Wedding-Carbon-Footprint
Reduction
How to minimize your wedding-carbon-footprint using green-wedding-guide
plans suited to eco-conscious brides and grooms, is becoming more and
more popular. This type of environmentally-friendly wedding is appealing
more and more to couples, as it can save money, and protect the environment
at the same time.
A Green Wedding Is A Very Personal Choice
The hype, the excitement, all of the bells and whistles associated with
a wedding day, isn't this what so many girls dream of?
With so many couples having such a strong concern for our environment,
many couples are asking themselves what seems right for them?
Shouldn't they consider cutting down their wedding-carbon-footprint and opting for an eco-friendly-wedding instead?
The fact is, billions of dollars are spent on millions of wedding celebrations
every year.
Stop for a moment though, and think in terms of the tons of
expense and waste that results.
Mountains of garbage from paper products like invitations, wedding favors,
food and flowers to name a few are the result.
What about the expense of the wedding attire? Where will the bride get her
dress, at what cost, and what will be done with it later?
When have any of us ever worn a bridesmaid dress twice?
The green bride of today wants to balance what is trendy with concerns for
the environment as well, by mixing green living ideas with her own green wedding
plans, and coming up with a lovely result. It would be a good idea to tell
your family, and friends about these concerns. They may be inspired to
contribute some great ideas towards the cause.
How lavish you want everything to be, will be reflected to some degree in the
expenditures, just like with the planning of any kind of wedding. It's about the
level of green you want it to be.
Eco-Friendly wedding planners and vendors out there realize this, and are becoming
more plentiful to the the eco-conscious brides and grooms.
They know they need
to provide knowledge and services in the form of a green-wedding-guide to accomodate this increasing demand for wedding-carbon-footprint reduction.
They also acknowledge there are a variety of choices that can increase costs, but as
they say, it's based on how big and how green you want to be.
Best tip? Think "simplicity" according to the Wedding Planners if you want to reduce your wedding-carbon-footprint.
Your Eco-Friendly-Wedding Venue
A natural and scenic daytime backdrop can provide natural lighting, natural
seating, not many decorations may be necessary, the natural surroundings will
take care of that. This can reduce the wedding-carbon-footprint of high cost energy and overall waste and expense of extra lighting.
Consider getting married during the daytime hours on a beach, in a park,
in someone's beautiful backyard, or in a botanical garden. Have your
ceremony somewhere that holds a special meaning to one or both of you.
You can also check that the place you decide on will benefit from the fee
you pay (if you have to) towards an environmental cause they are involved in.
Planning an Island wedding? Try San Juan Island for a small carbon footprint wedding. It's a unique destination with orca whales, a quiet atmosphere, and great food, and many lovely wedding locations. Come and see!
By the way, ask your guests not to throw confetti. It's not good for birds, so throw rice or birdseed instead.
Photo credit: phaewilk from morguefile.com
Use your scenic backdrop to influence your wedding theme. Scenic beauty is the best theme wedding decoration. Check out "Bachelorette Wedding Ideas" to get ideas for
Wedding Themes
.
Guest List and Wedding Invitations
Keep it simple and trim your list to only the closest family members and
personal friends. The smaller the group, the smaller your
wedding-carbon-footprint will be in terms of everything you have to provide.
There are options available on how to invite people to your wedding.
You can opt for making your own invitations or take advantage of other eco-friendly
ways of announcing your special day, and all done according to
Wedding Invitation Etiquette
in an eco-friendly way.
Wedding Attire
The eco-friendly dress does exist, and takes into huge consideration the fabrics used
to make it, and also how and where to get your dress.
From modest, to used, to eco-chic, there is an
Organic Wedding Dress
for you. Consider organic fiber and hemp-silk wedding wear.
Before you buy "brand new" seriously consider
Used Wedding Dresses
first and reduce waste in the landfills. You may also be helping to grant someone a last wish.
You should consider options for the
Eco-Friendly Bridesmaid
as well. Save yourself and your bridesmaids money.
You could also find some good information on Vintage Style Wedding Dresses at My Wedding Reception Planning.com
Tip - Forget the salons. Is there a hairdresser in the family? Do each-other's
hair and makeup as best you can.
