These days, there are so many different things you can do in order to make your wedding greener that it’s not possible to cover all of them in a single article.
However, if you want to get some quick ideas for what you might do, that can help you to get started on ways to make your wedding and reception as green as possible.
Consider your location.
If you stage it outdoors at a favorite park or some other spot blessed with natural splendor, you’re not only adding to the beauty of your ceremony, you’re also saving the cost of renting a hall, plus you’re creating a smaller carbon footprint for wedding since an outdoor space won’t have to be artificially heated or cooled.
And while you’re at it, why not have your reception at the same place.
If it’s a park, you can have an outdoor reception under a ramada or some other structure.
That will save all of your guests the bother of driving somewhere else.
And again, it’s a great way to reduce the size of the carbon footprint your wedding event will generate.
When it comes to wedding clothes for the bride and groom, keep things as simple as possible.
Why not buy a vintage dress or tuxedo from a resale wedding store?
Or, if you want something new to get married in, why not buy a simple dress or a nice suit that you can use again for other special occasions.
It seems to me that it’s incredibly wasteful to buy a wedding dress that you’ll only wear once and then store in a closet.
You’ve got to start thinking outside of the norms if you want to have a really green wedding, people!
Or, if you simply must have a one-time use wedding dress, then consider donating it to charity afterwards or putting it in a consignment shop for someone else to enjoy.
Keep your wedding invitations simple, too.
Get them printed on postcards printed on recycled paper with soy-based inks and skip all the tissue and other fancy stuff that people typically put into invitations.
To avoid a lot of the printing and mailing, create your own wedding website online and e-mail your nearest and dearest the URL so that they can access it and get all the info they need.
This will cut down on long-distance phone calls as well, which can be another added expense.
Get your flowers locally and try to use native wildflowers from your region.
When the wedding is over, donate all the flower arrangements to a hospital or a retirement home so that other people can enjoy them, too.
You know, when it comes down to it, there’s almost no end to how green you can make your wedding.
Just do your research and use your ingenuity and it doesn’t have to be super-expensive.
