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| Photo from http://ruffledblog.com/eco-friendly-handmae-wedding/ |
This article appeared on GreenAnswers.com by Paulina Perlin.
With a little thought, any bride or groom can make green one of the wedding colors. Read up on some simple tricks to make your big day a bit more eco-friendly.
Remember an invitation for Mother Nature
Think
about how many invitations you’re sending out, and how many trees
you’re killing in the process. Try using paper made from recycled
materials for your invitations and envelopes. Alternatively, if you’re
not high-strung about traditions and formalities, you could skip the
snail-mail entirely and send out e-vites.
Big weddings can mean big problems
While
you’re thinking about what kind of invitation you’ll be using, you
should also be thinking about just how many you’ll be sending out. I get
it: it’s hard not to invite every aunt, uncle, and cousin twice
removed, but whittling down your guest list from two hundred to one
hundred can benefit you in more than one way. First of all, fewer people
means fewer people that need to be fed and fewer people that need to
drive or fly to get to your wedding. And secondly, fewer people also
means a more intimate (and more romantic) affair.
Think about transportation
Encourage
your guests to arrange carpools in advance, or pick a venue that’s
close to a train or bus stop (most big city sites are). Consider having
the bride and groom arrive by horse-and-carriage: green, but also a nice
wedding touch. And finally, try to pick a location at least somewhat
close to where you live; not only will it cut down on transportation
miles, but it will also likely please local guests.
Food for thought
Most
weddings will leave guests—and rubbish bins—stuffed. In addition to having
way more food than anyone could possibly eat in a day, wedding dinners
are also usually loaded with meat, meat, and more meat. Rather than
trying to impress your guests with flashy catering, go for a few
thoughtful dishes that will still leave everyone feeling light enough to
dance. Go for organic food. And chop a few meat dishes from the menu;
your planet, your vegetarian guests, and your wallet will all give you a hearty thanks.
Something borrowed is something green
Before
shopping for wedding dresses, I never knew just how much fabric those
suckers used. Ball-gown-style dresses can have up to ten (ten!)
petticoats, and some dresses weigh as much as twenty-five pounds. While
every bride wants her dress to be special, we need to face the truth
here: wedding dresses are fairly generic. You don’t need a custom-made
or even new dress; instead, try checking out a consignment shop to find a
used dress. Because they haven’t been worn much, the dresses are still
in fairly good condition and any problem with fit can be addressed by a
good tailor.
Ask for green gifts
This
one’s pretty simple. You’re going to get loads of presents on your
wedding day, so might as well give a gift to Mother Nature as well. Ask
your guests to make donations to your favorite charities, or request
eco-friendly products.
All
in all, don’t let your special day be obscured by materialism. It’s not
about the swank of your ceremony; it’s about the choice to spend the
rest of your life with someone you love.
To choose an eco gift in Australia visit Biome Eco Stores.
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