 Calling all eco-conscious brides!! You are engaged and planning the wedding of your dreams. Congratulations! There are many things to consider as you embark on the wedding planning process.
The first thing you ought to consider is how plan your wedding better, by planning it green. There are a multitude of ways to plan and pull off an eco-conscious wedding from beginning to end.
This is the first in a series of articles to help you have earth-friendly nuptials. This piece should help you tick off the biggest things on your to do list in a greener, better way, like the invitations, the rings, the attire, the flowers, and the venue.
To start off, use a website, like TheKnot.com to guide and drive your planning, rather than paper checklists. You will be organized and green all at the same time. Just imagine the satisfaction of checking things off your wedding planning check list and all the while saving trees.
Whatever you do to green your wedding, make sure you tell people about it. Gently but explicitly clue in your fiancé, family, friends, and wedding party to your green wedding intentions. Hopefully these important people will have the greenest of intentions, too, and support your green wedding goals.
The numbers. They say the devil is in the details and when planning your wedding the details lie in the numbers. The quantity of all aspects of the wedding, e.g., number of guests, invitations, flowers, etc., will directly influence the ecological impact of your wedding. Bear this in mind when it comes to the carbon footprint left behind by your big day. You don’t have to drastic measures and cut your guest list in half just to conserve fuel, but take these suggestions to heart as write your guest list and make all your plans for one of the most memorable days of your life.
The invitations. Take a second to think about all the paper involved with planning a wedding. There are engagement announcements, save the date cards, shower invitations, shower thank you notes, wedding invitations, ceremony programs, place cards, menu cards, wedding announcements, and thank you notes. All of these paper products for wedding preparation should be printed on recycled paper. Be sure to include verbiage on all of these items to acknowledge that they are printed on recycled paper and encourage your guests recycle the invitations, thank yous, etc. after your big day. Here are a few great sites for purchasing recycled invites, thank yous, and more: Seal and Send, Invite Site, Pristine Planet, and Formal Invitations.
The rings. Green and wedding rings might not seem like a logical pairing. But, you can make a green choice for the perfect symbol of your love by buying eco-friendly rings. Vintage diamonds from local jewelry stores or estate sales are a great way to find unique diamonds and gold and repurpose them for you and your fiancĂ©. EBay is also a great source for reclaimed, repurposed, and vintage wedding jewelry. You might also consider diamonds or rings inherited from someone in your family, like a grandparent or mother. These are green choices with sentimental value, too. Fair trade gold wedding rings and diamonds are another excellent source of eco-conscious jewels. Leber Jewler’s site is “the first fine jewelry collection to combine conflict free diamonds, fairly traded colored gemstones and environmentally conscious precious metals”. You should also be sure to avoid blood diamonds as you choose your rings.
Here are a couple other excellent sources for ecologically responsible jewelry:
- GreenKarathas an variety of recycled gold wedding rings and they do custom pieces, too.
- Sumiche Jewelry Co. uses Certified Green Gold and Platinum with only certified Conflict Free diamonds.
The dress & the tux. Wedding gowns and tuxedos are quite often construced of synthetic materials whose production pollutes the environment. To avoid this, consider a vintage dress from a local shop. You could also borrow a dress from your mother, grandmother, sister or cousin for sentimental appeal (and it will tick the “something borrowed” off your to do list!). You might also consider a dress made from renewable and eco-friendly materials like organic cotton, hemp, or bamboo. Wholly Jo’s is a great source for organic and fair trade wedding gowns.
The flowers. There are a million choices for flowers, from lilies to lavender to roses to Ranunculus. For earth-friendly flowers, buy locally grown and in-season flowers to reduce carbon footprint impact. If you are feeling ambitious, you could buy them fresh at your local farmer's market to be assembled the day of the ceremony (it might be wise to enlist the help of your bridal party in this endeavor). Organic fresh flowers are also a green option, particularly if they can be purchased locally.
Make your flowers work for you. Keep focused on the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle, of course). Reuse your flowers from the wedding ceremony by making them into table decorations at the reception. For example, bridal party bouquets can be placed in vases at each girl’s seat for instant decoration. Larger arrangements can be placed throughout the reception site for splashes of beautiful fresh color. Flowers can also be used to snazz up the dance floor. After your big day passes, donate the flowers to a local hospital or senior center. You can also repurpose the flowers after the wedding to brighten the homes of your family and the wedding party.
The venue. To reduce your carbon footprint, aim to have the ceremony venue, the reception site, and the hotel in close proximity to one another. This will reduce the carbon footprint from transportation and also add convenience for guests. Try to choose LEED-certified building if you can. Be sure your hosts at these facilities know of your green intentions, too, so they can help you in your quest for a green wedding, e.g., recycled paper napkins, reusing hotel towels, etc.
Hopefully these tips will help you in planning your big day… Better and greener! Stay tuned for the next piece in this series! (And if you want to calculate the carbon offset for your wedding, try this wedding calculator.)
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