Show notes:
How sustainable is your wedding business? In 2025 you need to pay more attention to your wedding business sustainability. Today I am chatting with Michelle Miles from the Sustainable Wedding Alliance about why couples are starting to ask questions on your sustainability and how you should be responding. There is no judgement here and Michelle shares practical ways we can all do one extra thing to move our businesses in the right direction:
Check your domain host and whether it’s green now
Buy your summit ticket for 5th February 2025
Follow the Sustainable Wedding Alliance
Time Stamps:
00:04 – Building Trust Through Transparency
06:18 – The Birth of the Sustainable Wedding Alliance
19:36 – The Growing Awareness of Sustainability in Weddings
30:48 – The Journey Towards Sustainable Choices
Transcript:
Michelle
00:00:00.720 – 00:00:02.152
Looking at what we’re doing and if.
Michelle
00:00:02.176 – 00:00:04.072
We’Re being transparent and we’re showing off.
Michelle
00:00:04.096 – 00:00:10.232
Our journey, we’re being honest about it, good, bad, ugly, then it is going to encourage other people.
Michelle
00:00:10.336 – 00:00:11.672
You become much more relatable.
Michelle
00:00:11.736 – 00:00:16.184
That no, like trust factor for your clients is there. They see you’re not perfect.
Michelle
00:00:16.312 – 00:00:36.560
You’re not claiming to be perfect, but you, you, you’re, you’re showing what you’re doing. You’re, you’re educating people and you’re trying to also inspire them. And being honest is the only way forward.
Never go out there and say that you are doing everything. Amazingly, if you aren’t, if you can’t have no evidence to support it, don’t say it.
Michelle
00:00:36.860 – 00:00:37.988
Just be honest.
Michelle
00:00:38.084 – 00:00:39.940
Showcase every step of your journey and.
Michelle
00:00:39.980 – 00:00:41.892
Encourage others to do the same.
Becca
00:00:42.076 – 00:01:33.898
I’m Becca Poutney, wedding business marketing expert, speaker and blogger and you’re listening to the Wedding Pros who Are Ready to Grow podcast. I’m here to share with you actionable tips, strategies and real life examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level.
If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business doing what you love, then you’re in the right place. Let’s get going with today’s episode. Today I’m chatting with Michelle Miles, founder of the Sustainable Wedding Alliance.
Having worked in the wedding industry for over 20 years and with a personal concern for the throwaway society we all find ourselves living in, the downtime that the pandemic gave her sparked the formation of the alliance.
She is a wealth of knowledge about sustainable practices in our industry and I really appreciate her non judgmental approach to helping us all do a little bit better. Michelle, welcome to the podcast.
Michelle
00:01:33.994 – 00:01:36.746
Thank you so much for having me. I’m very excited to be here.
Becca
00:01:36.818 – 00:01:48.570
I am so thrilled to have you. I’ve meant to have you on for ages. I’ve had you do talks in my group before, but I think this is your first podcast experience with me.
So I’m excited to introduce you to my podcast audience.
Michelle
00:01:48.650 – 00:01:51.162
It is very exciting and I’m loving your intro.
Michelle
00:01:51.226 – 00:01:53.162
I’m totally clipping that up.
Becca
00:01:53.346 – 00:02:30.376
Well, you can use it however you want, but it’s true.
Like I love introducing guests, especially when I’ve met you in person and I’ve got to know you over a bit of time because I really do appreciate that.
As I said in the, in the star, we’re going to come back to it a bit later actually about I always feel like it’s a non judgmental approach that you have.
And I hope that people listening go into this conversation knowing and understanding that because sometimes when we talk about issues like this, we can feel like, oh no, they’re just going to tell me off. I’m going to end up leaving this conversation feeling really guilty.
But that’s just not what you’re about in any way, shape or form whenever I’ve spoken to you. So I appreciate that you’re here to just help us get a little bit better.
Michelle
00:02:30.528 – 00:02:31.272
Absolutely.
Michelle
00:02:31.336 – 00:02:37.880
And I’m so, I love that you get that from me and from the team because that’s, that is fundamentally where we start from.
Michelle
00:02:37.920 – 00:02:41.160
We are all people, we are doing the best we can do and with.
Michelle
00:02:41.200 – 00:02:44.296
A little bit of knowledge and a little bit of like help we pointing.
Michelle
00:02:44.328 – 00:02:45.560
In the right direction.
Michelle
00:02:45.720 – 00:02:50.168
We’re here to support people, we’re not here to tell people off. Like, I’m not your mom, I don’t.
Michelle
00:02:50.184 – 00:02:50.968
Want to be your mom.
Michelle
00:02:51.024 – 00:03:13.622
I, I want to help you do the right thing. And you know, people shouldn’t be scared of sustainability. It’s like, it’s such a daunting word.
It means so many scary things to so many people and it really doesn’t need to, you know, it’s just about being conscious about doing the right thing, putting your best foot forward, getting on that journey. So yeah, I’m, I’m very excited to share as much as I can with.
Michelle
00:03:13.646 – 00:03:16.454
Your listeners and yeah, get going.
Becca
00:03:16.542 – 00:03:34.146
Fantastic.
Now before we get into the sustainability bit, I always like to share a bit of background on my guests so people understand where you’ve come come from. So take me back because as I mentioned in the intro, you’ve been in the wedding industry world a long time.
How did you end up in this crazy world of weddings? Where did it start? When did it start? Tell us about that journey.
Michelle
00:03:34.258 – 00:03:51.630
Oh, so I am one of those people that didn’t particularly get on well at school. So I got through the formal part of schooling and then kind of was surrounded by family that had their own businesses.
It’s all I’d really known growing up as a child.
Michelle
00:03:52.010 – 00:03:54.322
And so essentially when I didn’t need.
Michelle
00:03:54.346 – 00:04:07.982
To be in school anymore, anymore, not saying this is right for everybody, but 16, chose to leave my hometown, get a job and go work in London. Started out in PR and marketing quickly.
Michelle
00:04:08.046 – 00:04:10.750
Ended up in events like within six.
Michelle
00:04:10.790 – 00:04:25.710
Months and kind of just worked my way up, tried every kind of role I could within events, client side, corporate, working in venues, working with caterers. I just did Everything I possibly could.
Michelle
00:04:26.090 – 00:04:27.602
Bit like a sponge, just soaked up.
Michelle
00:04:27.626 – 00:04:33.826
Everything I possibly could. And then when family members started getting married and having been in that world.
Michelle
00:04:33.898 – 00:04:37.874
From such a young age, it kind of was natural for me to kind.
Michelle
00:04:37.882 – 00:04:53.196
Of point them in the right direction, help them out where I could and just love it. Just absolutely, like many, many people fell in love with it and that is a very long time ago now.
And so kind of fell into it as part of working in the wedding.
Michelle
00:04:53.228 – 00:04:57.980
Industry and then really, really got involved.
Michelle
00:04:58.060 – 00:05:22.312
In 2009 when I formed my first company and started taking on wedding planning as a serious thing. Not working for people that I knew. Really kind of actually so much easier to work for people that you don’t know. And really started forging my way.
And yeah, I quickly started working in that world of sustainability green weddings, as.
Michelle
00:05:22.336 – 00:05:30.872
We were calling them then really starting to kind of be more conscious about the people we were working with. So, you know, then kids come along.
Michelle
00:05:30.976 – 00:05:33.368
And you become even more conscious of things.
Michelle
00:05:33.504 – 00:05:39.336
And for me, that was my turning point. And then, yeah, really solidified everything during.
Michelle
00:05:39.408 – 00:05:47.728
The pandemic, you know, really that time to really think about things, you know, wanting to bring people together. I’ve been working as a consultant for.
Michelle
00:05:47.784 – 00:05:50.272
Different venues and caterers and businesses that.
Michelle
00:05:50.296 – 00:06:18.852
Were just wanted to do that but didn’t know how to places that I wanted to be able to work with and take my sustainably led clients to, but they just weren’t quite there yet, but I wanted them to be. So working with them then allowed us to bring those clients to them and, you know, impact more businesses and more weddings outside of just them.
So, so hence pandemic 2020. We then kind of started the alliance, brought together people and kind of the.
Michelle
00:06:18.876 – 00:06:20.276
Rest is history, as they say.
Becca
00:06:20.348 – 00:07:19.782
Wow, what an incredible story.
I love we need to go right back to the start because I love that you just left school at 16 and just decided to go do your own thing, which is so incredibly brave. And I think a lot of people will probably be listening to this and look back and think, I wish I’d done it sooner too.
I wish I’d had the bravery to do that. And it’s funny you brought it up because just this morning I had an email from, from my son’s school. So he’s in Year six and he’s at a middle school.
And the email was from the school. It said, we’re having a year eight careers day and we want to invite businesses to send an employee in to talk to the students.
