If you’re currently researching and planning your wedding you might have noticed a trend towards big floral arrangements at the ceremony space and reception. Flowers can bring instant colour and beauty to a wedding, but have you ever taken a closer look at how these arrangements are put together?
Floral foam is a commonly used product in the florist industry since it was developed in the 1950’s (when plastic was all the rage!). Its function is to hold a great volume of water whilst also supporting the flower or foliage in place, often held together by a plastic cage. But much like many products of convenience, it has detrimental effects on the environment.
Floral foam facts:
- It is a single-use, microplastic from the phenol formaldehydes family
- It contains hazardous chemicals
- Water containing foam fragments should not be poured down the sink or into stormwater as it is harmful to marine life*
When you look at those facts it’s hard to believe it’s still widely used!
Hazardous and single-use-plastic floral foam. Photo credit: sustainablefloristry.org
So what are the alternatives?
Before floral foam was invented, florists used vases and other reusable vessels as well as chicken wire, moss, twine and other natural materials.
We asked some of our Less Stuff More Meaning vendors how they create centrepieces and arbor pieces without floral foam.
One Poppy Wedding Flowers (New Zealand) – Photo by Weddings by Alex
Lorna from One Poppy Wedding Flowers in Auckland (New Zealand) said chicken wire, moss and willow were her preferred products. She used these products to create this arbor floral piece. The arbor itself was made out of oars by the keen sailing couple!
Miller Rose Botanic (Western Australia) – Photo by Red Eclectic
Tahnee from Miller Rose Botanic in Perth (Western Australia) used clamps, chicken wire and reusable plastic cups filled with water to hydrate the delicate poppy flowers for this arbor piece. See if you can spot the cups and the clamps before she hides it with foliage!
Wildly Abigail (Tasmania) – Photo by by Cassie Sullivan
Abigail from Wildly Abigail in Launceston (Tasmania) uses a combination of reusable buckets, containers and chicken wire when creating her pieces. She recycles them again and again so there is little to no waste.
Things to ask your florist
Ideally if your florist is a sustainable florist then everything they offer should be on their website so the hard work is done for you, but just in case here are some basics you need to ask:
- Do you use floral foam? (It needs to be an “absolutely not”!)
- Do you use imported or exotic flowers? (this will impact what you can compost as some are highly treated and will taint the composting process)
- Do you reuse any products such as vials and chicken wire?
- Do you collect the flowers at the end of the night? If not, work out what needs to be done and who will do it (as otherwise the venue may just throw everything in the bin!)
What do you do with your flowers AFTER your wedding?
Something a lot of couples don’t consider, is what happens to their flowers after the event? So don’t forget to discuss this with your florist and/or event space.
Wildly Abigail has started offering a new service where she will come back to the wedding at the end of the night to undo the flowers from the structures, and then wrap them all up in small bunches to hand them out to guests before they go! It’s a lovely way to end the night and an amazing waste saving strategy.
Abigail will also collect everything that’s left and take it to a small composting business who turn it into real compost that end users (local gardeners) actually use! What a great circular system!
Want to know more about floral foam and sustainable floristry?
A great Australian resource is the Sustainable Floristry Network. You can read specifically about floral foam here.
You can find more about our florists over at our Eco-Ethical Wedding Directory! And if you’re a florist yourself (or know a sustainable florist) come and join our team – we’d love to have you!
*Foaming at the mouth: Ingestion of floral foam microplastics by aquatic animals (2020) – Science of The Total Environment
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969719358218?via%3Dihub
