We promote eco-weddings – which are weddings that are as environmentally sustainable as is possible.

Here are some of the ways in which an eco wedding is sustainable as well as some suggestions:

• Encourage people to access Coombe by train – 2-2.5 hours from London, 1 hr from Bristol, or by bus. It is a 15 min taxi ride from Tiverton Parkway railway station / bus station. Please see our transport page for further details.
• Separation of compostables/glass/cardboard/tins etc.
• Cutlery and cooking utensils to be washed with biodegradable detergents/soaps, or use ‘vegware’ biodegradable cutlery, cups, plates, etc.
• Bar and caterers to use local organic produce so far as possible. Please see a list of local caterers and drinks provider on our Food, drink, and flowers page
• Flowers and decorations: please source local flowers (ideally grown locally in Devon/Cornwall) – please see our Food, drink, and flowers page for more details. You are also welcome to gather greenery from our forests such as ivy and ferns (not from the gardens please).
• Cake: see our Food, drink, and flowers page for details of a local cake maker.
• Invitations on the web where possible rather than paper cards.
• Wedding rings: we recommend that you source ethically mined metals, and ethically sourced diamonds, etc. We can recommended local jeweller, Silver Lion jewellers in Exeter – Tel: 01392 495 994. After researching various metals at length we concluded that Paladium (a Platinum derivative) was a sure ethical bet because it is only mined in unionised mines, one in Canada and one in South Africa.
• Wedding clothes: we recommend that you hire your clothes if possible (if the men can hire why not the ladies in this age of equality?), if you are getting your clothes made then please be mindful of using organic and ethically sourced material, if you are buying your clothes then please source ethically produced clothes made from organic materials wherever possible. Please also consider the possibility of finding a used or vintage wedding dress – immaculate dresses are available at a fraction of the cost of a new dress. See our Wedding Services page for local fantastic second hand shops.
• Why not visit the Eco Chic Boutique for a range of suitable wedding gifts.
• Wedding present list: why not sign up for Oxfams weddings list and your guests can buy you trees, books, goats and water supplies for Africa. Encourage your guests to ethically source the presents they buy you.
• Honeymoon: why not have your honeymoon here at Coombe. Try to stay within the UK without flying if possible.
• We have recently installed an 80 khw wood burner to replace all our gas and oil requirements and 5.5 kilowatt PV solar electricity generator to deliver clean green power. We would ask you to conserve your power usage as much as is reasonably possible.
• Solar tubes to heat swimming pool and farmhouse hot water.