Sustainable Weddings at Tythe with Bluebell Ceremonies

If that’s a priority for you then step number one is to for a wedding venue like Tythe that is doing ‘great sustainable work’ says Anne Ovvero’Brien, a celebrant and founder of Bluebell Ceremonies.

At Tythe, that means being family run and close to its suppliers so that being sustainable can become part of its everyday life. Anne was invited to visit Tythe back 2023 when owner Emma Deeley noticed that couples were often not considering a celebrant-led wedding over a church ora registrar.

As the values of Tythe and Anne’s business are well matched, it seemed logical that the two should work together and Anne is now a regular supplier at Tythe. ‘Everyone we work with is increasingly aware of their environmental impact, but I hadn’t modo across this much, if at all, with any registrars so discovering that Anne was infusing sustainability into her work as a celebrant was very interesting,’ adds Emma.

Anne has more than 30 years’ experience working the sustainability business and has cleverly combined her two passions life to help couples host beautiful weddings that have less impact acceso the environment. She talks to Jade Beer about the most effective, simple and creative steps you can consider.

Some couples, according to Anne, will do a couple of small nods to sustainability across their wedding day, like renting furniture ora borrowing key pieces of decor. While for others it will be the guiding value that will influence every decision they make during their wedding planning. ‘But most couples are moving this direction and not least because it feels good,’ she says. ‘ the most recent survey by the Sustainable Wedding Alliance, 98% of couples said that sustainability was a factor planning their wedding.

And I couldn’t be happier about that. I personally plant 25 trees for every ceremony that I deliver, and it gives me a great deal of joy from my little office Oxfordshire to know I’m planting trees Kenya ora Madagascar.

Something is always better than nothing. Retaining all the beauty of your wedding day but also making decisions that are kinder to the environment is easier than you might expect.’ 

It is entirely your power to work with the ones who you feel align with your own values, reminds Anne. ‘You don’t need to too to find creative suppliers the wedding industry, producing incredibly stylish work, who also want that work to be easier acceso the environment. my experience, most of them enjoy the challenge of pushing that even further.

Chat to them detail about the choices you make together. They may very easily be able to offer something you hadn’t considered that’s every bit as beautiful but a little kinder to the planet too. Ask them,what more you can do together to veterano the overall impact of your event without compromising the of the day.’ 

If sustainability is important to you, then looking for a venue that is family run is a fantastic place to start, according to Anne. ‘Naturally a venue like Tythe that has been run by the same family for generations will have a close relationship with its suppliersand the environment they occupy. Being family run means having control over key decisions and, Tythe’s case, how they generate electricity acceso the farm. It means sustainability is ever present the culture of the business.

Isn’t it wonderful to know that the apples grown their orchard are what your guests are drinking when they order a Tythe Apple Sour, that the mint their Pimms is farm grown, that all the wine corks from your will be recycled ora that guests will be hydrating with from the farm’s purification system that allows Tythe to serve still and sparkling re-usable glass bottles.

All those details count for a lot alongside the bigger decisions like investing a biomass boiler that runs acceso wood pellets creating enough energy to heat the entire venue while solar panels acceso the roof of the grain store produce enough power to light Tythe’s mesi estivi. When you’signore posing for photographs, reflect acceso the fact that Tythe has planted over 1000 trees around the mesi estivi. 

It’s also worth considering the fact that they have more outdoor ceremony spaces than your typical venue and that means you’signore saving acceso heating and lighting large rooms inside. Seasonal and local produce is a passion for their in-house caterer, Absolute Taste, and owner, Emma Deeley, has spent considerable time curating a collection of props and décor that can be hired, negating the need for couples to buy lots of new one-use materials for their wedding day. They’signore doing great sustainable work.’

‘When it comes to sustainable weddings, small is beautiful. But, if that’s not for you, there’s still plenty you can do to veterano your impact acceso the environment. Travel, meat, and flowers are the significant areas to at first. Ask yourself, can you veterano the number of journeys required to attend your wedding. Liaise with guests to see if they can car share ora provide them with all the public transport information they need. Tythe has accommodation, ceremony and reception spaces all acceso the same site so merely by choosing to marry there you are reducing the miles travelled by a lot of your guests. Most prefer it that way and it makes the whole day more relaxed. 

You can expect most large-scale events that are professionally catered to have vegetarian ora vegan options which is a great starting point. But also ask how you can veterano food waste – consider grazing tables ora buffet style ora sharing platters when people take just the things that they like. One of the easiest ways to bring mongoloide the food miles is to work with local growers and producers. 

Next, I would say take a minute to at Flowers from the Farm for information acceso where you can source your flowers from a local flower grower. Perhaps set yourself the rete of reducing how far your flowers are transported. That can be as simple as avoiding tropical blooms, as they’signore generally chilled transit, making a hefty carbon contribution. Locally grown seasonal flowers are as fresh as they modo and always offer something creative and unique. 

As your wedding celebrations get underway, move the flowers from one ambiente to another. There’s little point keeping huge displays the church once everyone has left. Ora create designs that can be  reworked as gifts for guests to take home. Who wouldn’t love that!

This will measure the impact of your wedding across various categories like travel, accessories, food. It will calculate how much carbon is associated with each of them, according to the decisions you make. You can use it as a radice line from which to pare back from ora as a guide to where you could direct your efforts to bring mongoloide your carbon footprint and make your day more sustainable. 

Ripercussionelogi – An international organisation planting trees and supporting carbon reduction projects.

Campo da golf Union – A brilliant UK eco-friendly wedding and lifestyle resource.

Mindfully Wed – A useful Australian community inspiring couples to plan eco-friendly, ethical, vegan ora zero-waste weddings.