Weddings in Prince Edward County are often associated with a rustic feel, a hip country vibe and a connection to the beautiful rural landscapes. Many folks and farms in the county care deeply about the environment and you would have a hard time at a local farmer’s market not hearing or seeing words like “organic”, “vegan” or “eco-friendly.” It’s no wonder that many engaged couples in Ontario who are concerned about the environment and climate change are drawn to PEC as a potential wedding or elopement destination. This place is pure magic.
Part of being mindful of our environmental impact is considering the amount of waste that is generated at large events like weddings. It’s not just about the married couple or guests either, as the practices of vendors like florists, venues and caterers can have a massive impact on how much waste is created.
I hesitate to use the term “zero-waste wedding” in this blog post because, well, I don’t believe it to be possible – even if considerations are made for the day of the wedding, there are so many other variables, such as the practices of the business that provide vendors with their materials and ingredients. I have settled on the term low-waste instead.
In this post I will highlight some super awesome wedding vendors who service Prince Edward County and who make an effort to reduce their waste. Be sure to check out five additional tips at the end!
Photographer
Alright, full disclosure: I did not have to look very far for a Prince Edward County wedding photographer who is mindful of the waste that they create! I’m not perfect, but I do make an effort and, when it comes to wedding photography, there generally isn’t a whole lot of potential for waste anyways.
I use two camera bodies, a number of different lenses and memory cards, all of which are frequently re-used. A lot of my equipment has been purchased secondhand, too, which ensures that camera gear gets a full life cycle and also avoids additional packaging that often comes with new products. The batteries that I use are rechargeable (no need for disposable AA batteries!) and my wedding contracts that you sign are digital in order to avoid unnecessary paper waste. I also come to the wedding with my own reusable water bottle and coffee mug.
Thankfully, the potential for waste among photographers is quite a bit lower than with many other aspects of the wedding - but as you’ll see, even in traditionally wasteful sectors, these next few local vendors are helping to make PEC weddings more eco-friendly.
Venue
The wedding venue is a huge part of a wedding; it is the backdrop for the whole day. Prince Edward County boasts some spectacular venues and if you are looking for a rustic wedding, you are really in the right place. There are plenty of wineries, breweries and dedicated event spaces that host weddings, but not all aspire to be zero-waste. If that’s something that’s important to you, make sure that you ask them about their low-waste initiatives.
100 Acre Wood prioritizes environmentally-friendly practices and makes a huge effort to reduce their waste. Their tables are handmade from local wood, their dishes are made on site in their ceramics studio and they have their own cutlery, linens and glassware that is washed and reused. They also provide their own handmade vases that couples and florists can use in addition to their own wood arbour so that wedding decor is not being purchased unnecessarily.
Grange of Prince Edward is a winery and PEC wedding venue that has a similar approach. They compost food scraps and use their own china to avoid single-use plates and servingware. This venue also makes mason jar vases available to couples as a way to encourage buying flowers in bulk.
Catering
There are so many amazing options for catering in the county and many Prince Edward County wedding venues offer their own food as a part of their package. If you find a wedding venue that prioritizes reducing their waste, it’s likely that it extends to the way they approach food preparation, too. For many smaller venues though, you will likely have to hire an external caterer.
Catering weddings is a tough gig and many are not thinking about ways in which they can reduce their waste – they just want to make sure that the final product is served on time and is of exceptional quality, by any means necessary. Plastic wrap, styrofoam and disposable plates and cutlery are the main culprits here, especially if you are going the food truck route, which is a popular option for many couples.
But hold on, we are talking about PEC here! Let's not forget that plenty of folks care deeply about the environment. Bermuda is a restaurant in Bloomfield that has catered a number of weddings and is passionate about their low-waste approach to food preparation.
Their dishes and glassware in-house are all thrifted and when catering weddings they opt for bamboo plates and cutlery which are compostable and look great. They avoid tea bags with plastic components and use their own tablecloths that they can wash when they are finished. Most of the vegetables and meat that they cook with are from PEC suppliers and are delivered in reusable containers. Their weekly garbage output destined for landfill is less than a bag, because they compost and recycle as much as they can.
