How to Have a Green Wedding

This is an article from Gemma Renton

With the average American wedding costing more than $20,000, which is largely spend on consumable products, it is clear that weddings cause waste. The huge number of wedding favors, floral arrangements, and decorations that are thrown into the trash every year means that choosing to get married has the potential to massively increase your annual waste output and amplify your carbon footprint. However the good news is that there is a greener way. More people than ever are choosing to make their wedding day green (and we’re not just talking about their color scheme). It is possible to opt for environmentally friendly and reusable options that will ensure your wedding day goes with a bang without having to compromise your social conscience. Here are some top tips on how you can make your wedding day as eco-friendly and green as possible:

Choose Green Transportation

One of the most obvious ways in which you can make your wedding more eco-friendly is with your choice of wedding day transportation. Choosing to say no to that huge, gas guzzling limousine and opting for a more eco-friendly fleet of vehicles, such as our own, is a great place to start in your pursuit of a green wedding day. As well as transporting the bride and groom, and their wedding party, we could also help to shuttle your guests from your ceremony venue to your reception venue if they are being held in separate places. We have a wealth of experience in providing wedding transportation for eco-minded couples, and can ensure you have peace of mind throughout the process, thanks to our friendly drivers and comprehensive insurance protection. Much more easy and efficient than asking your guests to make their own way from A to B, our vehicles have the added bonus of being as eco-friendly as possible, using only the most sustainable biodiesel fuel on the market, which will seriously increase your wedding’s green potential.

Source Your Produce Locally

When it comes to finding the right food and drink for your guests, why not think about choosing vendors that source all of their produce locally? Not only is locally sourced produce fresher (meaning that it tastes better) it has also travelled less food miles and therefore carries a much smaller carbon footprint than far flung ingredients that have been flown in from across the world. If you are choosing to carry a floral bouquet or decorate with flowers then flowers can also be sourced locally: why not do a little research into which blooms will be in season in your region on your wedding day? Seasonal, locally sourced flowers have the advantage of being cheaper than exotic blooms, as well as much better for the environment. Finally, don’t forget your wedding gown: choosing a local dressmaker who only sources eco-friendly, organic fabrics to create your dress will mean that you can both look good, and feel good at the same time.

Rethink Your Invites

Millions of trees are felled every year in order to create paper stationary products, such as wedding invitations. Whilst posting a wedding invitation is still recommended as the best way to get those all-important RSVPs, you could minimise the amount of stationary you need by sending online Save the Date invitations instead. You can also think carefully about the company you use to produce your wedding invitations, opting for those that use recycled paper products and vegetable based inks, both of which have the smallest possible about of environmental impact, when compared to traditional stationary manufacture. If you have the budget, you can even source paper embedded with seeds that can be planted and used to grown and nourish your garden once the wedding is over.

Green Your Gift List

Finally, whilst it is impossible to throw a traditional wedding without having any impact on the environment, you can offset that impact (and your guilt) by opting for an eco-friendly gift list. There are a huge number of companies now providing green wedding list services,  enabling you to only select eco-friendly products from your friends and family (such as organic cotton items). Alternatively, if you feel that you simply don’t need any more stuff then why not set up a charity gift list where your loved ones can donate to a suitably green cause in lieu of giving gifts? After all, there’s only so many crock pots anyone really needs!