Tips for Planning an Eco-Friendly Wedding
Be a Natural and Organic Bride by having an Eco-Chic Wedding

Few would argue with the fact that weddings can be among the most lavish and consumption-oriented events you will ever need to plan in your lifetime.  These days, with the increasing awareness that many aspects of our daily living habits can increase the dangers to our eco system, you might have some nagging feelings of guilt about all the spending and consumption you and your guests will be doing at your wedding. 

But, if your support the idea of a sustainable lifestyle and have as one of your priorities living and promoting a “green” lifestyle, there are many ways to incorporate eco-friendliness into the planning of your wedding celebration.   Some of the many reasons to have a “green wedding” are as follows:

• Express your love for the outdoors
• Want to promote your views of protecting the earth’s resources
• Want to promote use of renewable energy and materials
• Make a statement about being less wasteful
• Choosing to make purchases that do not have some detrimental effect on human rights abuses, the exploitation of child labor and environmental devastation
• Express your support for eco-friendly charities or organizations

From the selection of your wedding venue location to selecting your wedding invitations to what kind of wedding bands you purchase, there are many ways to incorporate “green” choices in every aspect of the wedding planning process.  You, too, can make the right decisions to minimize waste and environmental impact, even at your own wedding.

Selecting Eco-Friendly Wedding Ceremony and Reception Venues

• Select an outdoor location that shows off the beauty of the outdoors such as nature preserves, parks, botanical gardens, the beach, etc.
• Use of an outdoor location in the morning or afternoon means that you’ll be able to save on the use of electricity. 
• Select an indoor location such as a local museum or art gallery that donates some of the deposit that you’ll pay to them to a good cause.  For indoor venues, if they will permit it, try to use soy candles for lighting in the early evening hours to save on electricity and are a better option to wax candles which emit harmful toxins into the air.
• Consider keeping your ceremony and reception at the same location, or close to one another, to cut down on travel by your guests from one location to the next. 
• Consider having your wedding ceremony and/or reception when the weather is mild, so as to reduce dependence on electricity to heat or cool your location.
• If the venue offers catering packages, check to see if they can use locally produced foods (or organic or fair trade), also ensure that they have eco-friendly policies in place, such as recycling and commitment to the environment.

Selecting an Eco-Friendly Wedding Dress

• Re-Use your mother’s, grandmother’s, sister’s, aunt’s, or your best friend’s wedding dress for great sentimental value as well as a great way to re-use wedding dress materials! If it doesn’t fit perfectly or you have other decorative elements you’d like on the wedding dress, you can take it to a seamstress to transform it into your own beautifully designed wedding dress.
• Think Vintage!  Try to locate a vintage wedding gown that will have you looking ever so glamorous in classic style!
• If you would rather buy a new dress, try to find one made of natural fibers such as organic silk, hemp or cotton, as a way to support merchants who use sustainably grown fibers.  For example, hemp crops actually nourish the soil in which it is grown which leaves rich farmland for rotation crops.
• Shop wedding consignment shops who carry dresses that were either never worn or worn once or twice. 
• Visit charities such as Brides Against Breast Cancer (http://bridesagainstbreastcancer.org/) where you can buy used wedding gowns and the proceeds go to a great cause -- to grant wishes for terminally ill breast cancer patients. 
•  Avoid fabrics such as polyester or taffeta which have a petroleum foundation.

Selecting an Eco-Friendly Wedding Photographer

• Make sure the professional wedding photographer you choose will be using digital cameras to take pictures at your wedding.  Using digital photography cuts down on the use of harsh, toxic chemicals, wasted paper and rolls of film that film photography requires. 
• See if the wedding photographer will let you keep the digital images after the wedding is done, so that you can post digital albums for your friends and family to view. 
• Also digital photography is usually a much more economical option than film photography with results that are just as good.  Another reason why digital photography is such a good option is because the pixel quality is excellent making pictures sharper and clearer.
• See if the wedding photographer can provide the proofs to you using a digital workflow program (an online service), instead of the usual method of processing the photographs using paper and toxic chemicals to produce the proofs.

