Late Summer Sustainable Wedding with Leaf Ceremony Curtain

Late Summer Sustainable Wedding Shoot with Autumn Leaf and Seedhead Curtain Ceremony Backdrop

Charlie

Late summer sustainable wedding inspiration

If you’re thinking of end of summer – early autumn as the time of year you’d like to get married, this beautiful late summer sustainable wedding shoot is full of inspiration to get you started.

A great team of local (to Essex) wedding suppliers, all with a passion to run their businesses more sustainably, got together to inspire couples with their creativity, skills and offerings. Set at Barnfield wedding venue in the Essex countryside, the shoot showcases stunning seasonal florals, a spectacular ceremony backdrop, eco wedding dresses, plantable stationery, a sand ceremony, and more.

You’ll find a full list of suppliers and links at the bottom of the feature, as well as a photo gallery.

Emily Brown Photography and Celebrant Kate are both Recommended Suppliers of The Natural Wedding Company directory.

A wedding shoot that is both stylish and beautiful, and sustainable

This team of wedding suppliers – all with sustainability and ethics at the heart of their business – got together to showcase that a wedding can be good for the environment without compromising on the quality, style, and the values of you as a couple.

Celebrant Kate says, “You want to feel that this is the perfect wedding, but also know that it is not going to harm the environment – and in fact is better than many more ‘throw away’ weddings – less mess, less clearing up, and a lot less wastage!”

An eco-chic wedding ceremony

Celebrant Kate want to create a wedding ceremony that she felt reflected the sustainable nature of the shoot, so she put together a handfasting sand ceremony:

I wanted to show that it is possible to have a gorgeous wedding without impacting on the environment. By using a glass vessel and ethically sourced sand, this sand ceremony creates a memento to treasure.

The handfasting cord used is from ethical local suppliers, and will be kept forever. The top quality paper I use for my scrolls and certificates is 100% recycled, and the little bags I use are recyclable.

It is my aim that your wedding ceremony will be absolutely perfect for you, top quality, whilst quietly also being 100% sustainable. I wrote the service for Abi and Mike, who are a real life couple, and it made them laugh, cry and totally relax, as you can see from the photos. They took the sand ceremonial vase away with them, and it sits in their home now, in pride of place, a symbol of a very special day for them both.

Eco wedding photography

From Emily Brown Photography, photographer on the shoot:

Having the opportunity to shoot at Barnfield, with its breathtaking natural beauty and array of picturesque nooks, alongside a team of fellow eco creatives was a wonderful chance to show how you can have the day of your dreams without harming the environment.

My main goal as the photographer was to showcase the individual talents of everyone involved, while also capturing the collective theme and atmosphere. Everybody’s hard work came together to create a fabulously autumnal, retro style of imagery, which was really fun to shoot.

It was also great to make new friends in the industry and chat everything Mother Nature – each of the fabulous suppliers involved takes the hard work out of creating a more conscious event for you, so that you can sit back and enjoy your special day without it costing the Earth.

How can a wedding photographer call themselves eco-friendly?

Emily Brown Photography’s ethos is based on her personal passions for sustainability. From small day to day actions at home, such as recycling and collecting rain water, to more structured business processes, like measuring her carbon footprint and carefully curating the suppliers of her prints and products to make sure they align with her values.

Eco wedding dresses

The wedding dresses used in the shoot were from multi-award winning responsible bridal brand Sabina Motasem, who has been championing eco bridalwear since 2006.

The eco wedding dresses featured in the shoot are brand new pieces from their 2024 collection called Shooting Star, Moonlight Magic, Mystic Rose and Queen of the Meadow.

Moonlight Magic and Queen of the Meadow are so new that at the time of publishing they’ve not yet been launched, but they are all ready to try on at the Sabina Motasem bridal studio.

As well as their passion for sustainability and aesthetics, Sabina Motsaem is also dedicated to community projects. They have managed to achieve zero waste by transforming all the silky leftovers into regularly donated workwear tops and baby clothes for marginalised women and refugees.

Seasonal wedding flowers

The beautiful seasonal wedding bouquet and statement ceremony curtain backdrop were created by Helen Sheard Floral Designs using locally grown flowers.

To create this loose and wild wedding bouquet she combined dahlias, zinnias, achillea, chocolate cosmos, antirrhinums, amaranths, silver birch and variegate cornus foliage. If you watch the film of the shoot you’ll see the gorgeous movement this bouquet has, I especially love the inclusion of the silver birch leaves and the way the move in the wind.

With the ceremony backdrop, Helen wanted to create something that added a touch of seasonal colour without being a heavy solid mass of flowers and foliage. She designed a light and airy curtain of flowers and foliages allowing the natural background to be seen.

It features a selection of fresh and dried autumn leaves, helichrysum, hydrangea, rose hips, dried grasses, physalis, and silver birch.

Along with the two floral foam free arrangements, the ceremony curtain was moved to the back of the top table for the reception. A great way to get more use out of your wedding flowers and reduce costs.

Ethical wedding jewellery

The wedding jewellery featured in this sustainable wedding shoot was provided by KATA Jewellery who make all their jewellery in their Kent workshop. All the precious metals used are 100% recycled and ethically sourced, as well as some Fairmined gold. The diamonds used by KATA Jewellery are sourced from suppliers certified by the Responsible Jewellery Council.

Pieces featured in the sustainable wedding shoot include their Pink Tourmaline & Diamond Ring and the Kali Pendant.

Top tips for a more sustainable wedding, from Celebrant Kate

These are the things that Celebrant Kate considered when pulling together the team for this late summer sustainable wedding shoot:

Choose a wedding venue that has sustainability at its core.
Choose a wedding photographer who uses recycled or biodegradable ink, paper and presentation books.
Choose a wedding dress maker who sources sustainable fabrics and makes their wedding dresses in the UK.
Choose a wedding florist who will create amazing floral displays with seasonal British flowers.
Choose a funky and fun wedding tableware hire company – no throwaway plastics.
Choose your wedding stationery (invitations, place cards, menus etc) from recycled, compostable or plantable sources.
Choose bespoke, beautiful wedding jewellery that is ethically sourced.
Choose a calligrapher to create signs on reusable materials so that they are not just thrown away after the wedding, but can be reused or repurposed.
Choose a wedding cake maker who uses the seasonal and locally sourced ingredients.
Choose a local wedding tipi hire company to cut down on travel.
Choose a wedding celebrant who gets it – who will help you create something beautiful and uniquely you.