AN environment-conscious couple are planning a frugal Lake District wedding with a difference - all the food they plan to serve to their guests is destined for landfill.

Nick Baker and Charlotte Gunner will repeat their vows in Hawkshead on June 17 before setting down their 140 guests to a feast of goodies that would otherwise have gone for scrap.

The eyebrow-raising move is a bid by the couple to raise awareness of food wastage in the UK.

The catering for the wedding will be provided by the Real Junk Food Project's Wigan branch, a charity that intercepts perfectly good food from wholesalers before it goes to waste to sell in pay-as-you-feel cafes around the country.

The charity estimates 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted every year across the world.

"It's kind of how we live our lives in general," said Ms Gunner, a 30-year-old neurologist who was brought up in Hawkshead. "You hear about the consumerism and waste that goes on in big weddings and we thought we don't do that in the rest of our lives so why should we for our wedding?"

The green touches to the wedding do not stop with the food though. The clothes worn by the bridal and groom parties, including the wedding dress, will have been bought in charity shops.

Decorations are to be created from old bicycle wheels, origami will be made from junk mail, flowers are being home grown by the bride's mother, and the cakes will even be made from vegetables.

"The ethos of the day, and of our lives together, is that of an ethical foundation," added Ms Gunner, who now lives in Inverness. "We are aware that weddings can be an opportunity for over-expense and excess and are doing our best to minimise our contribution to this trend.

"Food waste is a massive issue. Tackling it has to come from raising awareness but there definitely needs to be some sort of policy change to make it less easy for food to be wasted."