Selecting an Eco-Friendly Honeymoon Location

• Start off by visiting websites like The International Ecotourism Society’s website (TIES) at  http://www.ecotourism.org to get some ideas of eco-friendly tourist locations, which are locations that promote the principles of ecotourism and responsible travel.   What is responsible travel?  Here are some criteria according to the TIES organization:
• minimize impact on the environment
• build environmental and cultural awareness and respect
• provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts
• provide direct financial benefits for conservation
• provide financial benefits and empowerment for local people
• raise sensitivity to host countries' political, environmental, and social climate

The TIES website has a section where you can search for eco-tourism operators and travel agents that you can contact to get ideas of some great eco-friendly honeymoon locations whether its in Africa, the Pacific, South America, Europe, the Arctic, etc.

• Do a search on the internet for eco-friendly resorts or eco-friendly B&Bs.  Note that eco-tourism is practiced at some of the most high end resorts and hotels around the world. Plus, many eco-tours offer honeymooners some of the most thrilling, challenging, fun and relaxing adventures around.
• Seek out eco-tourism travel agents who can help you plan your whole trip, from the accommodations, to getting to and from the destination of choice, as well as provide dining tips and sight seeing ideas that are all eco-friendly.
• IF you do need to fly somewhere for your honeymoon, consider planting a tree when you get home to offset the carbon emissions used on your trip.
• If you’re honeymooning locally at a B&B, check with them in advance to see if they use organic ingredients for the meals they serve.

Selecting Wedding Vendors With Eco-Friendliness In Mind

• Picking LOCAL  wedding vendors to supply goods and services for your wedding is a great way to keep transportation emissions low and a way to support local businesses. 
• If you plan to hire a wedding planner to help you with all of the planning details, see if you can locate a “green” wedding planner – they can be found all over the country now.  With their network of “green” vendors and ideas, you’ll be able to save a lot of time from having to hunt them down yourself.

Selecting Eco-Friendly Wedding Invitations and Other Wedding-Related Materials

• Think recycled paper to reduce paper and tree consumption – once you have your shortlist assembled of wedding invitation vendors, ask them if they can print your wedding invitations on recycled paper (that is free of chlorine)  or material that is tree-free (made from hemp, banana stalk, sugarcane, coffee beans, organic cotton, or recycled denim, to name a few).  Have no fear, invitations on recycled paper can be really beautiful!
• Go paperless - Instead of handing out paper invitations, consider creating a wedding website where your guests can print off directions, rsvp to your wedding, find hotel and travel information, and so on.
• Create a DVD wedding invitation which can be pretty easy to make.
• Have your guests RSVP by email instead of by sending back RSVP cards.
• If you prefer to use the traditional method of mailing invitations out, then consider using online invitations for the other wedding related events such as the bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner, the post-wedding brunch, bachelor party, and so on. 
• Consider having all of your invitation and wedding stationery items, such as table number cards, placecards, etc., hand-calligraphed – not only is calligraphy opulent and elegant, but is is also very eco-friendly because the inks normally used for machine printing processes are toxic.
• Use invitations made of biodegradable, seed-embedded paper that can be planted later on to grow flowers.
• Keep the invitations simple, less is more.
• Instead of the traditional multi-component invitation set and reply cards, use smaller and less pieces, or even a postcard or a one piece folded design.
• For your paper selection, stay away from bright whites as they use a lot of chemical bleach.
• Ask your invitations printer if they can use vegetable-based inks.
• For placecards, go paperless and paint or stamp the guests’ names on stones, or tie a ribbon around a flower (using left over ribbon of course) with the guest’s name and table number on it.  Or use smaller strips of paper instead of the usual business card size placecard – on paper that is made of 100% recycled content.  If you want to forgo the placecards completely, have a poster sized list where guests can locate their name and table number.  Or, have the waiters escort each guest to their table.