And I was like, I think I could go and do that.
And then I questioned myself, and I still am questioning myself because I literally filled it in this morning saying it’s like name of business Becca Bounty business email Becca Bounty. And then I thought, are they going to take this seriously and are they going to say yes?
Because I do think even in 2025, schools don’t necessarily want to push self employment or doing something different as an avenue. So we’ll have to watch this space. But did you have much pushback at that time?
Michelle
00:07:19.886 – 00:07:22.902
Yeah, I think it was really tricky. So for like, you know, as I.
Michelle
00:07:22.926 – 00:07:25.222
Saying, everyone in my family owned their.
Michelle
00:07:25.246 – 00:07:53.380
Own businesses or but in very much in a retail scenario, you know, and that’s kind of all I knew, but only in that world. And so for me to kind of go, no, I’m going to go into the world of events and marketing and pr and it’s very, very different from what they knew.
And when I decided that I was going to become what essentially we now say is an entrepreneur and start my own business and walk away from my very well paid job and kind of go alone, people just thought I was crazy.
Michelle
00:07:53.960 – 00:08:10.812
But actually that what I learned in school was great. But what I learned from my family in building a business that stuck with me.
That looking back now, you know, there’s no way I would ever have done that at 16. But getting through kind of understanding the.
Michelle
00:08:10.836 – 00:08:12.524
Industry was what I needed to do.
Michelle
00:08:12.612 – 00:08:17.788
But actually the core of I want to run my own business. I need, I need to run my own business.
Michelle
00:08:17.844 – 00:08:27.292
It’s where I’m comfortable, it’s where my, I do my best work. Actually that was instilled in me from a really, really young age and I.
Michelle
00:08:27.316 – 00:08:32.460
Got the formal education I needed. I can read, I can write, I can do all the basics of the.
Michelle
00:08:32.500 – 00:08:34.188
Things that I need to be able to do.
Michelle
00:08:34.324 – 00:09:02.643
And I just have the experience to be able to offer so much more because I took that leap.
And I do think that there is definitely, I’d be really interested to see what this like your son’s school come back with because I do think that actually there should be an entrepreneurial voice going into schools and talking to kids about this because the world is changing, the world is adapting. You know, we need to, we need our younger generation to know how to work for themselves or at least be.
Michelle
00:09:02.651 – 00:09:04.291
Able to work from home, in an.
Michelle
00:09:04.315 – 00:09:08.243
Environment outside of an office. Because actually that’s not something that they’re taught.
Michelle
00:09:08.291 – 00:09:18.912
Managing your own time, being able to work on your own is such a skill that you, you know, have to develop over time. You can’t. It’s not something that you’re born with. It’s something that you have to learn.
Michelle
00:09:18.976 – 00:09:22.304
So, yeah, I definitely think that we should be teaching it to our younger kids.
Becca
00:09:22.352 – 00:09:44.680
Yeah.
And definitely, I believe entrepreneurs breed entrepreneurs, because you would not believe the amount of people, including myself, that I speak to on this podcast, who have parents who are entrepreneurs. And we do pass it down to the next generation. Do you think that’s the same with your desire or your kind of lifelong passion for sustainability?
Did that come from your family? Was that from a young age, or was that something that you started to think more deeply about in later life?
Michelle
00:09:44.800 – 00:10:17.780
So, yeah, I’m not sure it’s coming from my family. I mean, they might disagree. They’re kind of, like, aware. I grew up on the seaside. I now live in the countryside.
I lived in the big city for a long time. I moved to London when I was 16. It was very exciting. You know, I then lived in Reading, another big, very busy city.
But I am at home in nature, whether that is by the water, whether that is in a forest. Like, I am talking to you from my home office in my garden, surrounded by trees and nature. I can hear the birds. Like, I am at my best.
Michelle
00:10:17.900 – 00:10:22.852
And that is what I have learned about myself.
Michelle
00:10:22.916 – 00:10:31.332
It’s taken a very long time to learn that about myself. But, you know, I do my best work in those environments. The working in the wedding industry and.
Michelle
00:10:31.356 – 00:10:33.988
Doing all of the different jobs in the corporate world.
Michelle
00:10:34.044 – 00:10:54.880
I’ve worked in festivals. That’s what opened my eyes. That and waste for many people, I think, you know, we talk about sustainability in the wedding industry.
That’s kind of where our brain goes to, right? Like the. The overconsumption, the waste, the single use. That’s kind of the first thing we think about. And genuinely, that’s.
That’s what brought me to it.
Michelle
00:10:55.260 – 00:10:57.588
Seeing the kind of waste levels that.
Michelle
00:10:57.644 – 00:11:14.482
We were producing at festivals, particularly that I was involved in, that really started to open my eyes, particularly when, you know, you think, okay, let’s times that by the number of events that were taking place and the number of people that were attending those. And then when we started to look.
Michelle
00:11:14.506 – 00:11:20.018
At the wedding side of things and the number of weddings that are taking place and the number of couples saying.
Michelle
00:11:20.074 – 00:11:21.602
Oh, it’s just one day.
Michelle
00:11:21.786 – 00:11:25.922
It’s just one day, like 250,001 days.
Michelle
00:11:26.026 – 00:11:31.166
In a year, just in the UK alone, it really does start to rack up.
Michelle
00:11:31.318 – 00:11:51.662
So I think I credit absolutely my family for Giving me the experience of nature, connecting me with that, like it was always really important to us. Introducing me to different cultures and different, like, social experiences when I was younger, for sure. But opening my eyes to what was.
Michelle
00:11:51.686 – 00:11:53.342
Going wrong and what needed to be.
Michelle
00:11:53.366 – 00:11:57.806
Fixed is definitely come from my experience in the events and weddings industry.
Becca
00:11:57.878 – 00:12:52.408
Yeah. And it is shocking when you start to see it face to face.
I think when you see something and you live something, it becomes so much more real than just a statistic or something that you see on the news or something that someone’s telling you in a textbook. Actually watching and seeing all that food be thrown away or all of that stuff just be dumped is shocking.
And I think all of us who’ve worked in weddings and events have seen that side of things and it’s easy for us to just say, yeah, it’s just one day. But you’re right because it’s everyone’s just one day. And there’s multiple just one days happening all over the world every single day.
And together that does make a huge, huge impact. So you obviously came through, through the pandemic with this time. That’s the thing that the pandemic gave a lot of us.
It gave us a lot of time for looking at things, reflecting what we wanted to do. And that’s when the alliance was formed.
So where did that initial idea kind of come from and how did it come into fruition and become more established during the pandemic and going forward?
Michelle
00:12:52.544 – 00:13:05.898
So, you know, previous to the pandemic, in that year leading up to it, we started to see a shift and, you know, I’m sure you saw it. I think, you know, everyone in the industry was becoming more aware of our.
Michelle
00:13:05.954 – 00:13:11.018
Impact and, you know, what the weddings were doing, particularly in terms of waste.
Michelle
00:13:11.114 – 00:13:21.690
Carbon emissions, were starting to be talking, talked about a lot more. We were definitely talking a lot about food waste. And so I think that there was certainly started to be an awareness from my side.
Michelle
00:13:21.730 – 00:13:23.738
I was certainly starting to get more.
Michelle
00:13:23.794 – 00:13:37.402
Inquiries from businesses kind of asking what could we do out of interest, you know, this couple that you bought to us wanted to have, you know, a vegan menu. Do we think that’s going to become more popular? Kind of. Could we get ahead of that and.
Michelle
00:13:37.426 – 00:13:39.178
Maybe offer that as a, as a.
Michelle
00:13:39.234 – 00:13:41.738
As an option already include that within our menus.
Michelle
00:13:41.834 – 00:13:43.818
And so it started sort of, yeah.
Michelle
00:13:43.914 – 00:13:49.962
Early sort of 2019 of companies sort of wanting to know a little bit more and certainly saw that increase.
Michelle
00:13:50.146 – 00:14:01.412
So then when we started to get into 2020, we started developing behind the scenes I say we, because at that point the alliance was me and a.
Michelle
00:14:01.436 – 00:14:03.332
Couple of other industry brains where we.
Michelle
00:14:03.356 – 00:14:04.852
Were kind of like, we’re starting to.
Michelle
00:14:04.876 – 00:14:06.884
See these same things, like what could we do?
Michelle
00:14:06.972 – 00:14:43.300
And it started out as going to be a network.
It was started out as conversations around building a community where actually we could just connect people that were doing, wanting to do good things already doing good things, sharing the challenges, sharing the solutions, and just bringing people together. So by the end of 2020, that’s what we had.
We had a business that was designed to be a purpose driven business which was there to bring people together very, very quickly. We realized actually these businesses wanted to come together, they wanted to share their knowledge, but also they wanted more knowledge.
