Tips & Ideas for a Planet Saving Wedding!

By Georgina Clatworthy

Having the wedding you want could come at a price that is as hefty on the environment as it is on your pocket. If the idea of using eco-friendly & ethical products appeals to you, then here are some ideas & tips on achieving a dream ‘green’ wedding:

Bridal Wear – Seek out designers who use organic & ethically produced fabrics. Wear a vintage gown – perhaps one that is in the family & which can be altered or restyled if necessary. Hire your outfits instead of purchasing them.

Accessories & Jewellery – Vintage is a big look this year & it’s good for the environment! Check out EBay or charity stores for original pieces. There is a big trend for ethical & fairly traded goods, which extends to all sorts of accessories including shoes & handbags, shop online if there is no where locally to buy. If you buy new jewellery look for pieces made with recycled materials & conflict free diamonds.

Hair & Beauty – Use a stylist who only uses organic or natural products which contain no environmentally harmful ingredients. Follow this guideline if you are buying your own.

Stationery, Albums & Guestbooks – Recycled papers are readily available & many fairtrade products will use recycled materials. Only send your guests the minimum amount of information e.g just the invitation. Omit the usual inclusions such as RSVP cards, maps, directions, menus etc. Ask guests to reply by phone or online either via a special website or by email. Use E-invites & send to all your guests via email to cut down on paper & postage.

Favors – Try food, seeds or plant products which are readily available locally. If you use boxes or papers make sure they are recycled or can be recycled.

Wedding Cakes – Have your cake made with organic or free-range ingredients.

Confetti – Use confetti made with recycled papers or use bird friendly seed. Flower petals from a local source also makes good ‘green’ confetti. Do not use rice – not bird friendly!

Candles – Buy candles made from natural products such as bee’s wax or soybean wax. You can also look for fair trade candles.

Flowers – Buy your flowers from a local producer or from a fair trade florist sourced online.

Transport – The key here is to try to avoid covering too many miles over the course of the day. Hold your event locally preferably in one location or in two venues within walking distance of each other. Instead of hiring cars for everyone use a Richardshaw, horse & carriage or even bicycles! If you want to hire cars try & get cars which run on bio-fuels or LPG. If you have a lot of guests to move around consider hiring a coach.

Entertainment – Hire entertainers who are local to you & who won’t have to travel many miles to attend your wedding. Acoustic muscians would cut down on power usage.

Venue Decorations – As with favors & flowers source local products, fair trade & recyclable. companies who hire out decorations for venues are a good choice & can provide you with table linens, chair covers, decorations, flowers etc. Artificial arrangements are also a good choice which can be re-used afterwards or given as gifts.

Catering & Beverages – Source local companies who can provide you with organic & free range produce .

Venues – Pick locations which are close to you & your guests. Find out about what is in any packages offered to you such as catering & decorations – are these products locally sourced/grown? do they use organic/free range produce? Ask about their environmental policies such as recycling.

Marquee Hire – Find companies who can offer marquees made with natural materials & wood from sustainable sources.

Photographers – Digital processing is the norm these days but check anyway that your photographer uses this process. Digital photography cuts down on paper wastage & the use of chemicals in the developing process. Ask for your preview images to uploaded to a web page or on to disk so you can view them without the need for processing first.

Honeymoons – Take your honeymoon in your home country with no air travel. If you want to go abroad look at your options for travel by rail or boat. If flying is unavoidable check out the travel company’s green credentials & environmental policies.

We liked this article: you can see it here: http://www.1weddingsource.com/blog/eco-friendly-wedding/1229/

We found a company right here in New York state called Tree Beggings that offers a variety of different gifts for all types of occasions, all of which can be planted. Almost all of the items from this store come with free personalization in the form of little cards, slips that attach to the gifts, colors, and even packaging. We chose blue spruce seedlings wrapped in natural burlap with a green raffia bow. We figured that these fit the theme of our wedding best (the Adirondack woods) and had the lowest impact on the environment.

I was able to order one seedling as a sample just to make sure we liked them before ordering all 50 that we will need. I think this is a good idea for anyone who has to purchase mass quantities of something and isn’t able to look at it first.

We realize that not everyone is able or will want to plant a tree after going home from our wedding, and we have a plan for that. We are going to put a little sign (in one of the picture frames we bought from Rustic Blend - see blog post here) on the table with the seedlings letting our guests know that if they do not want to take a tree and will not plant it, that it’s ok to leave it on the table. We are also going to encourage any of our guests with larger property or a greater desire to take care of a tree to take more than one if there are some left over. Then, if all else fails, we will take the rest of the seedlings home and plant them ourselves in our own yard.

We are also going to use one of these seedlings during our vow renewal ceremony in which we have incorporated a tree planting ritual. I think this will be a really nice way to tie it all together and promote the idea that we are all on the same planet and our love is universal.

Read Kristen’s Blog: It is a wonderful story.
http://weddingforreal.blogspot.com/2011/03/wedding-favors-tree-seedlings.html