Photo credit: phaewilk from morguefile.com
Wedding Ring Shopping
This is something that is frequently overlooked, and shouldn't be in terms of an
eco-friendly-wedding. If you choose brand new rings, be sure they are
Conflict Free Diamonds
before you purchase. Check it out, if you aren't sure about what this means.
Or, you can consider other greener ways of choosing when shopping for an engagement
ring, wedding bands, and other wedding jewellery.
Diamond Rings Info -
Free information on diamond and diamond rings. How to shop for
diamond rings, diamond earrings and loose diamonds. How to get the best bargains & value for money.
Environmentally Friendly
Wedding Reception
Reduce your wedding-carbon-footprint by how you choose to manage "simplicity" at your wedding reception.
Lots of options to consider here in the way of caterers,
organics, green wedding decor, and flowers.
Photo credit:
penywise
from morguefi
le.com
And don't forget the bar at your
Green Wedding Reception
.
Travel and Wedding Guest Accommodations
Of course the smaller the wedding, the less arrangements you have to contend with.
Green Hotel accomodations make perfect sense. Check with the Green Hotels Association
for locations in your area. Make sure they are involved in as many day to day practices
that takes eco-friendliness into consideration in how they run things.
Encourage guests to travel together as much as possible when coming from out of town and returning home.
Arrange for hybrid vehicle rental or a shuttle for example to get everyone at once to
and from the ceremony location, reception, and back to their accomodations.
Check out your wedding-carbon-footprint for guests travelling at
Terrapass
.
Green Wedding Gifts For You
And Your Wedding Party
Ask for eco-friendly gifts that reflects your green living lifestyle as a couple.
Ask that it be simple, something that you will really use. Ask that it arrive with
little or no wrapping. Cut down on your wedding-carbon-footprint in this respect like you would with anything having to do with excess wrapping and packaging at any other time.
You can also request a gift in your name to a charity or
to any eco-friendly cause like a carbon fund if you wish.
When giving gifts to your wedding party, keep it simple for them as well, and
something they can use. There are a number of options, like a book, a ticket to
an event, grooming and beauty products like soaps and bath salts, organic coffees, teas to
name a few. You can make it nature-related, and give a plant if you like.
Wedding Photography Tips
Make sure the business you hire runs their own business as greenly as possible,
in that they produce acid and chlorine-free albums. They may in fact already
donate to causes to offset their own emissions as well.
Digital photography produces much clearer and sharper images that can be uploaded
and shared online by making some great online albums. A computer program and most brands of photo
paper can produce beautiful photos for you to have forever
Digital photography of course eliminates the need for film.
You can also rely on capable friends and family to take photos and a video of your day for you.
Plan Your Wedding Music Yourselves
Burn your own CD's or ask a friend to do it. Is there someone you know in the
family dying to show off their dee-jaying skills? If you think they will do a
good job, this is definately an option.
Where and How To Honeymoon
You may decide you just want to stay around home, and this is a huge wedding-carbon-footprint
saver. But, if you are like most newlyweds, you will want to treat yourself to a trip somewhere.
And, you deserve it after your big day.
Choose a place and accommodations that are working on reducing their carbon footprints just
as much as you are. There are many Bed and Breakfasts, and resorts out there doing exactly
that.
If you are going to be a tourist, be aware of the impact you will have in that capacity on
the community you are going to. For more tips on how to be the perfect eco-tourist, visit
Eco-Friendly Vacation
.
There's a number of things to consider when planning a wedding and excited couples don't want to miss anything in terms of experiencing the traditions. They also don't want to forget any important parts that would technically interfere with the smooth running of the day. Lowering the wedding-carbon-footprint might take away from the day they think. Lots to think about!
The trick is to decide what matters the most, and how you can
scale it down, "green it up" or simply omit and be fine with it.
Free Printable Wedding Checklist
My wedding years ago was about as simplistic as it gets. Not much of a wedding-carbon-footprint to speak of. It turned out to be very eco-friendly, and I didn't even realize it until now.
Check out my
Frugal Wedding Tips
. Sometimes pure simplicity makes for the best memories.
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