Ideas For Your Totally “Green”, Earth-Friendly Wedding

If you are an environment conscience bride, you may be consider a way to have your wedding be completely eco-friendly or you may just be looking for some ideas to help you and your guest produce less waste therefore lessening your carbon footprint. Well then this is the article for you! Here are some great ideas to make your wedding not only beautiful, but also a little kinder to mother earth.

Biodegradable, 100% recycled, or tree-free wedding invitations are definitely the way to go. You can find lots of beautiful and modern styles available in these forms from several stationery suppliers, so you may consider using one of them to set the tone for your earth-friendly day. Another great idea is to create your own wedding website. This is a great place for guests to RSVP and find out all the information they need like ceremony and reception locations, wedding registries, etc. without you having to use a lot of extra paper in your invitations to get the information out. You may also consider using a popular avenue like Facebook or MySpace to invite some of your guests. This will eliminate the needs for a lot of paper invitations, and some of your more tech-savvy friends may respond better to an Internet invite than a paper invite.
When choosing eco-minded favors to give your guests you may want to consider sending your guests home with a tree of your choice that they can plant, or maybe you can send your guests home with little seed packets of your favorite flowers or plants. You can also look into purchasing place card for your reception that can be taken home and planted because they are made out of seeds and biodegradable materials. Another great idea is to make a donation to a charity in honor of your guests and make a little note at the bottom of your ceremony programs or your reception menus.
When it comes to flowers, most brides don’t want to sacrifice because flowers are usually a huge part of every bride’s day. Well don’t worry; you can still be eco-conscience without the sacrifice. You could consider purchasing your flowers from a local florist that grows his/her own products or get their products from a local, organically grown garden as a great, earth friendly choice. If your really daring and you have some time, you might consider planting your own bulbs and growing your own flowers or you can choose you use biodegradable silk flowers, maybe even a combination of the two to get the full floral effect you are seeking.
If you want to take your eco-friendliness to the next level, you may consider purchasing a once worn, previously owned wedding gown. Ebay is full of them, and you might be able to find one you like at your local thrift store. Another great idea is to consider buying your gown from a foundation like Brides Against Breast Cancer, which donates the proceeds to help women with breast cancer. If you decide to buy a new dress, you may consider donating it a foundation like this when you are done. Brides Against Breast Cancer gives wedding dresses to women in an effort to fulfill their wishes to have a wedding day.
When it comes to the food for your reception you may consider donating the leftovers to a local soup kitchen instead of just getting rid of them. You may also consider having all the decorations on your cake to be completely edible and you will want to use biodegradable place setting or fine, reusable place settings to eliminate waste. You should even provide recycle bins for cans and glass containers used for soda and liquor.

There are lots of others way to be eco-friendly on your wedding day, and all you have to do is do your research and patronize venders that use earth-friendly products and who are committed to make your “green” wedding a success. Don’t be afraid to get creative and let your guests know what you are doing. By publicizing your desire to “go green”, you may be encouraging other up and coming brides to do the same thing.

Tagged as: “Green”, Earthfriendly, Ideas, Totally, Wedding