Michelle
00:14:43.380 – 00:14:46.660
And they wanted to know more, they wanted specifics.
Michelle
00:14:46.740 – 00:15:01.476
What can I do? How can I take action? What do I say to couples? Who do we talk to? Can we have training? And so that’s what we did.
So we listened to everybody that we were talking to, we did quite a bit of market research and we formed.
Michelle
00:15:01.508 – 00:15:02.772
The alliance that we now know.
Michelle
00:15:02.876 – 00:15:41.058
So we have, we are essentially, we exist to educate and inform and inspire. And that isn’t just us, that’s the rest of the community.
We’ve worked with 138 businesses since we formed and you know, we continue to work with around 100 on a daily basis. And the reason that people come to us is because we’re not just preaching, we’re not just telling them what to go and do.
We’re connecting them with people regionally. We’re connecting them with businesses on the other side of the country that are doing great things.
You know, they’re, you want, if you’re a farm and you want to diversify and you’re going into, you know, running.
Michelle
00:15:41.074 – 00:16:08.142
A wedding venue, you want to talk to somebody about that experience, but you might not want to talk to somebody that’s down the road from you, that might be your competitor, and they might not want to talk to you. You know, as much as we’re all collaboration over competition, that does still exist, and we completely understand that.
But if you can talk to somebody on the other end of the country that’s been through the same experience as you, that can help you on their way and they’re really happy to do so, then great. And that’s, we’re really proud of the.
Michelle
00:16:08.166 – 00:16:09.710
Community aspect of it.
Michelle
00:16:09.750 – 00:16:13.390
And that was always the core of what we wanted to build, but now.
Michelle
00:16:13.430 – 00:16:22.690
We have the ability to educate. That then went on by May 2021. We designed the first, environmental standard for the industry.
Michelle
00:16:22.870 – 00:16:27.370
So we now have businesses that have been through an independent process where they.
Michelle
00:16:27.410 – 00:17:02.078
Have changed the whole strategy of their business to put sustainability at the heart of it. And we’ve independently verified what they’re doing.
You know, they have amazing policies in place, they’re out in the community, they’re talking to couples, but they’re also doing the things that are good for their business and that are right for their business and we can independently verify it and so that they can actually shout about that and promote what they’re doing.
And it gives them the ability to do that in a, in a simplistic and very industry specific way that things like B Corp or ISOs don’t necessarily give them.
Becca
00:17:02.134 – 00:17:40.937
I think the impact you’ve had is incredible in such a short time.
And you talk about numbers, you say, oh, we’ve worked with these many, this many businesses, but actually I know that your impact has gone a lot further than that because it’s not just about the businesses that you’ve spoken to or work with directly. You do go on podcasts and I’ve seen you speak on stages and as part of panels.
And every time someone hears one of those sessions, they may not come and work with you directly, but I guarantee it’s had an impact. And actually you probably don’t see all of the ripples and all of the waves of the impact that you’ve had in the rooms that you’ve spoken in.
You can only see the data. But what have you seen as the bigger picture across the industry?
What impact do you think starting the Sustainable alliance has had over the last five years?
Michelle
00:17:41.073 – 00:17:46.889
Like you say, it’s so difficult to know. Those ripples is really like you say.
Michelle
00:17:46.929 – 00:18:01.428
I get up and I talk on stage and I come on podcasts and we run our own in person events and we have spoken to thousands of businesses and we have, you know, if you multiply that by the number of weddings that those businesses have been able to influence, like, you start getting into.
Michelle
00:18:01.484 – 00:18:03.444
Really big numbers really, really quickly.
Michelle
00:18:03.572 – 00:18:07.684
And we don’t have real specific data around that.
Michelle
00:18:07.772 – 00:18:26.490
But what we do see is, you know, the businesses that we work with, we’ve worked with businesses, some of them for four years and they’re still learning and it’s still a journey.
And we definitely see that there are businesses every day that we are talking to that, you know, have maybe spoken to somebody that we’ve worked with that.
Michelle
00:18:26.530 – 00:18:29.434
Have, you know, been recommended by somebody.
Michelle
00:18:29.482 – 00:18:34.138
That have no idea how they heard of us, no idea that they needed.
Michelle
00:18:34.234 – 00:18:38.618
This, us in their lives, but actually they do and they just come across.
Michelle
00:18:38.674 – 00:18:42.762
It by chance or have they, have they actually heard about us and just.
Michelle
00:18:42.786 – 00:18:43.530
Not known about it?
Michelle
00:18:43.570 – 00:18:45.466
Have they seen us on Instagram three or four times?
Michelle
00:18:45.538 – 00:18:49.002
It’s just so impossible to measure these kind of things.
Michelle
00:18:49.106 – 00:19:20.462
We’re certainly seeing businesses becoming much more aware of it. You know, we all know the pandemic did that. We run a survey every year for the wider industry.
Every year people are becoming more and more environmentally conscious. No, the biggest, biggest shift was in that pandemic year.
People taking time at home, people starting to be more aware of recycling, more aware of nature. You know, we weren’t flying as much, we weren’t driving as much. We were spending more time, you know, in and around nature.
And the impact that that had on people was profound.
Michelle
00:19:20.526 – 00:19:23.520
And it’s been like lifelong lasting and.
Michelle
00:19:23.560 – 00:19:32.512
And that’s all fantastic. And we see that shift in, in people, we see that in couples, they have shifted their behavior and they are.
Michelle
00:19:32.536 – 00:19:36.704
More environmentally conscious in their day to day lives. And so it’s kind of only natural.
Michelle
00:19:36.752 – 00:19:41.680
That then that goes into their big life experiences, those big life events that happen.
Michelle
00:19:41.800 – 00:19:45.520
And weddings being one of the most joyous occasions.
Michelle
00:19:45.680 – 00:19:49.946
Actually, if you’re aware of the potential impact that your wedding could have, surely.
Michelle
00:19:49.978 – 00:19:51.626
You want to make that into a positive impact.
Michelle
00:19:51.698 – 00:19:53.866
And I think that that is really.
Michelle
00:19:53.938 – 00:19:58.506
Is becoming a driving force. We are talking to businesses both inside.
Michelle
00:19:58.538 – 00:20:05.562
Our membership and outside that are saying to us, I’ve had people asking me these questions, I don’t know the answers. Help me with the answers.
Michelle
00:20:05.626 – 00:20:08.010
Or people saying they’ve come to us.
Michelle
00:20:08.050 – 00:20:16.468
Because we work sustainably, because that’s what we shout about. Because actually one of our wonderful members coined a phrase, we do sustainability.
Michelle
00:20:16.564 – 00:20:21.412
So you don’t have to. Because actually for some couples it’s just too much.
Michelle
00:20:21.516 – 00:20:23.124
Planning a wedding is stressful enough.
Michelle
00:20:23.212 – 00:20:25.332
Trying to layer on extra things is too much.
Michelle
00:20:25.436 – 00:20:29.156
So what if as a wedding industry, we just all do the right thing.
Michelle
00:20:29.228 – 00:20:30.484
And then the couples don’t need to.
Michelle
00:20:30.492 – 00:20:33.300
Come and ask for it. It just becomes the status quo.
Michelle
00:20:33.380 – 00:20:35.284
It just becomes the way, you know.
Michelle
00:20:35.292 – 00:20:42.532
We’Re having positive impact on the environment, on the people that we’re working with, on the couples. You know, there is no reason that.
Michelle
00:20:42.556 – 00:20:43.348
It can’t be done.
Michelle
00:20:43.404 – 00:20:52.860
You know, we have seen countless and countless amounts of, of sustainable weddings and there is no reason that every wedding can’t be a sustainable wedding and that every business can’t work in a sustainable way.
Becca
00:20:52.900 – 00:21:36.984
I think there’s some really interesting things coming out of what you’re saying.
And one of the things that you said really resonates with what I see and that’s, you know, I see that today’s couples, especially Gen Z, who are starting to come through, I talk about it on stage, they care about this stuff, they care about diversity, they care about sustainability. But I don’t think that the wedding businesses are working at the right rate. I don’t think they care as much as the couples that are coming in.
And it must be frustrating to you because I know what it’s like to be an educator. I know what it’s like.
You put all this stuff out into the universe and you’re planting seeds and you just want some of them to grow and when they don’t, it’s frustrating. So are you seeing that same thing? Are you seeing that couples are more invested in it than suppliers?
Or do you think that there is now more of a shift towards more businesses wanting to pay attention?
Michelle
00:21:37.112 – 00:21:48.802
I definitely think that it is a bit of both. There are definitely more businesses that want to pay attention. I think that business owners in their lives are becoming more aware like, you.
Michelle
00:21:48.826 – 00:21:52.562
Know, not to put a downer on it, but climate change is a real thing, guys.
