Fancy An Eco-Friendly Wedding Day?
With the rise in popularity of green weddings, it is now easier than ever to plan your own eco-friendly wedding day.
When you say 'eco-wedding' to someone, they may conjure up an image of a hippy-style event in their head. This is great if you want to go with a new-age, hippy and relaxed style for your wedding, but going green does not necessarily mean daisy chains, mung beans and singing around a camp fire.
Go paper-less
With offices and homes being encouraged to go paper-less in these digital times, sending out paper invitations and RSVP's is not exactly eco-friendly. Why not go digital with your invitations? You can send email invites, set up a wedding website or Facebook page and correspond by chat messenger or text.
If you don't feel right about letting go of paper invitations completely, then create your own using recycled paper and card. You can make your wedding invitations less environmentally impactful and have fun creating your own design to either have professionally printed on recycled card stock, or hand-crafted with your own personal touch if you are having a small and intimate wedding.
Pre-loved wedding dress
Your wedding gown can be one of the most costly factors of your wedding day. It seems a shame that so much effort goes into creating a perfect wedding dress for it only ever to be worn once before being consigned to the wardrobe forever.
There are thousands of pre-loved wedding dresses available to buy through auction sites such as eBay at a fraction of the price they took to originally make. You may come across a perfect dress that may only need a little nip and tuck to make it a perfect fit for your special day.
If you hate the thought of a wedding dress going to waste after just one use, then why not hire yourself a wedding gown? In most cases you will be able to hire an absolutely stunning gown that you may never have been able to afford to have made. What about hiring a designer dress? What bride wouldn't jump at the opportunity of walking down the isle in a one-off Vera Wang designer gown, or a vintage Dior wedding dress that evokes a style and class from a bygone age.
Reducing your carbon footprint
When choosing a wedding venue you might want to keep it local to cut down on carbon emissions. If you are planning to get married in your local church, then check to see if there is a venue close by to hold our wedding reception that your guests can easily walk to, or at least organise a car-share where family and friends can be organised to travel together and give people lifts.
If your reception venue is a few miles away, then why not look at hiring a coach or mini-bus to transport your guests to and from the venue. They can leave their cars at home and save some fuel too!
Go seasonal and local
You can save yourself a small fortune by choosing flowers that are already in season. If you want to save even more money, why not grow your own wedding flowers and encourage your friends and family to do so too. Don't worry if you are planning a winter wedding – you can grow winter flowering plants such as anemones, roses, hydrangeas and winter berries that will all look stunning.
Locally sourced foods will also cut down on carbon emissions as well as support your local food producers and growers. Your food will also taste that much better as it will be made from only the freshest local ingredients. You could even ask around your friends and family to get them to donate some vintage inspired crockery, cutlery, table cloths and napkins for the day. This will also save you a small fortune in hiring tableware.
