Michelle Miles is the Founder of the Sustainable Wedding Alliance, a purpose driven business with the singular aim of making the wedding industry more sustainable.
The Alliance works with businesses of all sizes to help them to understand sustainability, what it means for them, and how they can develop long term sustainable strategies that will benefit people, profit and planet.
Businesses that become members are assessed on their sustainability processes and procedures, and receive a personalised action plan to make appropriate changes. Membership also includes accreditation, for those businesses who achieve a minimum standard.
In addition to working with responsible businesses, the Alliance educates and inspires couples to plan sustainable, conscious weddings.
She is an Associate member of IEMA and holds a Foundation Certificate in Environmental Management.
Michelle is passionate about creating a more sustainable wedding industry, through education, support and accreditation.
Michelle also runs Fusion Events and Weddings, with a focus on organising environmentally conscious events and weddings for clients across Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire.
Katherine Ann Byam 0:01
What are three sustainable wedding tips that you could give to some of my listeners who might want to get into this?
Michelle Miles 0:08
So if you're thinking about your own weddings, top tip is start thinking about the season, what is it about that season that you've been drawn to, and then go all in on it, make sure that you are only using seasonal produce, make sure you are buying from a flower farm that is growing local, that is looking after their land, that is putting back into the environment. Buying local flowers isn't just about the flowers. It's not just about, you know, having grown and not flown and reducing their carbon footprint. It's also about biodiversity in our country. You know, having these massive amount of flower farms in our country. We are improving our countryside, we're ensuring that pollinators are getting what they need, we're ensuring that wildlife tunnels are being created.
Katherine Ann Byam 1:00
This is season five, the great debates of our times, Season Five will be centred around the great debates. And we will be comparing and contrasting different viewpoints on various topics that are consuming the public discourse at present. The reason I've decided to take this approach is because, we or at least many of us, are losing the skill of debate. And I think this is an essential skill for us all to practice once more. I don't see how we get to the point of saving the world and saving our planet, if we don't know how to discuss our differences. I also think that the solution to most of our challenges is somewhere in the spectrum of views but never at either extreme. I will be working with guests to curate the content and discuss beforehand, I will understand their positions, their areas of genius, and navigate my questions around that so that the conversation is challenging and stimulating without being combative. I hope you enjoy Season Five of Where Ideas launch; The Sustainable Innovation Podcast. Michelle Miles is the founder of the Sustainable Wedding Alliance, a purpose driven business with the singular aim of making the wedding industry more sustainable. The Alliance works with businesses of all sizes to help them to understand sustainability and develop long term sustainable strategies that will benefit the triple bottom line. In addition, Michelle also runs fusion events and weddings with a focus on organising environmentally conscious events and weddings for clients across Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and Wiltshire. Michelle, welcome to Where Ideas Launch.
Michelle Miles 2:31
Thank you so much for having me.
Katherine Ann Byam 2:33
Really awesome to have you here. We met in my Facebook group, I think it's been like a year, I'm not really sure. But you joined the community. And now we're collaborating on a super meaningful project the WISBYs. So I'm really, really happy to have you and I really value the experience you're bringing to the team as well.
Michelle Miles 2:49
It's absolutely amazing to be able to work with you on that project. I think that it's going to be we're really excited about the launch, obviously. And it's been a long time in the progress and the planning. And yeah, I'm really excited for it launching.
Katherine Ann Byam 3:05
So let's start with your wwhy, Michelle. So tell us about your reason for founding the Sustainable Wedding Alliance and what this sustainability and conscious journey really means for you personally as well.
