Is there anything as beautiful and traditional as a spring wedding?
We love to see the brides dressed in shades of white cavorting with their guests in the park, horse-drawn carriage rides, and restaurants around the city; but, the waste produced by some lavish weddings also makes us cringe a little.
Luckily, it is possible to host a fabulous celebration without leaving a trail of wasted resources and environmental damage in your wake. If you’re planning a wedding this season or attending a joyful event in the coming months, let us know what you think of these eco-friendly wedding ideas and what other tips you can suggest to our environmental brides-to-be.
An Eco-Friendly Wedding Dress
There are a number of options out there for finding an eco-wedding gown: local and handmade, used or vintage, new designer or renting. If you do decide to have a dress created for you—and that’s fine if you do—look for designers that work with fair trade and organically grown materials or even a sustainable fabric such as hemp, organic cotton, bamboo, or vintage fabrics.
Plantable Wedding Invitations
Handmade with 100% recycled paper and embedded with wildflower or garden herb seeds that your guests can plant in their gardens. Our extraordinary plantable wedding invitations will blow your guests away. The invitations are also made with carbon neutral energy, which makes these some of the greenest invitations available! See all the color and seedling options
Seedling Wedding Favors
Give your guests a Live Tree Seedling Favor or Tree Seed and share growing memories. A wedding tree is an inspirational green gift for the environmentally-consciousness in all of us.
These “green” favors are created 100% from nature with recycled paper and finished with raffia ribbon. Tree Favors include personalization, thank you message and growing instructions. Plant a wedding tree today, for tomorrow and forever, earth-friendly wedding favors last a lifetime or two.
Flowers and Wedding Decor
We’re passionate about repurposing and recycling whenever possible. A chic wedding idea is to reuse found items and repurpose them into creative table pieces and wedding décor. If you’ve been dreaming about a bevy of flowers, look for organic flowers grown without chemical pesticides. They’ll even smell better since most flowers are over bred to the point where the scent is almost completely gone. Search a green wedding directory for local organic florists.
Sustainable, local Menu
A chic, eco-friendly wedding wouldn’t be complete without a delicious menu at the reception dinner. Select a caterer that specializes in farm-to-table cuisine and uses locally sourced ingredients to prepare dishes. In New York City, caterer, Great Performances is well known for producing high end eco-chic weddings.
Post-Party Clean Up
Use nontoxic cleaning products to clean up after the wedding reception is over. If your cleaning crew doesn’t supply their own natural cleaning solutions, we recommend EcoSpirit all natural, 100% biodegradable products. And, of course, we should remind you that GreenHouse Eco-Cleaning offers post-party green cleaning services
Savvy brides can do even more to make sure their big day is as eco-friendly as it is joyous. Are you a bride-to-be planning an upcoming eco-chic wedding? We’d love to hear about your experiences and vendor recommendations. Chat with us on Facebook, Twitter, or send us photos to pin on Pinterest!