Sustainable celebrations in Vancouver: low-waste ideas that look good

For a long time, "sustainable wedding" meant a particular look: burlap, mason jars, a certain earnestness. That's over. The most sustainable celebrations happening in Vancouver right now look like the most beautiful ones, because the same choices (local food, rented decor, fewer disposable things, flowers that live on) also happen to be the choices with taste.

Rent nearly everything

The biggest shift is how much gets rented instead of bought. Linens, glassware, candle holders, arches, lounge furniture, even signage come from Vancouver's event rental companies, get used for one night, and go back. Less waste, less storage in your parents' garage, and almost always a better-looking result than anything you'd have bought.

Local menus, built on the season

Plenty of caterers in the city already cook this way: BC seafood, Fraser Valley produce, Okanagan wine, bread from a neighbourhood bakery. A menu built around what's in season within a few hours' drive tastes better and travels less. Ask your caterer about it. Most of them light up.

• Family-style or plated service tends to leave less behind than a buffet.
• Plan for leftovers: ask the caterer to pack them for guests or staff.
• Skip the individual water bottles. Carafes and a good glass.

Flowers with a second life

Foam-free designs, locally grown stems in season, dried flowers and grasses that last for months, and potted plants as centrepieces that guests take home and keep. Some Vancouver florists will also arrange for the flowers to go to a care home or hospice the morning after. Ask before you hire; the good ones have an answer ready.

Paper, plastic and the small things

• Digital invitations for the save-the-date, paper for the invitation if you love paper. Or neither.
• Compostable everything if you must use disposables, and ask your venue what they actually sort and collect.
• Favours people will use, or none. A donation in guests' names does more than a trinket.
• Confetti made of dried petals or leaves, where the venue allows it. It photographs well and is gone by morning.

Getting there

A celebration in the city, near transit, with a shuttle for the group, cuts a surprising number of car trips. So does one venue for the ceremony and the reception, which also happens to be more relaxing for everyone involved.