Selecting Eco-Friendly Wedding Flowers and Arrangements

• Use pesticide-free and herbicide-free (organic) flowers.
• choose a local, organic florist to prepare your bouquets and centerpieces.
• Considering using a farmer’s market to create your bouquets or table centerpieces or use potted plants or small perennials which can be given away to guests at the end of the event to plant in their own gardens.
• Use simple flowers in your arrangements that are indigenous to your local area.
• Use in-season flowers to save on costs and reduce the environmental cost (toxic emissions) of having non-local flowers shipped in for your wedding.
• Plan to reuse the flowers from your ceremony and the bridal party to decorate the reception area.
• Grow your own flowers from bulbs such as daffodils, tulips or begonias.
• Use dried or silk flowers and then donate them afterwards to a local hospital or nursing home.
• Create flower arrangements with non-flower alternatives, such as blooms made of fabric, beads, crystals, etc.
• Uses vases, bamboo bowls, recycled glass, or twig baskets for your centerpieces.
• Ask your florist not to use floral foam in your arrangements which is made of toxic products such as formaldehyde and phenol.

Selecting Eco-Friendly, Organic Catering for your Wedding Reception

• Consider serving vegetarian or organic entrees – food prepared without the use of environmentally harmful pesticides or chemical additives.
• For the plates and tableware, avoid using disposable items unless they are made of biodegradable, compostable materials such as sugar cane, cornstarch or tropical leaves.
• Serve draft beer in glasses
• Use cloth/linen napkins
• Do a plated dinner rather than buffet so that there won’t be as much extra food left over after the event.
• Think lighter fare that will mesh beautifully with the surroundings of the venue location
• Consider serving organic wine that doesn’t contain any pesticides regularly used in the field. If organic wine is not available in your area, consider purchasing regular wine locally, close to your venue location to minimize the CO2 emitted through the vehicle transportation of the goods to your venue.  Also, similarly, opt for organic beer, juice and fair trade coffee.
• If you are serving meat, consider free range meat and chicken – prepared without the use of chemical growth hormones.  But, try to minimize your meat dishes since raising cattle requires a significantly higher amount of energy than growing vegetables.
• Consider serving organic, locally-grown fare, including seasonal produce, farm friendly cheeses and meats, and fish from sustainable sources.
• Consider having BBQ food made on BBQ grills at your wedding – they put out less emissions than your typical oven. Almost anything can be grilled these days – from vegetables, fish, chicken and steak!
• Ask the reception hosting facility if they recycle, and if not, provide bins for the empty glass and plastic bottles and aluminum cans which will quickly pile up during the wedding reception.  At the end of the evening, see if one of the groomsmen can deliver the recyclable goods to a donation bin the day after the wedding.
• Whatever leftover food you have after your wedding reception, donate it to local charities. 
• Provide your guests with organic food that is so good and delicious, that they will be surprised to find out that its eco-friendly.

Selecting Eco-Friendly Wedding Favors and Gifts

• instead of traditional favors, donate a specified amount of funds per guest toward your favorite environmental organization. 
• Give plantable wedding favors to your guests – such as tree saplings, potted plants, bulbs, flowers, or seeds that your guests can plant in their own gardens.  There are many options for personalized plantable favors, some are even available as bookmarks.
• If you are giving out traditional wedding favors, try using eco-friendly favor box packaging, for example, favor boxes made from 100% recycled content.  This way, after your guests are done eating the favor goodie inside the box, there won’t be extra waste going into the landfill from your wedding favors!
• For bridal party gifts, give each of them a bamboo towel set with natural organic soap and body butters or an eco friendly gift basket full of an assortment of green products and treats custom made for each member of your bridal party.
• If you want to give out chocolate for your wedding favors, go for delicious organic chocolate.
• If you are going to have a personalized gift tag on your wedding favor, try to have them printed on rice paper or recycled material.
• As gifts for your bridal party, give gifts that are “non-consumptive” such as a gift card to get a massage.  Or give them a gift card to a health food store, or organic wine, organic coffee, organic soap, organic jam, jellies or honey, or even organic soy or beeswax candles.