Michelle Miles 3:17
That's probably good to go back, right back to when I joined the industry. So I left school at the age of 16, wasn't particularly into the world of academia, I realised quite quickly that it wasn't for me. So further education wasn't going to be right for me. So I went straight into events at the age of 16. I've now been in the industry for a couple of decades. And it's got to be, going back about 10 years that I really started to notice, and it really didn't sit well with me, about the wasteful element of events. So in particular, I worked on a lot of large scale festivals and production, heavy events. And so I was seeing both from the back end of the organising of the events, but also from the front end, from the public side of things and how the convenience culture had really played into the wasteful nature of events. And so kind of started to feel quite uneasy being part of that. So I've had a decision, I had to either get out and go do something different, or try and change it from within. So me being me, love a challenge, decided that I needed to start making some changes. So I founded my own business, left, the corporate world, had to have a bit of a side hustle for a little while until I could build it, like many, many other businesses, but really started working hard to try and find the right clients and work more consciously. So I then had a daughter, it became even more clear to me and my why changed it became about leaving a legacy for her. And then my son a few years later, and absolutely at that point. You know, I couldn't do anything other than only work on events with clients that really cared and got it, and also to I used to work with clients that would push the boundaries on stuff. So it wouldn't just be enough to run their own sustainable event. Actually, it was about making a larger impact beyond them. So then that started to translate into the weddings work that I was doing, noticing lots of couples looking for more environmentally friendly options. Green weddings, as they were called back when they started to become popular, and then in to suppliers and actually talking to venues, and caterers, and planners, about what they could do in their business. And then that is what really sparked the idea for what can we do to help more of these businesses, there's clearly a community of businesses, we're like minded, we're all working towards the same goal, how can we start to make this bigger and get an impact, and then the pandemic happened, and then everybody downed tools, and nobody in the weddings and events industry could work, virtual weddings, were never going to be a big thing. So it gave us a little bit of time. And I'm a positive person, I like to take the silver linings where I can. And for me, that's what COVID gave me, it gave me the headspace and the time to sit down and work out what the alliance would be, and how it could have the biggest impact and help the most people. And whether that was businesses or couples, we very much came down on the side of businesses recognising that actually, we're a 14 point 7 billion pound industry, as an industry employing over 400,000 people, you know, absolutely massive. And, you know, we as businesses could really make an impact on every wedding that we're involved in. So the Alliance got formed back in 2020. We then started with working businesses, to connect people together, help them work on where they're at in terms of sustainability, teach them what it means to be sustainable. And then I'm really excited to say that last year, we launched our accreditation, so we actually now work with businesses to understand what they're doing, how they can make it better. And then we can accredit them based on an international standard for event management, we then go in, and we actually look at what they're doing. And then they can work towards something. And for couples, they can look at businesses and say, amazing, they've got that standard, we know that they're working to a sound standard, we know that they're working to that minimum level, and it's been independently verified. So for couples to be able to look for something, because let's be honest, no couple understands ISO 14,001, they don't know what that means for their wedding. Whereas we hope that by having a specific wedding accreditation will allow the couples to understand that that couples doing everything they can to be sustainable.
Katherine Ann Byam 7:45
That's brilliant, and really powerful. I like the the angle that you've taken on this, I want to probe a little bit on the data, I want to understand a little bit about what this industry size is in terms of impact on the environment in the UK, specifically.
Michelle Miles 8:00
Absolutely. So I work with different organisations over the globe. So in the States, there are a couple of Wedding Alliances, specifically at the Green Wedding Alliance that are based in Chicago, they have a fantastic pool of people that they work with, and they're collecting their own data, over in Australia and New Zealand, there's another organisation called Less Stuff, More Meaning, that again, doing amazing things. And what they have actually done is they've developed a wedding carbon footprint calculator, and they've developed it for use across the globe. And so actually, there's no point in reinventing the wheel, we all want to work together to achieve the same outcome. And so what we do is we recommend our businesses and couples to go on to that calculator and work out their own wedding footprint. And then in exchange for that, obviously, we're getting a building and brilliant data set to understand what it is about weddings, that is most carbon intensive. And because it is, you're able to allocate where you're actually having your wedding. We know that in the UK, the average wedding produced 14 and a half tonnes of carbon equivalent emissions. That's quite massive. That's in one year, obviously, that is near enough the same as a UK household for a whole year. And when you think about the amount of weddings that take place, and post pandemic it was, it you know, it was an unusually high figure of over 550,000. But on an average year, it's between 250 and 300 weddings. So if you think about what that means that's over 3 million tonnes, like that's absolutely insane. That's nearly a million cars, diesel cars, you know, that's absolutely insane kind of figures. And I think that people completely underestimate what actually happens at a wedding and they underestimate the amount of people and the travel that takes place, the food that they eat, the wastage that's involved. And I think there are so many, well know there are so many things, and small things, that couples can do, but also businesses can almost enforce on couples that will make massive savings in emissions.
