WEDDING STYLING ADVICE - Embrace Sustainable Styling With The Natural Vibe Co

2nd November 2021


WEDDING STYLING ADVICE - Embrace Sustainable Styling With The Natural Vibe CoCindy Kitckher Photography

Hi, I'm Gayle, I'm the founder and owner of The Natural Vibe Co. Over the past few years I've noticed there has been an incredibly positive shift of mindset. More and more people are conscious about the decisions they're making and how those decisions impact our environment. I, myself, am one of those people. My love for nature came from a young age being brought up on my family's farm in Somerset, however my appreciation came after years of working on the events scene in London. It was during this time that I realised the tremendous levels of waste being created from each event I worked on and I wasn't OK with it. It was during the pandemic that I was given the opportunity to reflect, create and develop The Natural Vibe Co and I'm so grateful for that time. I created The Natural Vibe Co to help couples and individuals design and plan their weddings and events in the most environmentally conscious way possible. 

There are many eco-friendly tips and tricks you can include within your wedding or event and many of those live right at the heart of The Natural Vibe Co. This is what I’m going to share with you, as well as a few ideas that could easily be implemented into your wedding or next event.

1. My Natural Style

WEDDING STYLING ADVICE - Embrace Sustainable Styling With The Natural Vibe CoGemma Rose Photography

My unique style is inspired by nature. I embrace it's natural elegance, simplicity and pure beauty within my bespoke designs. Every couple wants their wedding to be personal and individual to them and that is exactly what I offer. I think differently for my clients, taking their vision and personalities, and adding my creative mind to conjure up designs unlike what you might find on Pinterest or Instagram.

2. Foraged Foliage

WEDDING STYLING ADVICE - Embrace Sustainable Styling With The Natural Vibe CoOn the family farm I'm constantly exploring and discovering what we have growing in the woods and hedgerows, identifying what grows in abundance that can be shared with couples for their special day. We're surrounded by Hawthorn, Field Maple, Elder, Laurel, Oak, Ivy, different types of Willow and Ferns, plus more I'm still yet to uncover. I personally love using foliage at weddings, it fills a space so beautifully and brings you a wonderful feeling of the outdoors in. It truly is a real treat for all your senses. 

3. Local Seasonal Flowers 

WEDDING STYLING ADVICE - Embrace Sustainable Styling With The Natural Vibe CoI absolutely adore flowers, they add so much vibrancy and life to a wedding, however it's rarely known or shared with couples how far their flowers have travelled or flown to be a part of their day. As a society we've become accustomed to being able to have pretty much anything we want whenever we want it. As they say, the world is a much smaller place than it used to be. I don't however believe that is the right attitude for us to have and take a different approach. I work seasonally and locally as much as possible, which reduces the distance travelled, contributes towards the local economy and means I relish in the colours of the season when nature is ready to share them with us.

4. More Foliage, Less Flowers

WEDDING STYLING ADVICE - Embrace Sustainable Styling With The Natural Vibe CoGemma Rose Photography

To those of you having your wedding in a barn or marquee, typically the more blank canvas wedding venues, here is a tip for you. Despite my love for flowers they do come at cost, however it depends how many you use that determines that cost. You could look to use more foliage and less flowers, foliage is generally more cost effective and it allows you to cover a larger surface area, you can then use flowers more sparingly adding in your pops of floral colour bringing more soul and life into your design.

5. In-House Decorations & Props

WEDDING STYLING ADVICE - Embrace Sustainable Styling With The Natural Vibe CoGemma Rose Photography

One of my happy places is being inside my workshop making my own props and decorations from either natural or sustainably sourced materials. Being from a farm, I continuously have access to wood, whether it be coppiced, foraged or lying around waiting for me to reclaim it and turn it into my next upcycling project. I even go as far as to think about how I add the final finishing touches onto my props and decorations using non-toxic products as much as possible. For example, I'd choose a water based paint over a solvent based paint and will happily use my pyrography pen or water based paint for any signage, opting out of using vinyl. I think about the little things as well as the big, it's all about the attention to detail. 

Outside of the workshop, another happy place is at a Flea market searching for unique items that compliment my bespoke designs and your vision. Some items have even been found closer to home when emptying out our old barns. It's such a satisfying feeling taking something old and giving it a new lease of life and love. Each of my items truly does have it's own story to tell, knowing how they're made or where they've come from, and I love to see them be a part of someone else's story. 

