Green, Ethical and Eco-friendly Weddings

This week we’re featuring Tara and Mike’s green wedding, held in August in Houston. Tara gave me a ton of great info in the interview, so instead of one long post, I’m going to break this up over a few days. It’s great stuff, and if you’re thinking about doing an eco-friendly wedding, be sure to read the whole interview.

Why did you decide to have a green or eco friendly element in your wedding?

Over the past several years, I have become an environmentally conscious person and that has impacted my daily life. My husband has also jumped on board over the past few years too.  We started recycling at our home about 2 years ago and today I am proud to say that we recycle everything we possible can including paper, cardboard, plastics 1 through 5 and 7 (Houston cannot recycle plastic # 6), aluminum, glass and we also donate items that we don’t need anymore instead of tossing them in the dumpster.  (Note: we have to take all the recyclables to the appropriate places around town ourselves. The City of Houston refuses to offer curb side recycling to all residents who do not live in a single family dwelling and even if you do live in a single family dwelling, you have to get put on a wait list because they currently only service 150,000 single family homes).

Also, Mike and I had done a lot of traveling throughout our childhood (Mike traveled all over Europe and I went to a lot of National Parks) and we had come to appreciate and respect nature early on, so I think it was probably only a matter of time before we became environmentally conscious adults.

When I finally decided that Mike and I should make our relationship official (Mike was ready but I was not ☺), I was very hesitant to proceed because I knew how much waste was produced by weddings.  I was never one of those women that had to get married, rather the opposite.  I have always considered myself to be a leader and not a follower so I did not want the typical wedding that happens every weekend.

One day I realized that maybe I could have it all.  I decided that weddings in Texas needed to be more eco friendly and if they were, I might want to participate.  I did not tell my husband that this was one of the reasons that I was hesitant to get married until I found my wedding coordinator. Once I realized that having an eco-wedding was possible, I told my husband that I wanted to get married.  He agreed that having an eco-wedding was important to him too.

My mom and I contacted Jessica Zapatero of Green Lily Events and that is how it all started.  We met with Jessica a couple of days later and she explained that she is an eco-event planner.  I told her I wanted an eco-wedding and she was looking for an eco-bride so it was a perfect fit.

Tomorrow: What were some of the things you did to make the wedding “green”?