Katherine Ann Byam 10:07
Wow, this is such a big topic for waste in particular, and food waste being what it is, in terms of representing, you know, one of the most significant ways we could we could reduce our footprint, etc, you feel like weddings really can make a difference in this regard. Tell us about some of the wedding events you've worked on, and why they matter, the impact you've had, for example.
Michelle Miles 10:29
As the, as a sustainable planner, I've been really blessed to be able to work with conscious couples, you know, couples have come to me that have the mindset of, we want to do better, we want our wedding to have a positive impact and not a negative one. And so although they come to me with that mindset, actually, it's still quite a challenge to think about what sustainable swaps they might be able to make, and also why they need to make them and explaining how much of a difference a plant based menu can actually make. And I think that's always been my biggest challenge. You know, as a, as a sustainable planner, it was my biggest challenge in working with businesses, it's my biggest challenge, breaking down what they think they know, and actually explaining the facts and the reality around sustainability. And many people don't want to hear about some of the harsh truth. And I think it's really important that people are open. And I mean, I'm talking about people that are already in this mindset of you know, we want to do better. But actually, it's quite difficult to hear some of the facts. Every time I tell people that a wedding, you know, average wedding, it's 14 and a half tonnes they're always so shocked. I'm like, why are you shocked? When you are thinking about 100 people travelling to a location, eating three courses, all of which have some form of animal product in, you know, what, what is it that? Where do you think it's going to be? Where do you think it's gonna fall down? You know, so it's really, really tricky. And it's definitely the biggest challenge I've had. But it's also where I can have the biggest impact, you know, looking at what a business needs. Now, thinking through putting plans in place and a framework together that they can then work with, that's become my day to day life. And that's become where I can have the biggest impact because for the businesses I'm working with, if I can impact what they're doing, and we can make changes for them, then they've got a supply chain, they've got customers, they've got stakeholders that they're then influencing. And so it's, it's, you know, it's a spider's web, it's about you know, not being, it's not linear, it is absolutely circular, you know, the more people we talk to, they talk to, they talk to, they talk to, and it grows.
Katherine Ann Byam 12:45
Yeah, that's powerful. If you were to be given, for example, a pot of money right now, with no strings attached, where would you invest it to make this movement that you're creating more powerful?
Michelle Miles 12:58
Absolutely, my biggest problem is always time, you know, having the time to be able to do everything that we want to do. So I'd invest in people, you know, I don't think there's anything better to invest in, bringing additional team members on board, giving existing team members more training so they can expand what they do. But being able to expand how we reach people, but in a really manageable way. You know, people have said to me, you could get external funding, you could go and you can get an investor to come into your business. But actually, I started the alliance with funding from my previous business, because I didn't want to take outside investment, because I wanted to be able to control the growth of the business. You know, so for me, the growth comes from the people, people's ideas, people's connections, people's experiences. And I think that is the best way to ever invest in your business.
Katherine Ann Byam 13:57
You are currently doing an award yourself. Tell us about it.