6. Sustainable Materials

WEDDING STYLING ADVICE - Embrace Sustainable Styling With The Natural Vibe CoSpeaking of attention to detail, have you ever wondered how some wedding displays are fixed together and what materials are being used? I certainly do! Firstly as part of my style, I keep any displays quite loose and free flowing, limiting or removing the need for any fixings at all. There are, however, always displays that require a little bit of extra help, so I look to use alternative, more sustainable options. For example, rather than using plastic cable ties or fishing wire, I'd use twine, jute or paper covered wire, all of which match perfectly with my style. I also find more often than not I can reuse these materials, all it takes is a little bit of extra care when taking everything down. I truly hate to see anything go to waste and I’m always trying to reuse as much material as I can. 

7. Local &/Or Eco-Conscious Suppliers 

WEDDING STYLING ADVICE - Embrace Sustainable Styling With The Natural Vibe CoCindy Kitckher Photography

A number of wedding venues and suppliers tend to have their own list of suppliers that they prefer or naturally gravitate towards because their type of work and styles are aligned. I'm no different, the only difference is my ever growing list of suppliers is filled with either local and eco-conscious suppliers whoses work falls beautifully with my own or their ethos is 100% aligned with mine. 

8. Distance I Travel

WEDDING STYLING ADVICE - Embrace Sustainable Styling With The Natural Vibe CoGemma Rose Photography

I would love to work with as many couples as I can, however, as with everything else I had to consider my carbon footprint if I was to be travelling all across the UK. I therefore made the decision to limit the distance I travel for work, working within Somerset and the surrounding areas. I will of course review this in the future with the hope of moving towards an electric or an alternative more sustainable vehicle. 

You might be asking, how can I apply this to my wedding? Well here is another tip and it begins with a big decision you have to make at the very beginning of your wedding planning journey. Where do we want to get married? When selecting your location and venue take into consideration where the majority of your guests live and look to select a location close by. This will limit the amount of miles your guests have to travel to join you on your special day. I appreciate this option won't suit everyone, I know some of you 100% already know exactly where you want to say your "I do's", but for those that don't, it's certainly something you could consider?!

9. Video Calls & Face-To-Face Meetings

WEDDING STYLING ADVICE - Embrace Sustainable Styling With The Natural Vibe CoWith some suppliers, such as wedding designers, planners and marquee or tipi suppliers your carbon footprint starts as soon as you begin your journey with them, it's not just during your set up or on your wedding day. Things to consider now, are you having face to face meetings and if yes, where are those meetings taking place and how are you getting to them? I combine a mix of face to face meetings and video calls with my clients, striking a really lovely balance. I kick off our journey on a video call, a chance to get to know one another and for me to learn how they visually see their day. After that and once we've agreed we're the right fit for each other, we're off to the venue and it's there we start to build a picture and visualise every element of their day. 

10. Digital Marketing

WEDDING STYLING ADVICE - Embrace Sustainable Styling With The Natural Vibe CoLuckily we've moved into the world of digital and I'm really grateful for that, less wasted paper, brilliant! Same as any other business, I will always have to market myself, however the beauty of running my own business is I get to decide how I do it. I've decided to limit my print marketing and design digital marketing brochures instead. An extra bonus, is this means less things for you to keep hold of! I'll admit I haven't avoided it completely and do have business cards, however, they’re made from 100% sustainable materials.  

Again how can you make the most of this when thinking about your wedding, well let's look at what you need to have printed? Normally it's your save the dates, invites, order of service, menus and name cards. So what from this list can we reduce and possibly look at doing in a different way? Lets take your save the dates and invites as an example, could these be digital? Not only will this save on paper, but it will save you time and possibly your pocket. Talk about killing three birds with one stone. I do know however this won't be everyone's cup of tea, so here is another idea if you do want printed invites. You could marry the two ideas together, sending an e-invite for the majority of your guests, but have a few beautifully designed printed ones, using sustainable materials, for your closer friends and family.

You don't have to follow tradition or do what others have done for their big day. We are in charge of the decisions that we make and I hope reading this has given you a little bit of inspiration and motivation to think about how you can implement any of these methods into your wedding day. Alternatively, if you love my style, values and you're looking for support, I'd love to hear your vision and work with you to bring your vision to life in the most sustainable way I know. 

 


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