If you are looking for the kind of "go-green" wedding idea that will go down in history as one of the greats then you have found the right website.
1. The Flowers.
The flowers are always beautiful and natural, right? Not necessarily, many of the beautiful flowers you see are imported from overseas meaning they have quite a carbon footprint. And, unless they are organic, there have been a lot of pesticides used to raise them; in many cases chemical use is unregulated in some foreign countries. One way to keep it "green" is to use locally grown organic flowers. You can even try to grow your own flowers for your centerpieces!
2. Location.
Consider an outdoor wedding at a favorite natural spot to add to the beauty of your celebration and to remind yourself why you make environmentally responsible choices every day.
Have the ceremony and reception at the same location, or at least near to each other to avoid having your guests drive between the two.
3. Favors.
Instead of favors, let your guests know in the program that you have donated $1-$2 per guest to your favorite environmental organization.
Counteract all of the carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere (contributing to global warming) by your guests traveling by plane or car to your wedding--by giving each guest an 11-watt compact fluorescent bulb. According to the Sierra Club, each of your guests replacing a 50-watt incandescent bulb with their wedding favor will save 685 pounds of carbon dioxide.
Give a recycled handmade paper bookmark with wildflower seeds--this is a very useful gift, which can then be planted for even more enjoyment. In place of a bookmark, give a small envelope of wildflower seeds to your guests.
Give tree saplings from the National Arbor Day Foundation (at www.arborday.org).
4. Make It Personal.
While you've definitely got to throw a good party, it doesn't need to feel like ancient Rome (or the Playboy mansion). What you lack in material decadence, you can make up for in personal touches. Why not ask friends to grow and bring flowers? You'll end up with the most fabulous flower (un)arrangements ever seen, and your guests will appreciate being involved. Or why not create a scrap book (from recycled paper of course) to which friends and relatives can add poems, drawings, pictures, or anecdotes. These are the things that guests remember most fondly-not the chocolate fountain or the cut-glass chandeliers.
5. Communication.
Whatever you do to green your wedding, make sure you tell people about it. You can take advantage of having your friends and family gathered in one place to do a little friendly education. Tell them about yourselves and about what is important to you. If you can create a wonderful, magical celebration that treads a little lighter on the planet, then people will remember it. Too many folks still believe environmentalism is all doom and gloom--this is the perfect opportunity to prove them wrong!.
6. Go Giftless
The average wedding guest spends $85 on a gift. Then after the wedding comes the hard part: finding space for everything (not to mention reconciling the carbon footprint created by the manufacture and shipping of all that stuff). Apartment-dwellers quickly run out of room and end up stashing gifts at a parent's house or in a rented storage unit. Why not avoid the headache altogether with a gift-free wedding? Instead of physical items - silver, china, random kitchen gadgets - ask friends and family to help with your honeymoon by covering the cost of, say, dinner under the stars or a daytime excursion. After the stress of planning a wedding, a massage will seem like gold compared to measuring cups or paring knives. If you are the type who eschews conspicuous consumption, have guests donate to a social or environmental organization you support instead - or simply give you cash for your nest egg. Every day, shipping services like UPS and FedEx move nearly 16 million packages - EACH. Most of the big players have invested in alternative fuels for their fleets, but the energy and money it takes to transport packages around the world makes for one huge carbon footprint any way you look at it. Why not avoid the personal and environmental impact altogether?
7. Invitations
Your wedding announcement or invitation can set the tone for your environmentally friendly wedding. There are many options today for 100% recycled, partially recycled or completely tree free papers from wedding invitation suppliers. If you are interested in making your own invitations, the choices are unlimited.
8. Wedding Web Site
Many brides today are communicating electronically, through wedding websites, to cut down on paper and waste. You may be interested in creating your own unique personal wedding website.
9. Go Draft Or Keg Beer
If you're serving beer, what's the point of wasting all those bottles? Yes, of course, you can and should recycle them, but why use them at all? Your booze bill will be cheaper and your conscience cleaner (not to mention the environment).
10. Use Plants As Centerpieces
It's just a fact of life that cut flowers die quickly. So, why waste hundreds or thousands of them when you could use a plant that could live indefinitely? Just like with cut floral arrangements, you can go as big or as small as you want to, from little white cups of wheatgrass to giant orchids. Then, after the wedding you can keep them all for your home, or give them away to guests.
