Green

A wedding is such a happy and special occasion, which brings together families and friends to celebrate love and unity. Many people choose different themes for their weddings to add their own personal spin to it, expressing themselves and their love for each other. James and I agreed early on while planning, that we wanted to have a green theme for our wedding. After all a wedding is a major event so why not include some type of positive message to promote preserving the planet we all know and love. Our biggest message is that even just doing something small can make a difference. Sometimes it seems people don't bother trying out environmentally friendly ideas and products because they see the whole thing as too overwhelming and they don't want to have to change their entire lifestyle. However if everyone just changed a few small habits over time we could see dramatic results. Keeping these ideas in mind we included lots of green ideas into our wedding plans but not every detail centers on the green theme. I wanted to keep it fun and interesting; sharing ideas for little things you can do in your everyday life, while also not being too over the top or preachy. This makes the idea of living green seem a little more achievable and as you find products and strategies that work best for you, you can always add in more over time.

Here are some of the small and larger ways we have found to incorporate a green theme into our wedding plans. Also included are links to websites that share more information about planning an eco-friendly wedding and some ideas for going green in everyday life.

• Green Aspects
• A venue that reflects eco-friendly ideals, showcases nature, and recycles.
• Having our wedding and reception at the same venue so people don’t have to drive to a second location.
• Having a somewhat smaller wedding, less of an environmental impact
• Being cost conscious, saving money can be good for the environment too
• Recycled envelopes for the Save the Date cards
• Recycle paper for the invitations (including the invitations, envelopes and rsvp cards)
• Organic and local products for food especially at the Bridal Shower and Bach Party.
• Lots of vegetarian options at all events
• DIY projects- reusing items, using green products, keeping it simple
• Seeds or plants as wedding favors, and gifts/prices at the Bridal Shower and Bach Party
• Eco-friendly wedding favors (soy candles, recycles items, etc) and decorations (DIY or bought)
• Finding a way to make it fun and just naturally part of the wedding; spreading our love and appreciation of nature through the wording of the ceremony, on the programs, and through other media.
• Using one vendor for our catering, decorations, and flowers, this way we can accomplish everything at one venue and not need to drive all around town to different places.
• The Vendor reuses most of their decorations, so they will not be wasted.
• No balloons, rice, disposable cameras, confetti, or other products that are bad for the environment.
• Creating a website to digitally share our photos and only printing out the ones we need (like for an album).
• Updating guests about some information online to save paper.
• Minimal decorations, enough so everything is still pretty, but not too much because our venue is naturally beautiful.
• We’re also registered for some earth friendly products as gifts.
• Websites with further information

• Green Wedding Resources

• 50 Ways to an Eco-friendly Wedding

• Ten Tips for an Eco-friendly Wedding

• Ten Steps to a Green Wedding

• 15 Green Wedding Ideas

• Eco-friendly wedding favors:

• Eco-Beautiful Wedding Blog

• A really interesting blog abo