Tips For A Bio-Friendly Wedding

Weddings are often very extravagant and elegant affairs.  We tend to live in a fantasy for the day and often forget about our lifestyle in pursuit of a luxury wedding.  While there have certainly been budget conscious brides for quite some time, there is a new category of brides, the Environmentally Conscious Bride.  Many brides have found that you can still have a luxury wedding while being environmentally conscious.  Below are some tips we have gathered to help you with a more Bio-Friendly wedding.

Invitations & Paper

Weddings can generate a lot of paper products.  Consider using recycled paper options when possible.  There are a lot of companies out there today offering designer paper options using recycled paper.  Also, consider using treeless paper such as bamboo, hemp and kenaf.  These plants grow very quickly and are more sustainable.

Communications

Traditionally, most brides send out Save The Date, Invitations, RSVP Cards, Thank You Cards etc.  There are also occasions when you need to communicate with your guests and some brides will mail additional items.  Consider using a service such as WedTexts to send out text message updates to reduce paper consumption.  Another option is to create a wedding website to keep your guests updated.  There are several companies that offer free or cheap wedding websites that you can build yourself using a simple page builder.

Catering

Find a caterer that sources their ingredients locally.  When choosing your menu, think about the time 0f year and try to pick options that are in season.  This minimizes the amount of products imported and minimizes transportation of those products.

Flowers

Many brides have their mind set on the types of flowers they want for their wedding.  Most flowers that are out of season are imported.  Consider flowers that are in season and can be purchased locally.  Consider one of the latest trends, succulents.  Succulents grow quickly and can often be bought locally.  Visit local farms to explore your options.

Venue

Consider where your guests will be traveling from and find a venue that is central to your guests.  If you have your wedding indoors, try to find a venue that maximizes natural light to reduce on electricity usage.  There are a lot of farms today that are renting our venue space for weddings.  Consider this option to help support your local farms.  Most of these type farms are small sustainable farms.

Carpooling

If your wedding ceremony and reception are in different locations, consider renting a van or bus to shuttle people between the locations.  This reduces emissions and makes it easier on your guests.  This also makes it easier and safer for guests to enjoy themselves ensuring they get back to their accommodations safely.

Photos

Everyone wants photos.  Instead of mailing out photos to all of your guests, create a website or blog where you can share your images and allow them to download only the ones they want.  You can also utilize a printing service to print on demand.

Plates & Utensils

Consider renting non-disposable plates and utensils.  Many caterers have non-disposable options as well.  For our wedding, we collected mix-matched china instead of disposable plates.  In the end this was even more affordable because all of the china we got was second hand.  This resulted in a rustic elegance that we loved.

Wedding Gown & Clothing

You may wish to consider a pre-used gown and save a stack of cash by doing so.  If you are going to purchase a dress, look for environmentally friendly options such as organic silk, organic cotton and hemp.

After your wedding, donate your dress or sell it at a Bridal Yard sale.  Check out our upcoming events page for the next Bridal Yard Sale.

Wedding Gifts & Favors

Setup a green gift registry of all of the earth friendly products you would like.  Instead of asking for gifts, consider asking guests to donate to your favorite charity in your name.

Instead of purchasing favors, consider making your own homemade environmentally friendly favors.  Check Pinterest for ideas and inspiration.

Confetti

Instead of paper confetti or rice, consider other options such as butterflies, flower petals or seed.  By using butterflies you are helping pollination especially as our butterfly numbers are decreasing.

Wedding Cake

As your baker to use organic ingredients if possible.  There are many more bakers today offering locally sourced organic options.

Cleanup

Whomever is cleaning up after your wedding, ask them to separate recyclables to minimize the amount of trash going to landfills.

As you can see, there are many ways to have a “Green” wedding.  After your wedding is over, sell the items you no longer need to another bride that can use them.  This gives another bride a deal and allows you to recoup some of your costs.  Check out our upcoming events page for the next Bridal Yard sale.