Tips from the Green Bride Guide
Do-it-yourself projects can be a fun way to add eco-details and a personal touch to your wedding. Utilize your creative talents to decide what kinds of projects you can do, then green your DIY ideas by choosing repurposed, recycled, or vintage materials.
Photo Credit: Samantha Warren Weddings
Have beautiful penmanship? Create your own place cards from recycled cardstock. Crafty with a sewing machine? Stitch purses using reclaimed fabrics and give them as bridesmaids’ gifts. Have a penchant for paint? Repurpose old picture frames by painting them in fitting colors for your décor. Print or draw table numbers or menus on recycled paper to put inside the frame, or fill them with family or childhood pictures of you and your intended to decorate the ceremony or reception site.
Photo Credit: Blueberry Photography
Green Your Decor
One time use décor pieces abound at weddings, and land in the trash can afterwards. Eco-friendly options are plentiful as well, though, and don’t require you to sacrifice on style or elegance.
An easy way to green your décor pieces is to incorporate natural elements. Wood pieces can be a great starting point for your natural décor. Fallen branches in the backyard can be collected and repurposed to create rustic ceremony adornments, or cut to become surprisingly elegant name card holders. You could even use a thin slice of wood as a uniquely beautiful ring pillow!
Photo Credit: AJH Photography
Rocks and stones offer a variety of colors and textures to suit your wedding’s style. Work them into centerpieces, line them up at the ceremony site to create an aisle (instead of a wasteful disposable aisle runner), or use a water-based paint pen on them to create place cards without paper.
Photo Credit: Tinywater Photography
Coordinate the use of natural elements with the season of your wedding, and your eco-chic décor possibilities are limitless: richly colored leaves in the fall, pinecones in the winter, beach sand and shells in the summer…you get the idea. These items can be composted or simply returned to nature after the celebration.
When You Can’t Reduce, Reuse or Recycle, Offset
So, you’ve planned your wedding and made some eco-friendly choices along the way. You’ve put together an elegant celebration that showcases your personal style, and isn’t so hard on the earth. All the green choices you’ve made, no matter how small, will make a difference in lessening your wedding’s impact. If you’d like to take things one step further, consider offsetting the carbon impact of your wedding. Use a carbon calculator to determine your wedding’s impact, and then purchase carbon credits through an organization like Brighter Planet or Carbon Fund. You can offset the overall carbon impact of your wedding day, and/or take into consideration your guests’ travel and any travel you might be doing for your honeymoon as well.
Photo Credit: W. Scott Chester Photography
The average engaged couple has so many choices to make for their wedding day, and making those choices with the earth in mind is simple and often budget-friendly. Best of all, you can begin your sustainable marriage with a beautiful and sustainable wedding celebration.
