It’s no secret that weddings are not environmentally friendly. From the thousands of airline miles required to gather far-flung friends and family to single-use wedding attire to exotic floral décor and imported food and drink, the carbon footprint for even a modest event can be significant. But we submit that celebrating love is perhaps more important now than ever. As such, we’ve gathered a few ideas for planning a memorable nuptial celebration that minimizes the next-day carbon guilt.

1. SERVE CREATIVE VEGETARIAN FARE

Instead of serving (carbon) heavy meat at your rehearsal dinner and reception, choose a creative plant-based menu sure to make no one miss the protein. If meat is a must, however, ask your caterer to use a local purveyor like Niman Ranch or Mary Free-Range Chicken. “Utah food producers have come a long way in the last several years,” says Emery Lortsher, owner of The Blended Table Catering. “It’s possible during most times of the year to serve your guests a fantastic meal that’s 100% locally sourced.” (The Blended Table composts all its food waste in its on-site digester—this includes removing food waste from the venues they serve.)

2. SEND RECYCLED AND RESPONSIBLY PRINTED INVITES

While sending your invites electronically through a company like blissandbone.com or greenvelope.com is certainly the greenest option for an eco-friendly wedding, Miriam Footer from The Write Image believes digital invites aren’t taken as seriously as a paper invitation. “They tend to get lost in the bottomless pit of our email in-boxes and couples end up spending a lot of time chasing RSVPs,” she says. An eco-conscious paper alternative is Bella Figura, a stationery printer that both employs earth-friendly manufacturing practices and prints artistic invitation suites on paper made from cotton fibers reclaimed from the garment industry.

3. RENT YOUR WEDDING DRESS OR PURCHASE A VINTAGE ONE

Several factors contribute to the unsustainability of wedding dresses, from how the fabric is produced to carbon expended to get them here from overseas. (Have dreams of your future daughter one day wearing your dress? In reality, only a small fraction of wedding dresses have multigenerational appeal.) Consider renting a dress—Provo’s Something Borrowed Bridal rents wedding dresses for $300 to $600 and has more than 800 gowns to choose from—or purchasing a gently loved vintage dress from Lovers Bridal in Salt Lake City, stockists of bridal designs from the 1920s to 2000s.

Read our tips for planning a family-friendly wedding weekend here!

In locales like India and Italy, multiday weddings have been the norm for generations. But here in the U.S., extending nuptial celebrations beyond the actual wedding day has caught on just within the last several years. The pandemic’s curtailing of gatherings is one reason for this trend, so for many, this year may be the first time in two years or longer they will finally feel comfortable traveling or attending a large gathering. Another reason many are embracing a wedding weekend is that the six or so hours that span most wedding ceremonies and receptions is simply not long enough for couples to connect with each one of their guests. Hosting a two-, three- or even five-day celebration also allows extended members of the couple’s families to really get to know and enjoy one another. 

The key to a meaningful wedding weekend, however, is providing your guests with fun and accessible things to do. Following is a roundup of distinctly Utah activities that will make your extended wedding celebration one your guests will talk about fondly for years to come.

EXCURSIONS APPROPRIATE FOR ALL, FROM GRANDPARENTS TO TODDLERS

CATCHING A RIDE TO 11,000 FEET 

There’s a 2,900-foot elevation difference between Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort’s base area and its highest point at Hidden Peak. But just about anyone can make it to that heady vantage point, thanks to the Tram. Rides are open to the public daily or for large groups by reservation.    

TOUCHING THE VOID 

Pick up lunch for the group in Moab at Sweet Cravings Bakery & Bistro and drive the 35-ish miles to the Dead Horse Point Overlook. There, claim a few of the first-come, first-served picnic tables with a view of the Colorado River 2,000 feet below framed by Canyonlands National Park’s spires and red rock in the distance.

RIDING THE RAILS 

Book tickets on the Heber Valley Railroad’s Lakeside Limited for a scenic, two-hour tour along the shores of Deer Creek reservoir and the bucolic Heber Valley. Refreshments are available for purchase on the train; be sure to request seats in the same car when booking group reservations. 

Did you know the next few years are expected to be a wedding boom? See what the experts have to say here.

It’s 2022 and, gratefully, most of the cancellations, adjustments and compromises engaged couples were forced to make in 2020 are in the rearview mirror, right? Well, maybe not. The pandemic year pause triggered a nuptial wave that, according to the market research firm The Wedding Report, is just now peaking: 1.9 million couples married in 2021, 2.5 million couples are planning to tie the knot this year—the most the U.S. has seen since 1984—and 2.24 more will wed in 2023. (For context, 2.1 million weddings were held in both 2018 and 2019.) In short, the intense demand for venues and services, combined with labor shortages and broken supply chains, have thrown typical wedding planning timelines and processes out the window.   

All that said, couples can still have the wedding of their dreams, as long as they are willing to make decisions quickly, be less specific and, most importantly, have patience. So says three of Utah’s top wedding planners: Michelle Cousins with Michelle Leo Events, Fuse Weddings & Events’ Mara Mazdzer and Tonya Hoopes of Hoopes Events.

Choosing a wedding date other than a Saturday—particularly in June, July or August—is a piece of advice echoed by all three of these planners. “Most of those coveted weekend dates are already booked into 2023,” Cousins says. “By looking at a midweek date or even a Sunday, couples are more likely to be able to have that summer wedding they want. Or think about having a fall wedding—Utah is gorgeous in September and October.”

Once you’ve landed on a date and a venue, line up and sign vendors as quickly  as possible. “To use a football analogy,” Mazdzer says, “you need to get all your players—the caterer, florist, photographer, band or DJ, etc.—on the bench and then we can figure out the plays, or the details, later. In this high-demand climate, if you hesitate just a few days, then those vendors get booked by someone else.”

Supply chain interruptions have hit florists particularly hard. When considering flowers, avoid focusing on specific species. “In this post-COVID world, sometimes floral shipments don’t arrive on time, or at all, to the wholesalers,” Hoopes says. “When interviewing a florist, ask how they handle substitutions. Ask them about alternates in the same color and texture of your first choice that will work with other flowers being used.”

Lastly, hire a wedding planner. Wedding planning is stressful under normal circumstances, and, when taking all the current challenges into consideration, it can be downright frustrating. “We have established relationships with venue managers and vendors and can land bookings much more efficiently than couples can on their own,” Cousins says. “But couples should know that this is a very unusual time. It took superhuman perseverance for the wedding industry across the country to pull off 2021, and we’re expecting to be even busier this year. We are here to help. We just ask for a little patience. And, please, be nice.

Featured image by Elisha Braithwaite

Read more features from our 2022 issue here!