Michelle
00:21:52.706 – 00:22:02.402
You know, the, the extreme weather events we see happening all over the world are really bringing it to the forefront of, you know, this, this, we are.
Michelle
00:22:02.426 – 00:22:05.682
Contributing to these things. These are going to become more frequent.
Michelle
00:22:05.746 – 00:22:12.610
And we’re becoming more personally aware of that. And you know, we’re not here to build eco anxiety in any, nobody needs.
Michelle
00:22:12.650 – 00:22:17.736
Any more form of anxiety in their lives. And that’s, that’s like why we are very non judgmental.
Michelle
00:22:17.768 – 00:22:29.528
We are totally here to support people wherever they’re at. But actually as individuals, as business owners, we are more aware of it. You know, we are seeing it on the news, we see it all around us.
Michelle
00:22:29.584 – 00:22:35.224
We hear our kids talking, taught about it in schools, we are more aware of it. And because we’re more aware of it.
Michelle
00:22:35.312 – 00:22:40.920
It kind of makes sense for us to be building these things into our business. You know, we often say you can’t.
Michelle
00:22:41.000 – 00:22:50.990
You can’t unsee climate change. Once you know the kind of impact that you’re having, it’s very difficult to kind of just turn away and just ignore them.
You know, once you know that your.
Michelle
00:22:51.030 – 00:22:54.078
Bank is contributing towards, you know, fossil.
Michelle
00:22:54.094 – 00:22:58.142
Fuel production, it’s very then difficult to walk away from that and just go.
Michelle
00:22:58.166 – 00:22:59.454
Oh, it’s fine, I’ll just keep investing.
Michelle
00:22:59.502 – 00:23:05.214
My money in fossil fuels. Because once, you know, you Kind of want to walk away and you want to move and you want to make a positive change.
Michelle
00:23:05.302 – 00:23:06.622
And so I think that people are.
Michelle
00:23:06.646 – 00:23:07.710
Just becoming more aware.
Michelle
00:23:07.790 – 00:23:09.102
I think that a lot of the.
Michelle
00:23:09.126 – 00:23:22.122
Stuff, like you say as educators, we put stuff out there and, you know, some of it falls on deaf ears and some of it starts to grow. And sometimes the stuff that you don’t think is going to be, you know, picked up widely is, you know, and there are certain things that we have.
Michelle
00:23:22.146 – 00:23:25.978
Put out in the world that actually people kind of go, oh my God, is that true?
Michelle
00:23:26.074 – 00:23:39.642
That, well, we’re going to stop doing that then.
And you’re just kind of like, wow, whatever it is that brings you into the world of sustainability, whatever it is that starts making you think more consciously, like, we’re here for it, we are here to support you, we are here.
Michelle
00:23:39.666 – 00:23:41.274
To help you, connect you.
Michelle
00:23:41.362 – 00:24:15.258
That’s what it’s about. And for couples, as I said, they’re just so much more aware of it.
And actually, because they’re so much more aware of it, they’re going to come asking you the questions and you need to be prepared to answer them. You know, they’re going to ask you what you’re doing and they’re going to want us know what the positive impact is.
It’s just going to be the way it is. And yes, it is.
There are certain types of businesses we are seeing it more with, but it is coming, you know, with Gen Z, we know that this is really important to them. We know that experiences are really important to them. And we know that if you can start putting the groundwork in place now.
Michelle
00:24:15.394 – 00:24:18.442
You’Re going to be ready for that. Like, if you can, if you can.
Michelle
00:24:18.466 – 00:24:25.178
Start putting these things in place in your business when, when you start getting these questions asked, you’re able to get in front of them, you’re able to.
Michelle
00:24:25.234 – 00:24:27.338
Get even further ahead and start using.
Michelle
00:24:27.394 – 00:24:33.946
Them in your marketing. And you know, as a point of difference, at this point, sustainability is still a competitive advantage.
Michelle
00:24:34.058 – 00:24:35.258
And that is just a fact.
Michelle
00:24:35.314 – 00:24:36.490
As much as we would love to.
Michelle
00:24:36.530 – 00:24:38.474
Say that everybody has to work in.
Michelle
00:24:38.482 – 00:24:49.410
This way, this is the way forward. There are still a percentage of people that you know are getting more business because they’re sustainable and couples are looking for them.
And so it is still a competitive advantage.
Becca
00:24:49.490 – 00:26:03.290
It definitely is. And I think we’re only going to see that wave grow.
I just look at my own children who are 8 and 11, and this is so much more part of their day to day, it’s part of their normality. And they call things out. If we’re out in the street, they’ll sit and I’ve given them a bit of rubbish.
Instantly they’ll say, does this go in the recycling bin or the normal bin? Now, as a child, I’d never even have had the option to do that.
When we went to America a couple of years ago, I remember vividly this server throwing down all these plastic straws on our table and my children going, why are you doing that? Why have you got plastic straws? And why are you giving us so many? And so, you know, that’s the generation behind Gen Z.
And so we have to start thinking about this. We have to realize that we need to catch up with our kids.
We need to catch up with the generation behind us and realize what we’re doing does have an impact and they notice it and they do care about it. And we can’t pull the wool over their eyes because they will call it out if they see things that they, they don’t like.
Now, all of this might feel a bit overwhelming to people listening and they might be thinking, oh my goodness, I am not prepared to listen to this today. What should I do first? So what I think about is, let’s break it down a little bit to make it a little bit less overwhelming.
When you look at our industry as a whole, are there any key areas where we think are either the biggest problem for the wedding industry or the easiest place for us to make a difference?
Michelle
00:26:03.370 – 00:26:04.058
Yeah, for sure.
Michelle
00:26:04.114 – 00:26:15.930
And that is, you know, we’re all about breaking it down. So when we start at the very beginning, you know, we don’t want people kind of going, oh my God, there’s so much of sustainability to tackle.
Like, where do we start first? So we break it down.
Michelle
00:26:15.970 – 00:26:18.090
We have what we call our sustainable themes.
Michelle
00:26:18.170 – 00:26:19.578
So we break them down in really.
Michelle
00:26:19.634 – 00:26:22.042
Simple, easy, manageable chunks, you know, so.
Michelle
00:26:22.066 – 00:26:31.770
We talk about carbon emissions as one. As an example, we talk about energy, finance, water travel, we talk about the different parts of your business and how.
Michelle
00:26:31.810 – 00:26:48.000
They impact the environment and how they impact the people around us.
And so by doing it that way, it allows you to kind of, you know, focus in on one element, do some good, create a plan, get, you know, get working on that and then take time and then start looking at the other elements.
Michelle
00:26:48.080 – 00:26:49.936
Breaking stuff down as we know, it’s.
Michelle
00:26:49.968 – 00:26:54.272
Just so much more achievable. You know, the word sustainability is fears.
Michelle
00:26:54.336 – 00:26:56.000
A lot, a lot of people have.
Michelle
00:26:56.040 – 00:26:57.872
Absolute fear of sustainability.
Michelle
00:26:58.016 – 00:27:07.520
Dread, like, so daunting. But actually, if you, if I just say to you. Let’s look at your energy usage. Where do you buy your energy from? Are you buying it from genuinely 100%.
Michelle
00:27:07.560 – 00:27:11.500
Renewable supply or are you still using some gas?
Michelle
00:27:11.580 – 00:27:13.404
You know, where is it all coming from?
Michelle
00:27:13.492 – 00:27:16.908
Can you generate any of your own? Which potentially is a cost saving.
Michelle
00:27:17.004 – 00:27:22.000
There are grants available if you want to move your commercial kitchen away from gas.
Michelle
00:27:22.420 – 00:27:26.060
So there’s, there’s lots of different ways that if we start just looking at.
Michelle
00:27:26.100 – 00:27:27.852
One element of it, we start to.
Michelle
00:27:27.876 – 00:27:48.526
Break things down, it becomes so much more straightforward. You know, it, it’s also sustainability isn’t just about the environment.
You know, very commonly people will assume that we’re talking about, you know, we need to cut our carbon emissions to stop climate change. That’s, that’s what sustainability is. But actually sustainability is three things. It is the environment and it is.
Michelle
00:27:48.598 – 00:27:49.854
The world around us.
Michelle
00:27:49.942 – 00:28:28.422
Everything that is in that. And certainly we need to consider carbon emissions as part of that.
It’s a social element of it is the people both within the business, the people that we’re working with, the people we’re buying from, but also our local community and our supplier network that we’re working with.
And then there’s the finance element of it, there’s the profit you have as a business, because what’s the point in being a sustainable business if you’re not going to be here in five years, in 10 years? So actually it’s about understanding that investment to become a sustainable business is a long term process.
It is about supporting your local economy, it is about joining forces, being collaborative. You know, it is about reinvesting your money sensibly, it is about putting your.
Michelle
00:28:28.446 – 00:28:30.198
Money in the right banks, you know.
