Michelle Miles

I’m Michelle, hi! I’m the Founder and force behind the Sustainable Wedding Alliance. I’ve been working in the events and wedding industry for over 20 years, running, producing and curating weddings and events for a diverse group of clients and couples. Having been a business owner since 2009, I understand the challenges that companies face from all sides of sustainability, balancing people, profit and planet.

Before I founded the Sustainable Wedding Alliance, living sustainably had been a personal passion of mine for many years. Starting around the time I had my first child, I became more and more aware of the throwaway society we were living in and wanted to make a change both to the way we’re living our lives, but also to the way I was planning events for my clients. Fast forward a few years and I’m proud to say that it became a core focus in both my personal and working life.

As with so much of sustainability, the world is ever changing and to ensure that I can keep the Alliance at the forefront of these changes I’m also a proud Associate of the Institute for Environmental Management & Assessment.

Why did you start the Sustainable Wedding Alliance?

I started the Sustainable Wedding Alliance in response to the number of businesses I was working with in the wedding industry that wanted to become more sustainable but just didn’t know where to start.

The downtime that the pandemic forced on the wedding and events industry gave me the time and headspace to be able to develop the Alliance. It was clear to me that there was a need for a place that people could come together, learn about how they could make their businesses more sustainable, share their experiences and help each other.