The floristry and floral design world is a beautiful one. It entails nearly unmatched floral beauty and involves an enthusiasm for working with both flowers and nature. But do we ever stop to think about the environmental impact of producing, buying, and designing arrangements for different occasions such as weddings, using all those lovely cut flowers?
As days go by, many businesses and couples have become more conscious of the environmental impact of flowers in events like weddings. And floristry is one area where this has become a real priority. Even so, before one starts picturing foraged posies and native-everything (not that those aren’t awesome), it is important to assure oneself of what sustainable practices mean in high-end floral designs.
The Environmental Impact of Weddings
Here are five tips and views of four popular eco-friendly florists – Meghan Fletcher (Megs) from Good Grace & Humour, Ame from Raven & the Rose, Kate from Sir Botanical, and Nat from Zinnia Floral Designs – about how they’re striving to leave a smaller footprint on the planet, and how one can do the same when it comes to wedding flowers.
1. Go Floral Foam Free
Ditching the use of toxic floral foam is probably the best thing that florists can do to reduce their floral footprint.
Ame from Raven and the Rose says:
“Floral foam is terrible for our environment and for us. There are many other alternatives and I love seeing so many florists getting around this and sharing ideas on ways we can limit it in our work. There’s a lot more knowledge about it now which is so great for our industry”.
Kate from Sir Botanical agrees and shares:
“After the royal wedding going #FloralFoamFree there has been a huge push for other florists to do the same who weren’t already. So there is definitely a movement within the industry at the moment. I think now that plastic bags and straws are being phased out it’s really started an important dialogue across a wide range of industries and we are definitely trying our best to work with the environment in mind.”
2. Choose Local & Seasonal Flowers
Nat from Zinnia notes that using local growers, especially those with sustainable practices, can make a huge difference in wedding floral designs.
Nat:
A lot of flowers are grown in countries with little governing over the chemicals used to grow these flowers and wages and working conditions are poor,” she explains. “They reach our quarantine and are treated with more chemicals to stop the risk of bugs and disease entering our country.
Nat explains further:
Sadly the imported flower industry has put many local farmers out of business. Ideally, I would love to use 100 percent sustainably grown flowers, however, right now it is not possible as there are only a handful of growers in Western Australia. I have always grown flowers at home on a very small scale, this year we have decided to step it up and create a full-cutting garden at our family farm in Waroona.
3. Pack-Down Properly
One can, also, talk to their florist about what will happen to their floral installations after the wedding. Will they go straight into the skip or be packed down properly? Any wire or plastic ties should be separated from the arrangements so that flowers can be reused and green waste composted.
Pomp & Splendour speaks about how they packed down one of their elaborate wedding installations.
Pomp & Splendour:
“It took two days to install and another three days to remove and sustainably dismantle (also worth noting that the venue was on the second floor!) During the pack down all cable ties and any wires were separated from the green waste.”
4. Re-Purpose Those Beautiful Blooms
The florist can, also, probably use most of the wedding flowers again. So be sure to let them know you’re happy for them to be reclaimed! Foliage and hardier blooms can sometimes be used for upcoming events or shoots. Elements can also be dried for later use – there’s a growing trend for dried florals in installations and bouquets.
Sir Botanical, for instance, created a textural installation with dried palm leaves, wild grasses, and local bougainvillea, all repurposed after a wedding.
5. Set Up a Flower Wrapping Station
If one has a lot of table arrangements or easily accessible flowers, why not set up a flower wrapping station for the guests at the reception or a recovery brunch the next day? One can, for instance, encourage the guests to take them home or donate them to their local nursing home. In place of wedding favors, the team over at Honey Lane suggests setting up a flower-wrapping station for the guests.
With such practices, one can easily make their wedding flowers much more sustainable, and avoid needless waste of natural and floral resources.
Feature image by @zinniafloraldesign, header image by @pompandsplendour