Michelle
00:28:30.254 – 00:28:32.038
Working with the right pension funds.
Michelle
00:28:32.134 – 00:28:38.706
So actually there is, you know, it’s not just about the environment. And I think that when we start to break it down into these smaller.
Michelle
00:28:38.738 – 00:28:43.890
Chunks, it just becomes so much more manageable. I think that for most people, the.
Michelle
00:28:43.930 – 00:28:46.226
Most surprising things I said earlier about.
Michelle
00:28:46.298 – 00:28:47.794
People are like, oh, wow, that I.
Michelle
00:28:47.802 – 00:28:48.754
Didn’T think about that.
Michelle
00:28:48.842 – 00:28:52.754
It’s our digital carbon footprint. So as a wedding industry, as we’re.
Michelle
00:28:52.802 – 00:28:55.042
So visually driven, as the majority of.
Michelle
00:28:55.066 – 00:29:00.162
Our marketing is visual, we are putting stuff, whether it’s photos or videos out.
Michelle
00:29:00.186 – 00:29:00.898
There into the world.
Michelle
00:29:00.954 – 00:29:11.102
We don’t really consider the physical impact of those because it’s in the cloud, right? It’s just, it’s there. And so actually if we do two small things, if we look at where.
Michelle
00:29:11.126 – 00:29:21.374
We host our websites and look to ensure that our website is hosted on a server that is A physical server somewhere in the world is using renewable energy.
Michelle
00:29:21.542 – 00:29:25.534
Actually that’s something really simple to do that most of the time will save.
Michelle
00:29:25.582 – 00:29:27.470
You money rather than cost you money.
Michelle
00:29:27.590 – 00:29:44.982
Has a really feel good factor and is a really good starting point on your sustainable journey and it’s super easy to do. So I thought I’d give them give every all of your listeners.
So go to a website, the greenwebfoundation.org and I’m sure Becca will pop that in the show notes for you.
Michelle
00:29:45.006 – 00:29:46.454
So you can go and click on.
Michelle
00:29:46.462 – 00:30:21.472
That and type your website address into there, hit submit and it will tell you if your host is a renewable host and if it’s not, then there is our directory of amazing hosts that you can switch to. It’s super easy, it’s super effective and is your host your first step on your sustainable journey.
And it’s super easy and it will take you half an hour to do. So it’s these little things that actually get you started that are straightforward, easy to do.
All the little quick wins actually start to make you feel really good about yourself and something so easy that you can share with everybody in your supply network so that you can start to.
Michelle
00:30:21.496 – 00:30:25.216
Actually all go on this journey together. So you’re not on your own.
Becca
00:30:25.288 – 00:31:03.372
Love that.
I’m going to make sure I put that link in the show notes and I’m also going to go and check my own website immediately afterwards because that is a really simple thing that we can do. Right. Every single one of us can go to that website and put it in and then choose what we do with that information next.
But it’s a tiny little step that’s not going to take us. It’s not like, oh, I’m never going to travel again, I’m never going.
You know, it doesn’t feel like this big thing that we’ve got to change our entire life. It’s just that small step in the right direction.
Now, as we go into 2025 and as you reflect back on 24, we talked about how couples are coming forward to suppliers and asking questions.
From a couple perspective, what do you think are their kind of key areas that they’re interested in understanding from their suppliers and their venue?
Michelle
00:31:03.436 – 00:31:07.596
Yeah. So I think it’s really, I think it’s really dependent on the type of business that they’re talking to.
Michelle
00:31:07.668 – 00:31:18.460
So from a venue perspective and quite often they want to know how they’re supporting the supply network that they have, so how they can support their, the.
Michelle
00:31:18.500 – 00:31:25.532
Couple with their wedding planning. So we know that Gen Z are really invested in experiences.
Michelle
00:31:25.596 – 00:31:33.510
We also know that they’re time poor. We know that they are quite convenience driven, which slightly contradicts their kind of.
Michelle
00:31:33.550 – 00:31:34.678
Like need for these things.
Michelle
00:31:34.734 – 00:31:36.758
But that’s, that, that’s what we see.
Michelle
00:31:36.814 – 00:31:45.446
And so actually if you’re able to give them a very quick and easy way to take the more sustainable choices, then then great.
Michelle
00:31:45.518 – 00:31:47.606
If you can give them your preferred.
Michelle
00:31:47.638 – 00:31:52.150
Supplier list that in some way highlights the suppliers that are local to you.
Michelle
00:31:52.190 – 00:31:54.630
That you love working with, that are.
Michelle
00:31:54.670 – 00:32:00.214
On the sustainable journey, they may have some form of accreditation, then you’re highlighting.
Michelle
00:32:00.262 – 00:32:02.010
And you’re giving them the option.
Michelle
00:32:02.440 – 00:32:23.488
Couples want to make the more conscious choice, they want to take the more sustainable option. They just need you to highlight it to them.
And so actually looking at your supply chain as a business is a really good starting point because it then allows you to start talking about those amazing businesses in the local area. It allows you to support those local.
Michelle
00:32:23.544 – 00:32:28.400
Businesses in a way that you may not have been doing before. And it means that your couple feel.
Michelle
00:32:28.440 – 00:32:34.570
Really supported and, and that actually you’re going to build a much better relationship with your suppliers.
Michelle
00:32:34.650 – 00:32:35.914
If you have more couples going to.
Michelle
00:32:35.922 – 00:32:41.370
Them, if you’re taking more conscious couples to them and they want to develop their business in a sustainable way, then.
Michelle
00:32:41.410 – 00:32:45.050
Everybody’S working together and the couple are getting everything that they need from it too.
Becca
00:32:45.090 – 00:32:56.800
Do you think that the couples are doing it from a genuine standpoint or do you think they’re doing it in a way because they want to feel better about what they’re doing on their wedding day? I know that’s a bit of a controversial question, but I’d love to know your insight on that, that it’s really.
Michelle
00:32:56.840 – 00:33:01.072
Tricky not being, not being face to.
Michelle
00:33:01.096 – 00:33:07.600
Face with many couples anymore and having to take data from surveys and obviously the, the knowledge that we get from.
Michelle
00:33:07.640 – 00:33:10.288
The businesses we’re working with, from what they’re experiencing.
Michelle
00:33:10.384 – 00:33:19.312
I think we still, I mean, there was no getting away for. We still live in an Instagrammable generation. Right? There is still a certain element of.
Michelle
00:33:19.336 – 00:33:26.128
I want my wedding to be X, Y, Z because I want to share it on Instagram. And I, I’ve seen this and I want my wedding to look like that.
Michelle
00:33:26.184 – 00:33:28.924
Because of that, not necessari, because of what I want.
Michelle
00:33:29.012 – 00:33:32.156
And so for those people, yeah, sustainability.
Michelle
00:33:32.348 – 00:33:36.156
Showcasing, you know, be talking very loudly.
Michelle
00:33:36.188 – 00:33:43.132
And proudly about, you know, choosing a vegan main course or, you know, working with a local flower farmer.
Michelle
00:33:43.276 – 00:33:46.556
Those are things that, you know, the.
Michelle
00:33:46.628 – 00:33:55.692
Obvious elements that you can show off at A wedding to your guests tend to be kind of the choices that.
Michelle
00:33:55.716 – 00:34:00.508
They make, but there are so many people that are genuinely wanting to ensure.
Michelle
00:34:00.564 – 00:34:07.308
That their wedding doesn’t have a negative impact. And so, and when they’re aware of the potential that it could have, actually.
Michelle
00:34:07.364 – 00:34:18.700
They make the hidden choices. And they’re the choices that, you know, we really care about.
They are the choices to not over order the catering, to not have an extra 10% just in case.
Michelle
00:34:18.820 – 00:34:21.884
They are the ones that are asking, you know, all of their guests to.
Michelle
00:34:21.892 – 00:34:26.134
Be really clear about their dieteries so that waste isn’t an issue.
Michelle
00:34:26.302 – 00:34:38.070
They are the ones that are really helping to answer those questions for the suppliers, that ensure that they’re able to do the right thing for them. They are going to our florists and.
Michelle
00:34:38.110 – 00:34:45.126
Saying, I really like this color palette, I really like this style. I’m not necessarily wedded to that toffee.
Michelle
00:34:45.158 – 00:34:50.874
Nut rose that is grown in Colombia that doesn’t have any sustainable credentials, but I really like that look.
Michelle
00:34:51.022 – 00:34:53.762
Can we recreate that with British flowers?
Michelle
00:34:53.826 – 00:35:30.950
You know, British flowers have come on like, there are just so many amazing growers.
There is now an amazing wholesale community that connects florists to growers that you can get these amazing flowers all the way from February all the way until October.
