Tips for a Greener Wedding

Here comes the bride…All dressed in Green…

Welcome to Wedding Season 2007!!!! Since we here at Green/Pink are in our late 20's we are spending our weekends this spring and summer traveling to weddings, showers, bachelor/bachelorette parties.

Yes, weddings are beautiful, they meld two people into one, blah, blah, blah. But if you think about it, they also create a lot of waste. Those programs, menu cards and invitations you had to have? Bye Bye trees! Those hydrangeas you HAD to have even though it was the dead of winter? They had to be flown in from South America—thousands of pounds of CO2 later. And of course, the decadent filet mignon you want your guests to munch on…who cares that meat-eating is one of the foremost causes of global warming?

We’ve highlighted a few key areas to think going green with when you plan your wedding (or when you’re giving advice to your stressed out engaged friends and family!). The key thing is—it’s not all or nothing. Your wedding doesn’t have to be totally green or not at all…we’ve highlighted the easiest ways to reduce the waste and up the green factor when planning a wedding (or any fancy event). You don’t have to do them all—even just making ONE ASPECT of your wedding green (like recycled paper invitations) makes a huge diff.

But for all the bridezillas (present and future), don’t worry. Having a green wedding doesn’t mean you have to walk down a dirt aisle in a hemp wedding dress. Luckily, green weddings are fast becoming de rigeur and there are tons of classy options which are often less expensive than the less-than-green options.

Flowers…Try to work with the season you are getting married in, to avoid flying in flowers. Also, ask your florist about organically grown flowers—you don’t want pesticides at your wedding! Get an idea of what flowers are in season when.

Favors...Don’t give away something that your guests are just going to throw away (trust me, they don’t want anything with your names on it—you’re the only one who wants something with your name on it), give something green. If you wanted to give your guests chocolates, go for an organic, free-trade brand. How about carbon offsets to combat the miles they traveled to be at your wedding? Or if you have a favorite charity, you could make donations in everyone’s names. Or you could donate a TREE in their names, or give them a sapling to take home (creating new life just like the couple is creating their new life…). The possibilities are endless and might inspire your guests to be more eco-conscious.

Invitations...and reply cards and menu cards and place cards and programs and…every other possible thing you are using paper…go with recycled paper. For invitations this does reduce your choices, but there are definitely some elegant recycled choices out there. See if you like those first.

Food…we understand if you don’t want to serve your guests a vegetarian feast. But a lot of venues and catering companies offer organic selections that are just as delicious if not more so. Also, just as with flowers, it’s important to be aware of seasonality. If you HAVE to have fresh tomatoes at your wedding, then don’t get married in November. And even if you’re having a more casual wedding…the disposable plates, flatware, etc. are a nightmare green-wise. Real is better.

Centerpieces…if you’re not huge on flowers, there are loads of gorgeous, green ideas…candles (soy, perhaps?), vases filled with fresh fruit, autumn leaves for a fall wedding, potted plants that can be re-planted in your back yard after the wedding….

Photographer…most wedding photographers are already digital, thank God. Besides getting to pick from about a billion more pictures, it’s a lot more eco-friendly (you don’t have to print out every proof, guests can look at your pix online, less use of the icky non-green chemicals you need when you develop photos).

Dress…to be honest, there aren’t tons of choices here yet. There are organic cotton dresses, but we know you have your dream dress in mind…this one would be for the dedicated greenie bride only.

But wait, you say, finding vendors and ideas for green wedding sounds like a lot of hard work…well, no worries, we’ve found the ultimate GREEN WEDDING SITE. It’s called Green Elegance Weddings and it’s not your Birkenstock-wedding site (hence the word ELEGANCE in the title). They’ve got tons of green ideas and info including an amazing Green Resource directory with listings for apparel, invitations, flowers and more. It also has lots of regular wedding stuff like time lines and tips for writing vows, for picking a location and for dealing with the emotional roller coaster that planning a wedding can be.

Green Weddings…as one of our favorite wedding gurus (Martha, of course!) would say…”It’s a good thing.”