Michelle Miles 14:02
Yeah, we're really excited. So we are launching this month with the first ever Sustainable Wedding Awards. So it has been a long time in the planning, even before I launched the Alliance, this has been in the planning. And I want to do it right. I didn't want to rush it. I didn't want it to be half hearted. I wanted to be able to put everything into it. So I've run award ceremonies for clients for years and years. And now it's our time to be able to recognise everything that the industry is doing. So, the most important thing for me is about recognising everyone. It's not just about reward, it is about recognition. So it's not all about the winners. It's about everyone that gets involved and recognising how many amazing things are happening in our industry. We will use all of the applications, all of the finalists, all of the judging comments to show people in our industry, and beyond, all of the amazing things that are happening. And so yes, it is absolutely about recognising, you know, those leaders and those people that are absolutely making amazing strides towards fantastic things. But it's also about promoting sustainability in the industry. And so we're really proud that we are working along the awards trust mark standard, we hope to achieve an outstanding rating for that. It's about being open and honest, our judges are from all over the country, there is no bias involved. We, all of our judges, judge the categories independently, everything is judged by more than one judge so that there's no bias. And everything is reviewed, then by an external, independent. So for us building, that process has been really key, really important. And waiting until we're able to bring the right people on board. And everything will be honest and transparent. So you'll be able to see, all the criteria will be available upfront, we're really excited that we won't be charging a admin fee for this project. And the reason that we're doing that is because we're very lucky to be able to be supported by our partners, for us to be able to do that. But in the same way, you know, all of our team have to be paid they, we've worked out how much it costs for all of our team to be able to work on this project for the very many months that we've been working on it, and actually is a substantial figure. But it's something that we're really pleased that we're able to do. And this is definitely the right time to do it. There is definitely a movement change, there is definitely, our industry are starting to take notice. And we feel like now is the time that we can hit them in the face with it, show everybody what amazing things are happening. And hopefully bring those people that are sitting in the wings and waiting to get involved. Hopefully, they'll jump in and they'll start making changes.
Katherine Ann Byam 16:57
That sounds awesome. I want to tap in now to some tips that you could give us because you clearly have such a vast amount of experience with events. And with weddings, specifically, let's start with the events, what are some of the things that make a sustainable event successful?
Michelle Miles 17:14
So you know, another silver lining coming out of the pandemic; hybrid events, right? I mean, if we could all move to a hybrid event model, you know, giving people the opportunity that aren't local to the event, the opportunity to still engage with the event, and engage in a real way, not just watch it on a webinar, but actually feel like they're getting the same experience virtually as they would do in person. It's something that as an events industry, people are investing heavily in to be able to achieve that. There is still some work to go. But I think absolutely ensuring that people can access your event in a way that works for them is really important, the saving on travel emissions alone is going to be absolutely huge, not having as many people in person, being very aware of what you're feeding people, and also looking at and measuring the actual events emissions. Now how on earth can you run a sustainable event, if you don't know what its impact is? You know, ensuring that you're working with the right partners to be able to measure it, to be able to produce it and then have to offset anything that's left, is you know, is really, really important. And it's something that is becoming increasingly unpopular, popular. But it's something that you know, shouldn't just be popular, it should be a must for all events going forward.
Katherine Ann Byam 18:39
What are three sustainable wedding tips that you could give to some of my listeners who might want to get into this, who might be thinking about their own weddings?
Michelle Miles 18:49
So if you're thinking about your own weddings, top tip is start thinking about the season. What season are you getting married in, why are you, why have you chosen that season? Have you chosen it because it's your favourite season? Have you chosen it because the light is at its longest? Have you chosen it for the food, the flowers? What is it about that season that you've been drawn to, and then go all in on it, you know, make sure that you are only using seasonal produce, make sure you are buying from a flower farm that is growing local, that is looking after their land, that is putting back into the environment. You know, buying local flowers isn't just about the flowers. It's not just about, you know, having grown and not flown and reducing that carbon footprint. It's also about biodiversity in our country. You know, having these massive amount of flower farms in our country. We are improving our countryside we're ensuring that pollinators are getting what they need, we're ensuring that wildlife tunnels are being created. It's not just about, and I think many people think, you know, they, they always go to carbon emissions. How can we reduce carbon emissions, but actually it's about so much more than that, and there are so many businesses within the wedding industry that, that, that's important to them. And you know, and it's a really good example with flowers. So sticking to your season as an absolute must, you know, really think about it and go hard on it, you know, really, really talk to your suppliers. And then the other one is talk to your suppliers; is ask the question, you know, in your checklist, when you're walking around the venue, add in the question about sustainability, where's your energy coming from? And then it's that your lights aren't on sensors that they're on all the time? Why? Why are they on all the time? Do they need to be on all the time, you know, there's so many things that we can be asking people at the beginning of your wedding planning journey, that will make a massive impact on the footprint at the end of it. If we make all the decisions up front and make sure they're all right, and be really conscious about the choices, then actually, everything's going to be much easier for you, you know, find a sustainable venue, they're going to have caterers that are, know what they're doing, they're going to be able to talk you through a plant based offering, they're going to be able to talk you through a lower waste offering. You know, so it's about finding the right people and asking the right questions.