You can have flowers that are grown in the UK and just knowing that information and couples being open to trusting their florists that to make a British grown wedding for them and it have the look that they want, but not being specific about particular flower types, a.
Michelle
00:35:30.990 – 00:35:43.190
Number of stems, it means that that florist has the more flexibility to be able to deliver a sustainable wedding. But they’re the hidden choices that nobody really, nobody sees them, nobody hears them.
Michelle
00:35:43.310 – 00:36:06.258
But they, they put the trust in the supplier, they choose that supplier to do the right thing and, and they will do the right thing. And there are lots of couples out there that we are seeing and we are absolutely seeing the growth in that.
But there are always going to be the couples out there that are doing it because they want to be seen to be doing the right thing and we’ll take it. If the right thing is being done, we’ll take it.
Becca
00:36:06.314 – 00:36:59.418
And I think that’s probably the same in the supply community as well, to an extent. I think it’s interesting because you talk about the kind of obvious choices and the hidden choices.
So going back to just what we were talking about a minute ago about the website that we can go on and check our hosting, so I could go and do that now. After this call and I could see that there’s a problem and change my hosting and then I’ve got a choice.
I could then go on Instagram and shout about that to everyone and say, look at me, I’m amazing, I’ve just changed this. Or I could just stay silent and my life will move on. But I know I’ve made the right choice.
Now we can talk about the rights and the wrongs of both of those options, but there is a little juxtaposition here, because actually when. And we’re also saying we need to be marketing to our couples and showcasing our sustainable choices and showcasing what we do.
So where do you think the balance lies, Michelle? And how do you think as suppliers, people can kind of execute and show what they’re doing, but in a really mindful way?
Michelle
00:36:59.554 – 00:37:30.006
So it’s just about transparency. It is about the good, the bad, the ugly and no matter what, showing it.
So if you are starting out on your sustainable journey, if you are going to go and check out your website and you going to see what it’s like there and then you’re going to change it, shout about it, tell people that you’ve done it, just like we were talking about earlier with the ripples like we’ve got, we don’t know where those ripples are going to end up. Actually. You could influence so many other businesses to make a change that would influence so many other weddings.
Michelle
00:37:30.198 – 00:37:36.630
So actually it, although we think about, okay, well, I can make that change in my business, if we don’t talk.
Michelle
00:37:36.670 – 00:37:40.070
About it, we can’t amplify it. And so by just by talking about.
Michelle
00:37:40.110 – 00:37:44.358
It, being really transparent, you know, yes, this is the very first thing I’ve.
Michelle
00:37:44.374 – 00:37:50.678
Done in my sustainable journey. But it, it started me on my journey and I’ve told the world and.
Michelle
00:37:50.734 – 00:38:03.110
So I now feel accountable to go and take step two, because very often, particularly, you know, soul traders, you know, we have this idea that, you know, kind of we’re in our own little.
Michelle
00:38:03.150 – 00:38:11.126
Worlds, but actually we’re not in our own little worlds. The world is very much looking at what we’re doing. And if we’re being transparent and we’re.
Michelle
00:38:11.158 – 00:38:13.100
Showing off our journey and we’re being.
Michelle
00:38:13.140 – 00:38:17.820
Honest about it, good, bad, ugly, then it is going to encourage other people.
Michelle
00:38:17.940 – 00:38:19.292
You become much more relatable.
Michelle
00:38:19.356 – 00:38:24.332
That no, like, trust factor for your clients is there. They see you’re not perfect, you’re not.
Michelle
00:38:24.356 – 00:38:26.636
Claiming to be perfect, but you, you’re.
Michelle
00:38:26.668 – 00:38:28.380
You’Re showing what you’re doing. You’re.
Michelle
00:38:28.460 – 00:38:40.838
You’re Educating people and you’re trying to also inspire them. And being honest is the only way forward. Never go out there and say that you are doing everything. Amazingly, if you aren’t, if you can’t.
Michelle
00:38:40.884 – 00:38:42.978
Can’T have no evidence to support it.
Michelle
00:38:43.034 – 00:38:47.490
Don’T say it, just be honest. Showcase every step of your journey and.
Michelle
00:38:47.530 – 00:38:49.026
Encourage others to do the same.
Becca
00:38:49.098 – 00:40:31.660
I love that idea of just being transparent and just talking about it, because you’re right. As I say, as a marketer, people buy from people. People want to understand.
And actually your couples and your fellow suppliers will also feel seen and heard in that because they’re also probably thinking, oh, I can’t do the everything. I can’t be perfect, but I could actually do that one little thing. And so and so has given me permission to be okay with just doing that thing.
Now that actually brings me on to my next little topic of conversation that I had noted down here. Now, I’m very about transparency and honesty on this podcast.
And I think one of the things that people are scared of, and I will include myself in this, is that fear of judgment, of saying to the world, I’m trying to be more sustainable, or, you know, putting on their website that they’re working with you, or, you know, I’ve listened to the sustainability podcast, whatever it is, and then they’re scared about the backlash. Now, in the kind of world of transparency, I’m going to share my own thoughts on this.
So we’re going to talk about it in a minute, but I am going to be coming to speak on a panel for you at your sustainable conference. And I’m really excited about it. I’m really pleased that I found a way that I can support it and publicly talk about it.
Because as I said to you in an email, I can’t talk about all of the events, but if I’m involved in them, if I’m part of them, then I’d love to talk about it and share about it. And I do love what you do do.
But there’s that little bit inside of my head that thinks, will people call me out on that if I sit on that stage and I’m talking about it and being part of it? And then they know I’m going to Disney World on an airplane in April, will people be like, how dare you come to this summit?
And I’m sharing that because I think that is genuinely what a lot of suppliers and people in the real world think, is that they’re like, I want to take these steps. I want to be part of These things. I want to help, but I also don’t want people calling me out and saying, you shouldn’t be doing this.
Michelle
00:40:31.700 – 00:40:31.996
This.
Michelle
00:40:32.068 – 00:40:35.628
Absolutely. And you are absolutely not alone, for sure.
Michelle
00:40:35.684 – 00:40:36.140
Yeah.
Michelle
00:40:36.220 – 00:40:42.092
Every single person that is coming to the summit is on their own sustainable journey.
Michelle
00:40:42.156 – 00:40:47.724
Like, it never stops. We are on our own sustainable journey. And I think it’s really important to.
Michelle
00:40:47.732 – 00:40:51.500
Acknowledge, you know, we have been running this summit for, this will be our fourth year.
Michelle
00:40:51.620 – 00:40:55.180
And every year we have come across these same kind of concerns from people.
Michelle
00:40:55.220 – 00:40:57.516
You know, how can I sit on.
Michelle
00:40:57.588 – 00:40:59.314
The stage and talk about this, this.
Michelle
00:40:59.402 – 00:41:10.418
When I, I’m not, I’m not far along in my journey? I don’t have the answers. I, you know, I don’t know my carbon footprint as a business. How can I come and talk about, you know, actually what we do as.
Michelle
00:41:10.474 – 00:41:20.306
Businesses every single day can be a sustainable way of doing business. We don’t want people to change what they do in their business.
Michelle
00:41:20.458 – 00:41:22.194
We just want them to be conscious.
Michelle
00:41:22.242 – 00:41:32.008
About the choices that they make. So marketing is still marketing. Sustainable marketing is, is kind of, it’s kind of marketed as this different thing.
Michelle
00:41:32.064 – 00:41:48.504
Like, oh, you need a sustainable marketer to come and help you promote your sustainable story. No, no, you don’t. You need to understand the principles of marketing and how important authenticity is. That’s what you need to understand.
And so having you come and join.
Michelle
00:41:48.552 – 00:41:50.472
Us at the summit and for you.
Michelle
00:41:50.496 – 00:42:21.392
To come and talk about something that you’re already talking to your audience about is really important. And the, the experience and the journey that you have had as a business owner, you have come up against these experiences.
You have seen these things in your businesses. You work with businesses on a daily basis that experience the same things that our audience in the room experience.
And so it’s really valuable to have that knowledge. It. You don’t need to be a perfect.
Michelle
00:42:21.456 – 00:42:23.984
Sustainable business with a B corp and.
Michelle
00:42:24.072 – 00:42:34.672
You know, wearing clothes that are all secondhand or gifted and never fly on a plane like that is. Like we said at the very beginning, there is no judgment here.
Michelle
00:42:34.776 – 00:42:44.096
Everybody is on a journey. We do not want people to stand up and pretend that is not what we’re about. We want people to be authentic, to.
Michelle
00:42:44.168 – 00:42:46.528
Tell us what sustainability means to them.
Michelle
00:42:46.584 – 00:42:48.640
Where they are on their journey, what.
Michelle
00:42:48.680 – 00:42:53.808
They’Re seeing with their audiences. Because the more knowledge we have about.
