I went to a Green Wedding event today hosted by The Spiraled Stem Floral Design. The panel consisted of a wedding planner, a florist, a green bride, an invitation designer and the author of the book, “Green Wedding”, Mireya (Mia) Navarro. It was a very insightful seminar. There are so many ways to plan an eco-friendly wedding and you can be “light green” where you just incorporate a few eco-friendly elements, or you can go ‘100% green! Here are some of the things I learned today.
Wedding Gown: Choose to buy a pre-own dress or buy your dress from a charity such as Brides Against Breast Cancer. Rent an elegant wedding dress for a fraction of the cost. Instead of a dress where you would only wear one time, pick something that you can wear again. Select materials that are natural and eco-friendly. Donate your wedding dress.
Caterer/Food: Use local caterers that use organic food products or local suppliers. Select simple but delicious menu instead of extravagant food displays to reduce waste. Donate leftovers to shelters.
Flowers: Use Veriflora certified vendors which have proven themselves to meet the sustainability standards, from growers to handlers to designers. Use seasonal and local grown flowers instead of imports. Use biodegradable containers such as the Blumebox instead of glass vases imported. Christine Saunders, the owner of The Spiraled Stem Floral Designs offers a great wedding floral package called “the e collection“.
Invitations: Avoid using multiple sheets of papers in your invitation pacakge, instead, use elegant designs on recycled papers printed using vegetable or soy based ink and point your guest to your wedding website for more information and also to RSVP online. There are many alternative materials that make unique papers and are eco-friendly at the same time. InviteSite.com is one of the vendors that provide invitations made with recycled paper.
Favors: Elect to donate money to a charity in honor of your guests. Choose items that are eco-friendly, such as seed cards where you can plant the paper and grow flowers.
Venues: Instead of having your ceremony or reception at a hotel or banquet hall, pick a place that is meaningful to you, such as local museums or botanical gardens. Stay near home or where your guests are, to reduce long distance travel.
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