Today we wrap up Tara and Mike’s Eco Wedding. We hope you enjoyed reading about this wedding, and if you would like your own eco-wedding featured on BluePlanetWedding.com, drop me a line!
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
What would you say to couples thinking of having a green wedding?
If there are any couples considering implementing a few eco-friendly initiatives into their wedding or thinking about having an eco-wedding, I would congratulate them on their decision and provide positive support as well. Sometimes it takes guts to change or do something a little different.
I would suggest to the bride and grooms to follow their heart and not listen to negative comments by those who are scared of change. A lot of people do not realize how much weddings (and other large events) negatively impact our environment and if 100 brides implemented 1 eco-friendly initiative into their big day, it would make a large impact.
I think the top 2 must haves for an eco-wedding are an eco-wedding coordinator and the internet.
If anyone is considering having an eco-wedding, the most important suggestion I have is hiring an eco-event planner. Wedding coordinators are great but they are there to serve you. On the contrary, an eco-event planner is there to serve you, but they are also there to protect and serve the environment. On Green Lily Events‘ website, they sum it up very well when they say: “We believe that making responsible choices in the early stages of event planning can minimize waste and create a lighter footprint. Our mission is to create unique, eco-chic events that balance style with sustainability.” My wedding would not have been the same with the help of Green Lily Events. Especially in a place like Texas, doing something eco-friendly requires help whereas in California, it is a law that recycling must take place at large events.
Also, I did spend a lot more time researching eco alternatives on the internet, and that is definitely a necessity if someone is planning an eco-event.
What green or eco-friendly things are you going to establish in your household?
We already recycle everything we possibly can in our home. Our new favorite TV channel is the Planet Green channel. I watch the shows on making homes green a lot and we love to learn about the environment and what we are doing and what more we can do to help minimize the negative impact our consumption is having on the earth. Before the channel even started, I had decided to make my current home green. We purchased a condo in March of 2008 and we have plans to green our home as much as we can with the limited budget that we have. Recently, we purchased a digital thermostat and a blanket for our water heater. Also, over the next 2 years we plan on replacing the paint with a low or no toxic paint, install new appliances and purchase as many energy star appliances as possible and install recycled glass countertops in the kitchen and bathroom. In addition, we are gradually replacing our cleaning products with eco-friendly products and we try to purchase organic and local products whenever it is financially possible.
The eco-wedding has already made an impact of some of my family members and my brother and my father have begun recycling in their homes too. My father even sent me a picture recently of his first time recycling!
Overall this experience has been life changing for me and my husband. Not only do we feel good about having an eco-wedding, we are planning on making all our future events eco-friendly.
October 24th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Found your site today, and looks like you’re running a great resource. We just started a new Blogger Search Contest and we wan to get the news out to as many brides as we can. We’re looking for a unique storyteller to go over the edge in Bridal publishing!
http://makelovereal.net/blogger/
The reward is a $3000 destination engagement session with multimedia presentation by me! You can grab the video code from the above page if you want to embed it in your blog or site so as many people who want to submit an entry can have a shot.
Yours in the image,
Neil
October 29th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
another thing that people don’t really think about is there registry. there are so many things that they can do to green that. i know that we really felt pressured to add new things to our registry to make sure that the guests had something to buy for us and not put pressure on the guests. in the future, i think i would do something like kiva.org or other types of charities. we got married 10 years ago and still have some things from our registry in boxes un used. its a shame and a waste. i wish i had better awareness back then.
chuck
TheWeddingLens.com
November 8th, 2008 at 9:55 am
I think its thats people just don’t know how or what to do when it comes to implementing green ideas into their wedding. I’ve heard things like: it’d be too much of a hassle; I don’t want it to disrupt the normal things expected at a wedding, it’s probably too costly, etc.
Some people just don’t realize how simple it can be to make your weddings green, even if you just utilize one or 2 ideas, every little bit helps.
December 23rd, 2008 at 2:21 pm
We’ve been reading more and more blogs addressing eco-friendly wedding celebrations. Your site is the most comprehensive we’ve yet encountered. A breath of fresh air. Thanks.