Wedding carbon footprint calculator

Good news! Your carbon calculation is one of the few areas of your wedding where you don't have to sweat the details. You just need to know the rough number of guests and where they're coming from.

Air travel
How many guests are taking short flights?
A short flight takes less than two hours.
For example, Boston to Washington, DC.
How many guests are taking medium flights?
A medium flight takes about four hours.
For example, New York to Dallas.
How many guests are taking long flights?
A long flight is anything over four hours.
For example, New York to Los Angeles.
 
Car travel
How many cars are being driven to the event?
The average one-way trip length in miles?
 
Hotel
How many hotel room nights will guests need?
 
Total wedding carbon footprint
- or -
 

How does the wedding carbon calculator work?

The wedding calculator takes into account four different sources of emissions:

  • Airline emissions from guest travel.

    For most weddings, this is by far the most important category of emissions. Planes burn a lot of fuel, and these days most weddings bring together people from all over the country and the world.

  • Automobile emissions from guest travel.

    Cars aren't likely to be a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions for your wedding, but if you have a lot of local guests, they will collectively burn a modest amount of gasoline getting to the event.

  • Energy use in hotel rooms.

    Hot showers, lighting, and air conditioning all require electricity. For large weddings, this energy use can add up.

  • Energy use for the wedding itself.

    The DJ, the caterer, temperature control, lighting – whether you have your wedding on the beach or in a banquet hall, the event itself requires some energy. Truth be told, the amount of emissions from the event itself is small – about one ton of CO2 or less – so we just add a little to the total to cover it.