Michelle
00:42:53.864 – 00:42:55.360
What is going on in the wider.
Michelle
00:42:55.440 – 00:43:03.344
Industry, the more we know, the more we can support. If there is, if there is so many people that have this same fear.
Michelle
00:43:03.472 – 00:43:06.928
Okay, well, then that’s what we need to break down. We need to break down where that’s.
Michelle
00:43:06.944 – 00:43:14.208
Coming from and we need to overcome those barriers, because if that is the main barrier, then then that doesn’t need to be there.
Michelle
00:43:14.344 – 00:43:18.640
So we can, we can talk to that and we can encourage people to.
Michelle
00:43:18.680 – 00:43:25.632
Know, to put that aside, come listen, find out actually what you can do. And then it’s your choice if you.
Michelle
00:43:25.656 – 00:43:29.696
Choose to share it. You know, we think you should be sharing it. We should think we should be sharing.
Michelle
00:43:29.728 – 00:43:49.872
Every element of your journey. But it is still your business, it’s still your choice.
And so actually, if you feel like you need to have a little bit of sustainability work onto your belt before you shout about it, then you’ve got to do what’s right for you. And we’re not going to make everybody publicly shout about, you know, their first, first step. We would love it, but you’ve got.
Michelle
00:43:49.896 – 00:44:00.160
To be ready to talk about it. Nobody, nobody wants to actively pull people down for being better. And if they do, you don’t need.
Michelle
00:44:00.200 – 00:44:12.448
Those people in your lives, whether that is potential customers, clients or suppliers. You don’t need those people. You won’t need to surround yourself with people that are going to support you on this journey.
Michelle
00:44:12.544 – 00:44:16.920
And that’s the most important thing. So hopefully that answers your question.
Becca
00:44:17.040 – 00:45:28.712
Yes, Michelle, this is why I love you, because you just make it so much easier to understand and digest. And the reason I like being transparent and talking about these things is because I know that there’ll be listeners feeling exactly the same.
And so I want to encourage. And we’ll talk about the summit in a bit more detail in a second.
There are probably people who have seen it advertised and are thinking, I can’t go to that because I’m not there yet, but actually, let’s flip that script and go. Go. Yeah, you absolutely can go to that, because that is, again, just another little step to understanding a bit more.
Not so that you can go, look at me, I’m amazing, But so you can go, actually, I want to understand this better and see if there are small things that I can take away.
And it is just a room of normal people all on their individual journey, whether they’re, you know, doing the tiniest things in their business or have got this B Corp and are doing the massive things. You know, we’re all different and we can all take a step in the right direction.
So I hope that hearing Michelle talking about that and hearing me talk about that as well has encouraged you that, yeah, actually you can be involved in this kind of thing. You don’t need to be perfect straight away. So talk to us then, Michelle. How can people get involved in what you do?
Maybe they want more education from you, maybe they want to understand more about accreditation. And then we’ll come on to the summit in a second. So let’s talk about the online options first.
Michelle
00:45:28.816 – 00:45:36.728
So we work with businesses all over the uk, so we have a membership platform. So the way we tend to work.
Michelle
00:45:36.784 – 00:45:38.440
Is because we are so focused on.
Michelle
00:45:38.480 – 00:45:40.840
Community and peer to peer learning, as.
Michelle
00:45:40.880 – 00:45:44.148
Well as training courses from various experts.
Michelle
00:45:44.244 – 00:45:49.060
I’m not here saying I’m an expert in everything in sustainability. We go and find the right people.
Michelle
00:45:49.180 – 00:45:52.948
That understand our industry and we bring them in. So the way we work with is.
Michelle
00:45:53.004 – 00:45:59.812
In a membership basis because it makes sense for, for everybody. And so we have like an online platform where we have all of our.
Michelle
00:45:59.836 – 00:46:01.524
Historical tools and resources.
Michelle
00:46:01.652 – 00:46:09.276
We host monthly topics. So when I was talking about breaking it down by those different sectors, we focus on one thing a month, month.
Michelle
00:46:09.348 – 00:46:12.028
But they’re always there. So if you don’t want to focus.
Michelle
00:46:12.084 – 00:46:13.484
On that, then you can, that’s fine.
Michelle
00:46:13.532 – 00:46:19.484
Go find another month, go in, drill down, that’s fine. It’s really important to us that the.
Michelle
00:46:19.572 – 00:46:26.396
The knowledge is there year round for everybody, that they don’t have to follow along, they don’t have to come to things, live that they can, if they’re.
Michelle
00:46:26.428 – 00:46:27.772
In, if they’re in the mood to.
Michelle
00:46:27.796 – 00:46:31.916
Get stuff done, then they can get stuff done. So that’s why we’ve developed a membership.
Michelle
00:46:31.948 – 00:46:34.876
Portal and our members love it and.
Michelle
00:46:34.948 – 00:46:51.496
It is a really great way for them to connect with each other. They network on it, organize styled shoots.
Shoots, but they also learn from it and it’s where we can share information and all the events and things as well. So people can become a member, they can join us, part of that community and they have access to all of that and our accreditation pathway.
Michelle
00:46:51.608 – 00:46:55.208
So we start really simply by assessing where a business is at.
Michelle
00:46:55.264 – 00:47:03.384
And it’s not a scary assessment, it’s a short questionnaire and then an hour or so on a phone call with me, just talking about your business. What do you do?
Michelle
00:47:03.472 – 00:47:07.300
What do you want to do? What’s important to you? Where’s your business going?
Michelle
00:47:07.840 – 00:47:11.844
And then we kind of come up with a bit of an action plan and we give that to you and.
Michelle
00:47:11.852 – 00:47:13.252
Then we work with you to put.
Michelle
00:47:13.276 – 00:48:00.842
That in place and then work towards getting you accredited so that you can really proudly shout about being independently verified.
For those people that have that kind of fear of, you know, Talking about sustainability where you have an independent verification that somebody has looked at your business and you’re doing amazing things and you know you should be shouting about it. So there’s one option of getting involved in what we do.
Um, as part of that, some of the trainings that we offer, we also offer to everybody in the industry. So we are really proud that.
But oh, back in 2023 we developed carbon literacy training which kind of sounds quite scary to a lot of people, but actually what it is, it’s an eight hour training course that we host every month where sometimes we do in.
Michelle
00:48:00.866 – 00:48:07.962
Person ones around the country, but there’s always one online every month that people can come and they can join and.
Michelle
00:48:07.986 – 00:48:12.070
It is essentially lear learning about the truth about what is happening to our.
Michelle
00:48:12.110 – 00:48:14.006
Climate and what’s going on.
Michelle
00:48:14.078 – 00:48:26.902
So there’s a little bit climate science in there and we break it down as to how we’ve got to this point. But most importantly it is designed for wedding professionals. We are not going to bombard you with load of science that you do.
Michelle
00:48:26.926 – 00:48:28.454
Not need to know the answers to.
Michelle
00:48:28.542 – 00:48:56.264
We’re going to give you the information and then we’re going to spend the rest of the time talking about what does that mean for us as a business, what are the practical actions that we can take to reduce our carbon footprint, what can we do to make our business better?
And then really importantly, how do we engage with other people, how do we talk to our couples about it in a non judgmental way, in an encouraging way to inspire them to make better choices? And how do we talk to our supply network?
Michelle
00:48:56.352 – 00:49:00.232
We’ve got other courses that we will we launch throughout the year depending on.
Michelle
00:49:00.256 – 00:49:02.024
What is going on and the feedback.
Michelle
00:49:02.072 – 00:49:05.452
That we get from the industry. But at the moment, moment we are.
Michelle
00:49:05.556 – 00:49:13.372
Focusing all of our training attention into the summit because it’s really important to us that that is if people are.
Michelle
00:49:13.396 – 00:49:15.628
Going to come and they’re going to come and join us for that day.
Michelle
00:49:15.764 – 00:49:17.660
Is really action packed and they get.
Michelle
00:49:17.700 – 00:49:22.268
So much value from it that it puts them on the right starting for.
Michelle
00:49:22.324 – 00:49:23.100
The rest of the year.
Becca
00:49:23.140 – 00:50:06.140
Fantastic.
So I will make sure I put all of your online links and things like that in the show notes because you’ve got so many great things and I think the accreditation is something that people really should pay attention to if they are further along the journey and that they are really serious about it because I do think it’s a good point of difference. I do think it will give you confidence in your marketing.
And I was having a look on your website earlier, before we had the call and looking at some of the businesses that are accredited and I did think, wow, like that’s really great that they’ve done that and they’ve put that work in. So it definitely works from a marketing perspective. And I’m sure we’ll talk more about that at your summit as well. So talk to us then.
If people want to come along in February, tell us a little bit more about what you’ve got planned on that day. Where it is, is how people can get involved and how they can get a ticket.