Bermuda is moving away from catering weddings at wedding venues and is looking to host receptions at their stylish restaurant as early as next summer. If you are on the hunt for a caterer to come to your wedding venue, consider some of Bermuda’s practices and ask potential caterers whether they focus on similar low-waste initiatives.
Makeup
The makeup industry has been terrible for a long time when it comes to generating waste. The amount of single-use plastic that has been, and continues to be used, is shocking. Fortunately, there are makeup brands that are striving to do better in this regard, which in turn allows for makeup artists to have more choice in how they deliver their service.
LaceFace Makeup Artistry uses Jane Iredale makeup which is shipped without throw-away packaging and has refillable compacts. LaceFace also uses reusable glass bottles for their homemade brush cleaner, washable cotton cloths instead of paper towels and bamboo mascara wands.
Maya Goldenberg is an eco-beauty professional who is based in Toronto, but services PEC as well. She takes pride in her environmentally sustainable business model and reduces her waste in other ways. Her best practices include recommending personalized lipstick colour options to eliminate the need for lipstick samples in plastic containers and washing and sterilizing makeup applicators so that they can be reused.
The number of makeup artists who are trying to reduce their waste is growing, but it is still important to ask the right questions.
Flowers
What is more earthy and natural than flowers, right? They grow in the earth and can be composted or put in yard waste when you’re done. Surely this industry cannot generate a lot of waste! 
Unfortunately, in addition to how far flowers usually travel and the energy that is required for refrigeration, a bouquet’s journey has the potential to be littered with waste. Luckily, there are flower farms in PEC that also offer wedding services. This reduces the amount of packaging and waste associated with shipping flowers from farms outside of Prince Edward County to flower shops.
Consider ordering your bouquets from a county flower farm like Floralora. They avoid using floral foam (made from non-recyclable plastic that is popular with florists when arranging flowers and horrible for the environment) and choose instead to use chicken wire and reusable floral picks. Bouquets are delivered to the couple in rented vases which are returned to Floralora to be used again. When harvesting their flowers, they use sturdy plastic floral buckets that are also reused, over and over again.
Now, it’s not to say that a Prince Edward County florist may not be making an effort to reduce their waste, but if you are shooting for a zero-waste PEC wedding, a flower farm is the way to go.
Other Ways to Reduce Waste
Prince Edward County wedding vendors aside, there are other ways that you can reduce your waste when planning your wedding. Here are five other considerations:
1) Use e-invitations from websites like paperlesspost.com or recycled paper for your wedding invitations. Between save-the-dates and the invitations themselves, that’s a whole lot of trees saved if you go digital or recycled!
2) If you are planning on wearing a wedding dress on your big day, there are plenty of options out there to buy a secondhand dress. Most brides will only wear their wedding dress once (fingers crossed!) and many find that they take up too much room in their place after the wedding, so they donate or sell their dresses. Try vintage stores, The Bride’s Project, Nearly Newlywed and Facebook Marketplace.
3) Decor can be purchased pre-used and there are plenty of Facebook groups out there for this purpose. If you are making your own centrepieces, opt for compostable materials and items like beeswax candles, burlap and twigs from trees.
4) There are a number of ways that you can reduce waste through the gifts on your registry. Ask for guests to avoid gift wrapping (which is often not recyclable) and arrange to pick up gifts in-store instead of having them delivered. Also, why not just leave things off your registry that you already own?
5) Alright, some of you may not be ready to hear this: the smaller your wedding, the less potential for waste generation. It also lowers the number of people who are flying or driving to the event. Consider giving your guest list another look-over – or, if you want to keep things really simple, plan an elopement!
Prince Edward County is a fantastic place to have a wedding. You will find amazing wedding venues and vendors who will tick all of your boxes, especially if a low-waste or zero-waste wedding is a goal for the day. If you are planning to get married or elope in the county, please reach out! I would love to chat.