How to make your wedding greener
Nov 14th, 2007 by katesaltfleet
Let me introduce a weekly series for your delights - Wedding Wednesdays. The thinking behind this being that it will keep wedding talk strictly in its place and prevent it from taking over the blog :)
1 - Trim your guest list. Unless it is really important to you to have everyone you’ve ever known at your wedding, be ruthless in culling the numbers. Fewer invitations (recycled of course) means fewer trees needing to be felled, fewer guests travelling to your big day will reduce the “carbon footprint” of the event. You could have a “virtual wedding” for those who live far away.
2. Stay local. Get married in your home town and have your reception do in the vicinity. Choose a reception venue within walking distance from your church / registry office, and show off to all the passers-by. Use local suppliers which will help the local economy and reduce travelling emissions.
3. Choose flowers that are in season and haven’t been flown in from across the globe. Maybe you could buy those which are organically grown, reducing pesticides?
4. Go for a stylish reception that doesn’t involve lots of favours and things that just end up in the bin at the end of the day. Avoid disposible cutlery and plates.
5. On that note, provide biodegradable confetti for guests to shower you with.
6. How about a menu which includes lots of seasonal, local produce? Yummy!
7. Consider where you are going on honeymoon. Can you honeymoon somewhere you don’t have to fly to? Alternatively, if you have your heart set on a romantic getaway somewhere exotic, how about carbon offsetting?
7. Stay away from bridal magazines. They are nought but advertising to entice you into excessive consumerism by playing on your dreams and insecurities. Not to mention the trees felled for their production. Resist! Resist!!
8. Go secondhand where possible. Try E-bay or local papers for second-hand wedding dresses. Most people only wear their dress once, so what’s the fuss? Also, it’s lucky to have “something borrowed”, so this is the time you can ask to borrow your friend’s fantasic diamond necklace and she won’t mind.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to find a friend with a diamond necklace… wish me luck!