Katherine Ann Byam 21:16
I absolutely love that great tips. My final pivot in this episode is going to be because the majority of my listeners are female business owners or senior managers. And at the moment in the UK, we're going through so much, what are your thoughts on how we can raise the consideration of ESG to those that are making these sort of critical decisions? Like I feel as if we've been talking a lot, you know, there's, we've hosted cop 26, you know, we've made so many commitments already yet today what we see is completely different. And how can we raise that consciousness?
Michelle Miles 21:56
It's so difficult, isn't it? Because right now, in the UK, I feel like our government is lost. I feel like there has been so many changes in the last few years, that there's no real leader, and where everything is falling down is around growth. And it's not about balance, and they've got it wrong. You know, we should be looking to balance our country as the triple bottom line. That's what you should be doing. And the balances are all out. And it's really tricky, I think, as a, you know, as a business owner to see where you can have an influence and to see what changes you can make beyond a local election. But you know, how can we, you know, okay, I can email my MP, but how much good is that going to do? How do we get them engaged? And I think, over the pandemic, it was really obvious that the wedding industry in particular didn't have a voice. And so you'd, the events industry fell very closely with hospitality, and they had a voice in government. The wedding's really didn't. And so during the early stages of the pandemic and the lockdowns, there was a fantastic Task Force formed, and they're still in existence, the UK wedding Task Force, and they are essentially a spokesperson, a body for the weddings industry, to try and push and get answers on things that are important to our part of the world. And so they are the people that have got us the data on how much money is spent on weddings, how many people are employed by our industry, because we don't even have our own zip code. And so it's really, really difficult to understand what, what actual size and scale we have and how much of an impact we are having. So they also pushed, and we got to be so grateful for this. They pushed for an all party parliamentary group for weddings. And we're really, really proud that we are part of the Council of Representatives for the UK wedding Task Force. So we can take our voice and what we're hearing from our members about sustainability and how we feel to government, and we can take it directly to them and have a conversation with them. And we are talking about being in the room with people from bass we're talking about being in the room with Penny Morden, who was recently in the, in the running to become the leader of the Conservative Party. These are real people that can affect real change. And so because of that Wedding Task Force, it feels like we actually have a voice and it feels like that we have the opportunity, and now a seat at the table, because we haven't up till this point. And so I'm really proud and I encourage anybody in the wedding industry to get behind the Task Force and everything they're doing with the APPG and to make your voices heard, because if we don't know how you fail then we can't predict government and we can't force change.
Katherine Ann Byam 25:04
This is really powerful. I love this idea. I did not think about forming a task force around some of the projects that we're doing. But it absolutely makes sense. And it sounds like it's already having great traction. So congratulations on that, and, like really reassuring that, that there is some some good efforts happening. Thank you so much, Michelle, tell my listeners how they can connect with your work.
Michelle Miles 25:24
So you can find us on our website. So Sustainable Wedding Alliance.com, you can find us on Instagram, and also on LinkedIn. And you can also reach out to me on LinkedIn as well. I am Michelle Miles events. And you know, I'd love to hear from anyone, in the UK or not, some of our members are global, so you know, I'd love to hear from you guys about what's happening in your part of the industry and what you're doing to make a change.
Katherine Ann Byam 25:53
Super, really wonderful to have you. Thanks for joining us.
Michelle Miles 25:56
Thank you.
Katherine Ann Byam 26:00
This podcast is brought to you today by the brand new Women In Sustainable Business Awards that kicks off in 2023. If you're a business owner who's starting a business with principles of sustainability in mind, and you want to preserve some lost skills, some handcrafting, artisanal work, or you're a social media manager supporting purpose driven brands, or you're creating fashion, or something that is relevant to the sustainability and green transformation, you are more than welcome to join us, and to get involved in these awards. Check out our group, on Facebook; Woman In Sustainable Business, or follow the podcast; Where Ideas Launch, on Instagram to find out more.