Here at Abby Garden, we aren’t just luxury florists. We are also leaders in the field of sustainable wedding flowers. Over the past years, we have conceptualized, designed, and produced groundbreaking processes, tools, and mechanics for foam-free floral designs that have evaded florists for decades. We are deeply passionate about caring for our planet while creating evocative, sophisticated floral designs for weddings and events. When it comes to sustainable wedding flowers, we pretty much wrote the book. Here’s a brief overview of what you need to know when thinking about sustainability in the floral event industry!
The Hazards of Flower Foam
Most florists use foam to create their designs. They’ll stick the stems into a stiff flower foam to help the installation keep its shape. Unfortunately, this foam is hazardous for the florists handling it, and terrible for the environment.
Flower foam is essentially plastic. Microplastics and the accompanying toxins (specifically phenol and formaldehyde) leach into the air and water, harming people and the land. Because it is plastic, flower foam cannot be composted and instead gets dumped into the landfill after the event. For every Abby Garden event, we create between six and eight 45-gallon bags of compost and only two of landfill waste. Imagine if we were tossing all ten bags into the landfill! And then multiply that times every event every florist does each year. The implications are staggering.
Foam Free Designs: Sustainable Wedding Flowers
Instead of using hazardous, wasteful flower foam, we have coined a new method of designing floral arrangements. Most of our designs include a reusable base, chicken wire, and birch branches. This is better for everyone on our team, your wedding guests, and the environment!
Some couples wonder if foam-free designs can truly be as lush and beautiful as designs made with foam. The answer is yes, they can! In fact, they’re often more dynamic and abstract with levels of depth and movement that foam simply can’t achieve. However, designing sustainable wedding flowers completely foam-free is challenging. It requires greater composition skills and visual mastery, making foam-free florists of a higher caliber than many others. Years of experience working without foam has made Abby Garden florists masters with design and color composition!
Are You Ready for Sustainable Wedding Flowers?
Choosing a foam-free florist is one of the best ways to make your wedding flowers more sustainable. If you’re getting married and want an eco-friendly wedding day, explore our floristry services! Or, if you’re a florist ready to make the change to foam-free, check out our sustainable florist education. From an intensive guide to foam-free floristry to one-on-one mentoring sessions, we have so many resources to help you create sustainable floral designs for your clients.
“Thank you for sharing so many foam free tips, they have helped me immensely in my transition to foam-free. I haven’t used any foam yet this year and making it a goal to not use any at all for my events! Really incredible to see the scale of events and the beautiful designs you create while being so sustainable and economically friendly as well!” Nora, Kingsley Floral Co
Take it from Nora, switching to foam-free designs doesn’t need to feel impossible. We love helping florists make the switch and create more sustainable wedding flowers for everyone.
Photographers (in order):
8/26/2025
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