Biodegradable confetti is a phrase that you will see everywhere when planning a wedding, especially as more wedding venues move away from traditional paper and plastic confetti. However, what does biodegradable actually mean, and does the word alone tell you enough about the confetti that you are buying?

This is actually a slightly more complicated question than it first appears. After all, given enough time, an enormous number of materials will eventually break down. There is, however, quite a significant difference between something naturally returning to the environment relatively quickly and something taking years, decades or even longer to do so. This is why, when choosing biodegradable wedding confetti, we would always recommend looking beyond the word on the packet and asking what the confetti is actually made from.

For us at Ezra's Confetti, the idea is quite simple. We want our confetti to return naturally to the environment without leaving behind something that shouldn't be there. This is why our main confetti product is made from real, natural flower petals.

What is biodegradable wedding confetti?

Broadly speaking, something is biodegradable if it can be broken down naturally over time through biological processes. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that two products described as biodegradable are the same.

For example, one piece of confetti might simply be a dried rose petal, while another might be a manufactured material that has been designed to break down under particular conditions. Both could potentially be described using the word biodegradable, but what happens to them after they have been thrown could be quite different.

So, rather than simply asking whether your wedding confetti is biodegradable, it is worth going a little further. What is it actually made from? Has anything been added to it? Has it been painted, stained or dyed? What happens when it gets wet? And what is going to happen when it inevitably blows away from the immediate area where your confetti throw takes place?

These questions matter, especially when you consider that hundreds, if not thousands, of individual pieces of confetti can be thrown during a wedding.

What does biodegradable mean to us?

For us, biodegradable confetti should fit back into its surroundings as naturally as possible. We don't want it leaving conventional plastic behind, we don't want artificial paints or dyes transferring onto a venue, and we don't want something sitting around looking completely out of place after the wedding has finished.

This is one of the reasons we use natural flower petals. We take real flowers, process and professionally dry them, and turn those petals into confetti. We don't need to add paints, dyes or stains to create the finished product because, quite simply, Mother Nature has already done most of the work for us.

It also means that when our confetti lands outside, it isn't particularly out of place. Some petals might land on the lawn, others will blow into bushes or flower beds, while others will gradually be dispersed by wind and weather. Natural decomposition will then continue the process over time. We've even seen the local wildlife getting involved, including the now rather famous George the peacock, who has appeared in some of our photographs happily eating petals after a confetti throw!

What happens to natural petal confetti after a wedding?

One of the advantages of dried natural petals is that they are incredibly light. This is obviously useful when you actually throw them, because different shapes and sizes can flutter beautifully through the air and create some fantastic wedding photographs. However, those same characteristics are useful afterwards too.

Petals can be moved around by the wind and weather, some will naturally decompose and others may be picked up or eaten by wildlife. If your venue has lawns, gardens, bushes and flower beds, they also blend into those surroundings while this happens, rather than leaving lots of artificial-looking pieces scattered across the grounds.

This is particularly important for wedding venues. You might get your amazing confetti photograph and then head off to enjoy the rest of your day, but the venue is still there afterwards and has to deal with whatever you have just thrown all over its grounds!

Why don't we use dyes, paints or stains?

Confetti gets absolutely everywhere. It ends up in people's hair and clothes, children pick it up, people get it all over their hands, and inevitably some of it will be left outside where wildlife can encounter it. This is one of the reasons that we don't want to introduce unnecessary paints, dyes or stains into our natural petal confetti.

Instead, we use the colours that naturally occur within the flowers available to us. This does mean that there are occasions when we can't perfectly match a very specific wedding colour, but we think that is a reasonable compromise.

Blue is a good example. There simply aren't huge quantities of naturally blue flowers available to us, so creating a large confetti mix in one very specific blue can be difficult. Certain oranges and other very particular shades can present similar challenges. Artificially colouring petals would give us access to a much larger colour palette, but it would also mean adding something that doesn't need to be there.

So, if Mother Nature doesn't give us a particular colour, we won't dye flowers simply to manufacture it. Instead, we'll work with you to find the closest natural colours available or use another base colour to create a mix that complements your wedding.

What if my wedding flowers have been dyed?

It is also worth remembering that some of the flowers used within wedding bouquets and other floral arrangements may themselves have been professionally coloured. Florists can create some incredible arrangements using these flowers, but it does mean that we won't necessarily be able to reproduce exactly the same shade within an untreated natural petal confetti mix.

Again, we would rather be upfront about this. If you show us a particular colour and we know that we can't reproduce it naturally, we'll tell you and work with you to create something that complements it instead.

What about biodegradable paper confetti?

We also offer biodegradable paper shapes as an optional addition to our natural petal confetti, which can introduce some extra shapes and colours and look fantastic during a confetti throw. However, paper does behave differently from natural petals.

In particular, biodegradable paper generally takes longer to break down and can become wet and soggy, potentially sticking to surfaces. This is one of the reasons that some wedding venues which previously permitted biodegradable paper have now moved towards natural petal confetti only.

This doesn't mean that you shouldn't include biodegradable paper if that is what you want. It simply means that you should check with your wedding venue first. Some venues are perfectly happy with it, while others specifically state that only natural flower petals can be used.

Why are wedding venues increasingly asking for natural petal confetti?

Wedding venues have become increasingly careful about what couples are allowed to throw, and understandably so. They have to think about the impact on their grounds, buildings and surrounding environment long after the confetti photograph has been taken.

Some venues therefore allow biodegradable paper, others specify natural petals, while some will only allow confetti purchased from particular approved or recommended suppliers. We have worked directly with venues to explain where our flowers come from and how our confetti is produced, and Ezra's Confetti is now included on the recommended supplier lists of hundreds of wedding venues.

If you aren't sure what your venue allows, always check before ordering. Most venues will have their confetti policy available online, or you can ask your wedding coordinator or contact at the venue.

Eco-friendly confetti isn't only about what happens after you throw it

There is another important part of the environmental conversation too. For us, creating eco-friendly wedding confetti isn't simply about what happens to the petal after it has been thrown; it is also worth thinking about where those flowers came from in the first place.

We work with UK flower growers as well as repurposing suitable flowers from wholesalers, allowing flowers that might otherwise go to waste to be turned into confetti. We also work seasonally, using the flowers that are naturally available at different points throughout the year.

This does mean that our petal varieties change. Rather than insisting that one particular flower needs to be available every month of the year because it looks good within a mix, we work with what is growing and what is available. This gives us a changing range of colours, shapes and petal sizes throughout the seasons, while also helping us make the most of the flowers already available to us.

What should you look for when buying biodegradable wedding confetti?

Ultimately, our biggest piece of advice would be not to make your decision based entirely on the word biodegradable. Instead, look at what is actually inside the packet.

If you want natural wedding confetti, check that the petals are genuine flowers and whether they have been dyed, painted or stained. Look at whether anything else has been added to the mix and, perhaps most importantly, check exactly what your wedding venue permits. If your venue says that it only allows 100% natural petal confetti, buying something simply because it is advertised as biodegradable may not necessarily meet those requirements.

For us, natural petal confetti is the obvious choice. Admittedly, we might be a little biased, but it looks fantastic, it flutters beautifully, it works brilliantly in photographs and it allows us to create an enormous range of mixes using the natural colours and flowers available to us.

More importantly, once the confetti throw has finished, what you have scattered around your wedding venue is dried flower petals rather than conventional plastic confetti. For us, that is what biodegradable wedding confetti should really be about: not simply seeing the word biodegradable on the packet, but understanding what is actually inside it.