Yes, Even Weddings Can Be Green!

Wedding season is upon us and there is nothing quite as special as planning your day. Elegant gowns, elaborate flower arrangements, limos, fancy foods and party favors are wonderful, but expensive and create a lot of waste, clearly impacting your carbon footprint.  A green wedding is just as lovely, and perhaps even more unique.  What makes a wedding green?

Choosing an outdoor venue is an obvious start.    A farm, the beach, a botanical garden or arboretum, your family’s back yard are all green options, and even greener if your wedding is during the day when you don’t need electricity.  If you prefer an indoor wedding, choose a green hotel with an environmental mission.

I know evites are super green, but I prefer traditional invitations which can also be eco-friendly.  Paper companies offer some clever, green papers beyond recycled such as paper made from made from cotton, bamboo, grass clippings, even recycled blue jeans, and they are beautiful!   Some papers even have plantable seeds imbedded in them.  Your guests will always remember your special day as they watch a plant grow from the invitation seeds.  Check out these tree free eco-invitations!

Choose locally grown, in season flowers instead of imported ones, which are usually heavily sprayed with chemicals and grown under horrible working conditions.  If there are some exotic flowers you want, make sure they are VeriFlora certified sustainably grown ones.  Potted plants or even edible arrangements make lovely and unusual centerpieces.  

Consider hiring a caterer who specializes in locally grown, seasonal foods.  Local food is fresher, has a much smaller carbon footprint and is more delicious.

Most girls dream of the perfect wedding dress.  A more eco-friendly and economical option to an expensive designer dress worn only once is a vintage or a pre-worn dress. Restructuring a family wedding dress into your style and taste is always a lovely tribute to a family heirloom and definitely a green choice. There are some socially conscious designers who use natural fabrics like silk or cotton.

Being green doesn’t necessarily mean giving anything up – it means being aware and going with a more sustainable alternative.

Information compiled from greenweddings.com

For more green tips, visit greenwithbetsy.com.