Go Green With Wedding-Related Transportation

• Rather than having everyone take separate vehicles – all the while burning all those fossil fuels while in transit, have guests double or triple up and share the ride to and from your wedding together.  Or, provide transportation for them in the way of a stretch limo, hybrid cards, vans, etc.
• Don’t do a destination wedding – which involves a lot of transportation not only for yourself but also all of your guests.
• If you have your heart set on having a limousine for yourself and your groom on your wedding day, have your bridal party ride with you as well.  Or, arrive at your wedding in a horse drawn carriage, or a hybrid or compact car.

Eco-Friendly Decorating Tips for your Wedding and Reception

• Try to re-use a lot of the decorations and floral arrangements from your rehearsal dinner or wedding ceremony for your wedding reception.
• Try to have local sources for all your wedding decoration needs.
• For wedding toss or confetti, release doves or butterflies instead, or use real or dried flower petals.  Dried lavender flowers are a wonderful option.  Don’t use real rice – its harmful to birds.
• Instead of having music that uses a lot of equipment (i.e., a band), why not hire an acoustic musician which can be just as charming and enjoyable as a band.
• Skip the extras – for example, instead of placing a menu at every table setting, have only 1 or 2 per table.  For table programs, keep it as short as possible and eliminate any unnecessary pages.   You can also print fewer programs – for example, one per family or couple.

Go Green with your Wedding Gift Registry

• Check out idofoundation.org where you can create a wedding gift registry with the I Do Foundation's partner stores (such as Target, REI and Cooking.com) and up to 10% of gift purchases will be donated to your favorite charity.
• Add camping or other outdoor equipment to your wedding gift registry.
• Consider not having a wedding gift registry.
• You can suggest to guests ahead of time which eco-friendly charities you would like them to donate to – as your wedding gift.
• Keep your wedding registry list short – don’t add anything that is non-essential.
• Register with eco-friendly gift registries such as branchhome.com, gaiam.com, Global Exchange Fair Trade Online Store (http://store.gxonlinestore.org/giftregistry.html), greenfeet.com, greensage.com, and vivaterra.com, to name a few.

Selecting Eco-Friendly Wedding Bands

• Have your jeweler use recycled gold or silver and fair-labored gem stones to make your wedding bands.
• Ask the jeweler for the certificate of origin to make sure you are not buying a “blood diamond” – diamonds that are sold to fund civil wars and the like.
• Use a family ring, an heirloom ring, or a vintage ring.
• Choose silver over gold – silver mining has less harmful effects on the environment than doe gold.
• Buy a conflict-free diamond from Canada which takes extra measures to protect the environment while yielding some of the most beautiful diamonds.

Extra “Green” Touches/Suggestions For Your Wedding Day

• At the tail end of your wedding ceremony, plant a tree – and make a promise to return to plant additional trees at anniversaries or to celebrate the birth of children until you have a grove that celebrates your family!
• After the wedding reception, wash any clothes, linens or dishes without chemical detergents.
• Keep your guest list short – fewer attendees means less transportation and less waste.
• Save all the Styrofoam packaging peanuts that come with all the gifts you’ll be receiving and take them to a local shipping center for them to reuse.
• For your wedding cake – find a baker who can use organic, natural and fair trade ingredients and free-range or organic eggs.
• For your bridal beauty program, use hair stylists and make-up artists who use organic or natural mineral products which have no environmentally harmful ingredients.
• Bachelorette Party/Bachelor Party: plan a day or weekend of outdoor activities or try using businesses for your activities that have good eco-friendly policies.

As you can see, there are so many ways to reduce your carbon footprint for your wedding, without sacrificing elegance, beauty and quality!  From selecting your wedding venue, to deciding on your wedding invitations, to planning your wedding reception menu, any steps you take to incorporate eco-friendly ideas into your wedding planning will help you to convey your desire for a sustainable planet and do your part to preserving the earth for generations to come.