Green Wedding Tips

Article provided by The Wedding Planner School

Reducing the carbon footprint is very important but how do you ensure that you are environmentally responsible when it comes to your wedding. The Wedding Planner School gives their top ten tips for making your wedding not only eco-friendly that will also help to keep it in budget….

1. Keep it Local – Choose a wedding venue that is local to you or to the majority of your guests, which reduces carbon monoxide and other car emissions and saves money on fuel. When it comes to researching suppliers and venues think local and use the internet and telephone to do most of the research for your shortlist.
2. Potted Decorations – Instead of cut flowers that are generally imported from Holland or Africa and die a few days after your wedding, source potted plants & flowers that are grown locally thus reducing your carbon footprint and ensuring fair trade. Consider having organic non-genetically modified plants, which can be used both for decoration and given as favours or gifts at the end of the day. If you prefer the idea of candles adding to the ambience opt for those made from soyawax rather then beeswax.
3. Stationery & Communications – Using the internet and telephones to invite your guests reduces the need for paper, ink and postage. E-reply cards should also make for quicker responses. Where invitations need to be sent in hard copy choose a simple design on chlorine-free paper with organic inks or opt for a postcard design saving paper and money and don’t forget to recycle stationery such as Orders of Service. Consider a wedding website to provide details, directions and a gift list without doing any printing.
4. Wedding Planner - The Wedding Planner School offers a free graduate wedding planner service for brides nationwide. If you are enjoying planning your eco-friendly wedding so much you want it to last forever book yourself onto a course to learn how to turn your passion into a successful career, money saving tips and how to avoid nasty surprises!
5. Fashionable Green – Vintage dresses are very fashionable so you can be socially responsible and bang-on-trend. Consider renting or borrowing a dress or alternatively have a dress made to measure with locally sourced fabrics. Charity shops do second hand dresses, which are so popular that in 2007 stocks were exhausted, and you can donate them back afterwards.
6. Rings – Buy antique rings instead of new ones as diamonds, platinum, silver and gold always have to be imported and may contain blood diamonds.
7. Food Miles – Opt for locally sourced, organic food, which is in season. Thus reducing food miles and the use of chemical fertilisers.
8. Gifts – If you have already set up home have an ethical gift list so that your guests can make donations of time or money to charity.
9. Transport – A romantic horse-drawn carriage is a very eco-friendly way to travel to your venue or you might want to walk if it is nearby. Imagine how beautiful a procession of your guests led by you and new husband would look strolling through town. If you want to arrive by car consider using a regular car rather than a limousine or vintage car, which only do about ten miles to the gallon.
10. The Honeymoon – You don’t have to go abroad to enjoy a wonderful honeymoon so consider honeymooning in the UK or if you do want to head abroad use public transport to reach your destination. Some travel agents will actually calculate the carbon footprint resulting from the honeymoon so you can plant trees to offset the carbon emissions.

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