and give wildlife a place to live, this is just one of our key initiatives” Emily would be very happy to discuss floral options for your wedding.

Think about planted arrangements wherever possible for your tables or as decorations and gift these to guests to take home and plant out to ensure they have a life beyond the day.  

Potted trees can create a beautiful setting for your day and they have an extended life beyond your wedding day.

Alternatively choose dried flowers and again gift to guests to extend their life and provide a wonderful reminder of your special day.

Bespoke florist– Flowers by Passion

Tree Hire – we recommend Wild Tree Services

Hold your wedding outside – having your wedding in our Loggia garden is a perfect way to embrace being outside in nature as part of your day. Outdoor weddings also reduce the need for electricity used and the garden backdrop provides plenty of scope for natural decorations.

Outdoor wedding facilities include, The Loggia Garden and Pergola or we can discuss other options within the  gardens and grounds. Or you can consider a beautiful traditional bell tent for your ceremony in the cooler months.

Decorations & Favours – we appreciate our couples want to make the day as personal as possible and decorate the hotel and gardens in their wedding style. Many decorative items can be hired or sold on to use again, think also about the impact of the decorations you might use. Dried flower petals or leaves are naturally biodegradable and look stunning instead of confetti. Where possible hire, repurpose or resell your larger decorative items. Gifts for guests should also be considered, something useful is always a good choice, we love it when guests choose to gift Bee Revival kits as a favour.

Favours and decorations with good environmental credentials can be found at the Original Party Bag Company. 

Also search on Etsy where you will find a great range of gifts that have a life far beyond your wedding day.

Table settings – consider a more rustic theme and dine on wooden tabletops, reducing the linen used in your celebrations has a positive impact on carbon usage. We can work with you to create beautiful bespoke table settings, this includes thinking about your stationery, consider recycled paper for menus and table plans.

Rustic furniture and canvas marquees

Stationery –  why not consider e-invites where you can, maybe for the save the date and guest information if not for the full invitation. Menus and place cards can be multifunctional, put the guest name on the menu cards to limit the amount of paper used. Use this one piece of print as a time to share a message with your guests, thanking them for being part of your day perhaps, guest will be more inclined to be keep these as a memory of the day. Seek out suppliers that use alternatives to paper or have a tree-planting program in place, there are lots of excellent options.

Email only invitations are a really good option, take a look at Green Envelope

Wedding attire – Choosing your wedding day attire is a very personal experience, making this decision whilst also being aware of the ethical impacts of your choice adds an extra dimension to the process. There are some excellent options for wedding attire if you think outside of the usual options; vintage, pre loved and rental are the most sound routes to choosing something that is beneficial to the environment. Increasingly bespoke ateliers will offer sustainable options for new or reworked wedding attire. It is becoming ever easier to have the wow factor on this special day whilst also making a choice that sits well with your commitment to the environment.

Rental – Hurr have a great selection of bridal wear

Pre loved – Oxfam offers a wide range of options Oxfam Wedding

Ethically made in the UK  – Rolling in Roses

Suppliers – many of our couples travel from a distance to host a wedding at Whatley but we have some incredible suppliers locally and we do encourage you to reduce travel miles by meeting with our recommended local suppliers to fulfil all the special elements of your day.

Photographers 

Husband & wife team Jo & Nic are passionate, creative and experienced wedding photographers, with over twenty years experience in the industry & over 15 years capturing weddings at Whatley Manor.

Their relaxed, unobtrusive approach is perfect for your special day. They combine natural, informal photography with just a little styling and direction to capture all the joy of your day with the minimum of fuss. This way of working means that the photography never takes over and, most importantly, offers you an incredible set of images to remember your special day. 

View Jo & Nic’s wedding portfolio 

Fireworks

Lighting up the night sky – we work with a wonderful laser light company who can provide a 100% environmentally friendly alternative to fireworks to end your day with a flourish rather than a bang. Laser light displays are breathtakingly beautiful and kind to the planet, we can recommend Mr Fireworks International

Location – please do think about your guest list, if you have a large number of guests traveling encourage them to make a break out of it and stay for a few days. Help them to navigate car sharing or recommend using coaches or trains to travel together.We can help with local suppliers for vintage buses or other options for transport.

We have a local contact for transport using electric vehicles.

Cotswold Chauffeur Services 

You may also ask your guests to support you in reducing the impact of your event by offsetting the carbon produced by their journey.

For further information on our sustainable practices and goals CLICK HERE

To read our environmental and sustainability policy CLICK HERE 

To discuss your wedding requirements

From 24th - 26th December the Whatley Manor will be closed to non residents. If you need to contact us please send an email to reception@whatleymanor.com and one of the team will respond. Thank you