Eco-friendly wedding invitations - less paper, not no paper

Eco-friendly wedding invitations - less paper, not no paper

More and more couples want the wedding to sit a little more lightly on the world. With invitations, though, the point is not to give up paper. It is to keep the part of it that earns its place: one good card a guest picks up and keeps.

What actually uses the paper

Count what usually travels in one envelope:

• ·the invitation
• ·an insert with directions
• ·an insert about accommodation
• ·a reply card, often with a second envelope and a stamp
• ·sometimes a separate save the date, sent earlier

The invitation is one item out of five. Everything else is information that will change anyway - the time, the hotel, the phone number for the maid of honour. And every change means a reprint or a round of calls.

One card and one code

When a QR code replaces the inserts, what stays in the envelope is the invitation itself. The map, the accommodation, the running order, the dress code and the RSVP all move to a website the guest opens on their phone. Less paper, more information, and an invitation that can be more beautiful because it no longer has to hold everything.

It works the other way too: nothing has to be reprinted when something changes.

Slow wedding - the thinking behind it

Slow wedding is the approach where a couple deliberately chooses less, but better. One invitation you genuinely love instead of a stack of printed matter. Local, seasonal flowers instead of artificial ones. One code instead of five inserts. The same instinct, applied to stationery.

The paper worth keeping

Keep paper where it does real work:

1. The invitation. It is what invites, and it says who is invited. No link replaces that.
2. The QR code on it. It leads to everything else. You get the code from us as a print-ready file, so your printer can build it into the artwork or you can print it separately on a small insert.
3. Table cards. If you want them, with a separate code for the photo gallery.

Convincing traditional relatives

Older relatives are often sceptical, but the objection is usually a misunderstanding: your grandmother hears "invitation over the internet" and pictures a message on a phone instead of a card. The card is not going anywhere.

• ·"You'll get a proper invitation, on paper" - because that is exactly what happens
• ·"The code is so you don't have to carry the card around with the venue address on it" - that is the argument that lands
• ·"Nothing to install" - the camera on a phone is enough, and the web address is printed under the code anyway

The environment is not a slogan, it is a few decisions

Fewer inserts, fewer reprints, fewer reply envelopes with stamps on them. It is not a revolution and we are not going to pretend a wedding website saves the planet. It is simply one of those decisions that costs nothing and makes sense.

Have a look at our themes and see how much can come off the paper without giving the paper up.

Read next: A wedding website and paper invitations - the full division of labour between the two.