Every wedding needs its fun moments where everybody can join in. One such moment is the tradition of throwing confetti after the wedding ceremony when the bride and groom walk out as husband and wife. This is a perfect opportunity for the guests to show the happy couple just how joyful they are for their special event.
However, confetti is notoriously hard to clean and made with toxic materials such as plastic or artificial dyes. So how can you include this moment into your ceremony without harming the planet OR removing the fun factor? Here are a few creative ideas to help you include confetti in a sustainable way.
Most suggestions on this list are from Etsy, because we love supporting small businesses. But I will also list a few Amazon options if you prefer to do your quick shopping from there.
Petals
Petals are great as sustainable confetti substitutes because they look amazing in photos. Not only that, they provide a nice pop of color, and you can even pick them so they fit your wedding theme. You can choose fresh petals, freeze-dried or even dried for a fall wedding. These are just a few examples for you to choose from:
Image credit: Hewingtons Confetti
£8.96 | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
Image credit: RosePetalsEverywhere
£31.66 | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
Image credit: CharismasConfettiCo
£ 0.89 / pack | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
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£2.30/pack | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
Flowers
Why pick only the petals when you can use whole flower heads? This is a great option for bohemian, outdoorsy weddings. If you have a wildflower field near your area, you can organize a little picnic and flower picking party with your bridesmaids. This way, you’ll have all the confetti you need for free! But if your location doesn’t allow for that, or you simply don’t have the time, here are a few options:
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£11+ | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
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£4.28 | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
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£2.50 | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
Dried leaves
If your wedding includes lots of greenery, this would be a perfect choice! It’s even better if you pick fragrant herbs. Again, you can go leaf picking with your friends or you can just shop online from a huge selection of gorgeous ones. This type of wedding confetti would work particularly great for an autumn wedding.
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£9.96 | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
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£3.62 | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
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£9.99 | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
Shaped biodegradable wedding confetti
If you’re looking for more of a classic confetti type, with regular shapes, then you will probably love this kind of confetti. You can find many different shapes and sizes, and you can even customize them to fit your wedding’s color scheme! Or if you want more of a fun touch, you can choose a confetti cannon.
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£15.85 | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
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£2.50 | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
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£3.99 | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
Shaped dried leaf or petal confetti
These are sort of a combination of the ones we’ve already seen – you can order confetti made out of petals or leaves, but customized with the shape you’d like. This is a fantastic option if you like the natural look of leaves and petals, but you still want a consistent shape and size for photos.
Image credit: C
£14.97 | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
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£3.99 | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
Seed bombs
These are really cute and original ideas for an outdoor ceremony! They come in all sorts of shapes and colors, and they have the potential to leave some beautiful memories behind long after your wedding! Just make sure to check with the venue owners if it’s okay for flowers to be “planted” at the ceremony location.
You could get some confetti cones (you can DIY this from the pages of an old book) to put these in if you wanted.
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£11+ | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
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£3.99 | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
Coconut flakes
This is a unique option if you love the snow-like look, but prefer a less structured, more natural type of confetti. A big plus is also being surrounded by the lovely coconut smell! This is one of the cheaper options if you’re on a budget, too. It is also on my “you learn something new every day” list.
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£1.72+ | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
Bubbles
Technically, this isn’t a type of confetti, but it looks amazing in pictures and serves pretty much the same purpose. A big advantage is that there’s absolutely no clean-up needed afterward!
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£15+ | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
Or, you can find the same product from Amazon, less the tags.
Ribbon wands
Another one that doesn’t really involve confetti, but looks stunning and gives a fun touch to your ceremony! The guests can even keep the ribbon wands as favors!
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£122+ for 150 ribbon wands | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
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£40 for 50 | BUY HERE OR SEE MORE DETAILS
How much confetti do you need for 100 wedding guests?
As a rough estimate, only about a half of your total guests tend to actually throw confetti. Every guest tends to throw about 1 or two handfuls of confetti. Given that 1 liter of confetti is enough for about 10 handfuls, that would bring the minimum quantity of confetti for 100 guests to 5 to 10 liters, depending on how much confetti you think your guests will toss. But it’s always best to assume they’ll use more, rather than less. You wouldn’t want anyone to feel left out because there isn’t any confetti left!
What can I use instead of confetti for a wedding?
You can find many great confetti alternatives in another one of my blog posts.
Hopefully, these alternative confetti options inspire you even more to make the best choice for your wedding!
But to give you a few ideas here: wedding confetti cannons are a popular alternative, metallic confetti, tissue paper confetti. However, we would always recommend biodegradable wedding confetti, like flower petals or leaves for the wedding exit toss.
For more fun wedding confetti ideas, simply go for the options above, but in bright colors! I can only imagine the amazing photos at the end!
Which type of confetti looks best in photos?
Big confetti tends to really pop in photos – so eucalyptus leaves, rose petals or even bubbles would probably look amazing.
Small confetti options such as lavender or rice or birdseed may sound great in theory, but they usually get stuck in everyone’s hair and clothes. You probably don’t want your guests to all look like they have dandruff!
Colour is another important aspect when it comes to photos – if you choose the right color for your wedding theme, the confetti can truly up that magical factor.
Ultimately though, it’s up to you – if you love the delicate look of simple, white artificial snowflakes, the photos will still look amazing regardless of the size of your confetti. When it comes to great photos, the most important thing is the love shared between you two and the smiles on everyone’s faces!
I hope this article was useful to you in finding the right confetti type for your wedding. Always check with your wedding venue to see if they accept confetti and if so, which types. And don’t forget to clean up afterward if needed!
HAPPY WEDDING PLANNING!
This article contains a few affiliate links meaning, at NO additional cost to you, I can earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase of any of the products. We would only recommend things we trust and have seen work at other events.
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