Michelle
00:50:06.220 – 00:50:07.708
So the Summit is on the 5th.
Michelle
00:50:07.724 – 00:50:21.436
Of February, so really good time to kind of come, get yourself started in the right mindset. The day is, like I said, very much focused on action. So it is designed to be applicable.
Michelle
00:50:21.468 – 00:50:23.164
For you no matter where you are in your journey.
Michelle
00:50:23.212 – 00:50:29.260
So if sustainability is totally new to you, you will get stuff out of it and you will leave knowing what.
Michelle
00:50:29.300 – 00:50:34.618
Your first steps are going to be. In fact, fact, we will probably take your first step whilst you’re there during.
Michelle
00:50:34.674 – 00:50:45.306
The day because of that. It’s really important to us. We have a real mixture. We have experts coming and talking to you directly. We have panels where we are looking.
Michelle
00:50:45.378 – 00:51:09.646
At different voices in the industry, what is really happening out there. We have voices from venues themselves talking to us about what is going on for them.
We have got really specific on, on, you know, what sustainability looks like for a sole trader in a small business versus what it looks like for a venue, it’s quite a different thing. And so we recognize that and so.
Michelle
00:51:09.718 – 00:51:14.718
We’Ve developed workshops that answer those questions. You know, if you are a venue.
Michelle
00:51:14.814 – 00:51:18.862
Actually, let’s lead with nature. If you have, you know, land that.
Michelle
00:51:18.886 – 00:51:29.102
You can then start using to be able to build your biodiversity, build your ecosystem, then fantastic, come along, come to a workshop, learn how to do that.
Michelle
00:51:29.206 – 00:51:35.166
If you are starting out in sustainability and have got no idea what a carbon footprint even is and you don’t.
Michelle
00:51:35.198 – 00:51:40.030
Know what to do next, come and learn from another small business owner that.
Michelle
00:51:40.070 – 00:51:44.798
Has been on that journey, has got accreditation and is now really passionate about.
Michelle
00:51:44.854 – 00:51:56.000
It and teaching other people how to do the same. You know, come and learn about equality and diversity. That’s part of sustainability.
You know, it’s something that gets talked about, you know, sort of on its.
Michelle
00:51:56.040 – 00:51:57.632
Own, as if it’s an add on.
Michelle
00:51:57.736 – 00:52:10.672
It’s not, it should be part of your day to day language and it’s, it’s part of sustainability. So the day is very much focused on taking action. It’s a real mix of sessions. We really focus on getting you to.
Michelle
00:52:10.696 – 00:52:12.784
Meet people that can help you.
Michelle
00:52:12.872 – 00:52:18.112
We have an amazing regional ambassador team so wherever you are in the country.
Michelle
00:52:18.216 – 00:52:23.948
We will have an ambassador near you that has been through this sustainable journey that can act as a mentor.
Michelle
00:52:24.044 – 00:52:25.372
You’ll be able to meet all of.
Michelle
00:52:25.396 – 00:52:30.444
Them at the summit, connect with them and carry on the conversation after the summit.
Michelle
00:52:30.572 – 00:52:33.180
What’s really important is that you can.
Michelle
00:52:33.220 – 00:52:40.700
Come to the summit and you can learn. It’s value packed, you start taking those steps, but also that you know how.
Michelle
00:52:40.740 – 00:52:42.012
To take the next step and you.
Michelle
00:52:42.036 – 00:52:46.060
Know how to carry on that conversation and that you’ve connected with people that.
Michelle
00:52:46.100 – 00:52:49.036
Can help you on your journey going forward.
Becca
00:52:49.188 – 00:54:14.340
Sounds very exciting. I’m really excited to come and be part of it.
I’m going to come along to the whole day because I know there’s going to be loads that I can learn from the day as well as being on that panel that I’m involved in all about trends, technology and impact. And despite that little inner anxiety that I shared with everyone earlier, I know that it’s going to be amazing day.
So if you are listening to this and you’re thinking, actually I’d love to be there, let me encourage you, come along. You know that I’ll be there and you know how I feel about it too. So if you feel a little bit nervous, come and hang out with me for the day.
So if you can get to London on the 5th of February, I highly recommend it.
I’ve seen some of the sessions, I’ve seen some of the lineup of the people who are going to be there and it is looking like it’s going to be absolutely fantastic. So again, I’ll make sure if you’re listening to this in real time that the link to get the tickets to that day is in the show notes.
And if you’re listening to this further into the future and you’ve missed it, I believe it’s an annual event.
So hopefully you can look into it and put it as a date in your diary for the beginning of 2026 because I really do think together we can make such a big impact. And what I’m most excited about from what you said, Michelle. Michelle, is that we’re going to take our steps on the day.
So I feel like there’s going to be something that’s I’m going to do on the day that’s going to make me take another step in the right direction and I cannot wait. So, yeah, it’s going to be Fantastic. And I’m really looking forward to it.
Now, before I let you go, Michelle, I always end my podcast with the same question, so I’m going to pose that to you now. And it’s this. What’s one thing you personally wish you’d known sooner in your own business?
Michelle
00:54:14.720 – 00:54:43.116
The sustainability isn’t scary. And I know that sounds ridiculous, but I wish I was doing this 20 years ago. I wish I’d started doing this. I wish I’d started sharing my story.
I wish I’d started sharing other people’s stories. You know, when I started doing consultancy work. I wish the first thing we did was encourage them to talk about what was going on.
Because for me, honestly, the time is now. You know, we all have the ability to make a positive impact.
Michelle
00:54:43.268 – 00:55:14.422
You know, how good does it feel when you do the right thing? You know, how much better can we feel about ourselves for taking those steps, for sharing those steps?
You know, we, there are so many things as business owners that get us down. And sustainability has the ability to make you feel good about what you do and to help your couples feel good about what their wedding.
And like, there is, there is no reason not to do that. It, you know, even if it’s just from a purely self protection point of.
Michelle
00:55:14.446 – 00:55:17.830
View, you want to do things that make you feel good every day.
Michelle
00:55:17.950 – 00:55:23.570
Sustainability is your thing. So yeah, for sure. I wish I’d started shouting about this.
Michelle
00:55:23.950 – 00:55:26.070
Much, much, much longer ago.
Becca
00:55:26.190 – 00:56:07.288
Fantastic. And I think there’s two things that come out of there.
Not only the sustainability piece, but also just wishing you’d been more honest and more transparent and spoken about things earlier. And that’s something I encourage my clients to do all of the time.
Just talk about the journey you’re on, talk about the struggle, stop pretending that your life is Instagram perfect because none of our lives are Instagram perfect and none of us have got this stuff right all of the time. And actually people appreciate it when you’re honest with them and you say what you’re trying to do better and you live it authentically.
Michelle, it’s been so much fun talking to you. It’s such a pleasure. I’m really looking forward to seeing you very soon at an event we’re speaking at together and then again at your summit as well.
Thank you for your time. If people want to find you or get in touch with you, where’s the best place for them to go?
Michelle
00:56:07.344 – 00:56:18.136
So come, you can email me helloustainable wedding alliance.com always love hearing from friendly people. You can find us on Instagram, Sustainable.
Michelle
00:56:18.168 – 00:56:21.736
Wedding Alliance UK and also on LinkedIn as well.
Michelle
00:56:21.808 – 00:56:27.224
And just come say hi to us, give us a wave, you know, have a look at our Sustainable Supply Directory.
Michelle
00:56:27.272 – 00:56:30.456
See if you know any of our members, give them a follow, say hi.
Michelle
00:56:30.488 – 00:56:38.922
To them and ask them their experiences too, because we’re really friendly bunch and we really want to get to know you. It’s not just me, it’s the wider.
Michelle
00:56:38.986 – 00:56:42.026
Team, it’s our ambassadors, it’s our network, it’s our community.
Michelle
00:56:42.178 – 00:56:44.186
So reach out to any one of us.
Michelle
00:56:44.338 – 00:56:45.914
Yeah, we’re here to support you on our journey.
Becca
00:56:45.962 – 00:56:49.738
Michelle, thank you so much for your time. It’s been an absolute pleasure.
Michelle
00:56:49.834 – 00:56:52.010
Thank you, everyone. Hope you see you at the summit.
Becca
00:56:52.090 – 00:57:22.720
Such a great conversation.
I hope you’ve enjoyed that as much as me and I hope you’ve gone on that same journey where if you were starting this conversation feeling a bit nervous, feeling like you might feel judged, feeling a bit guilty, I hope you’ve ended this conversation realizing that you don’t need to feel that way and it’s just about taking one small step in the right direction. Even if it’s going right now and going and checking out your website domain and seeing where it’s hosted. That’s one small thing you can do.
If you want to find out more about Michelle, go and follow. All of her links are in the show notes and I hope to see lots of you at the summit in February. I’ll see you next time.
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