REDUCE, reuse, recycle (and my fourth ‘R’ - repair, but that’s a topic for another day). Weddings can get excessive (no, really?), and even if the choices are eco-friendly, the question of consumption still arises. There’s one key question you need to ask yourself: do I really need that? Remember, NEED is different from WANT.

Ariel at the excellent Offbeat Bride blog:

“…I definitely get concerned when I see wedding trend articles that lay yet another financial concern on engaged couples, yet another way in which brides can whip themselves into a frenzy. “I must have tea candles on every table — and they must be SOY CANDLES!â€� How about just skipping the candles? As my friend Esther pointed out, it’s a little frustrating that the article seems to ignore the “reduce, reuse, recycleâ€� aspect of environmentalism, focusing on green products couples can buy instead of suggesting that couples take the truly radical step of just buying less. “

Buy less, consume less - reduce. A radical idea…

Another reason to consider reducing the wedding “stuff” - there’s no doubt that making eco-friendly choices is more expensive than sticking with mainstream, mass produced stuff. By cutting stuff, you free up the budget for organic meals, flowers, etc.

This list is highly individual, and every bride will make different choices as to need or want, but here are some things to think about. Do you need:

• floral centerpieces for the tables?
• candles?
• individual place cards?
• a newspaper announcement?
• a ring pillow?
• toasting goblets?
• a ‘going-away’ outfit?

Run through your checklist. What are the things you can cut out?

John Reeve at Digital Web Magazine published an excellent article yesterday: How to Build a Green Business. The article covers many things you can do to build an eco-friendly business, and clearly defines some buzzwords like “sustainability”.

5 take-away points from the article

1. Recycle everything you can, including old electronic equipment and inkjet cartridges.
2. Reduce your consumption of everything, including power (turn things off when not in use) and paper (don’t print emails).
3. Use green products: everything from post-consumer waste recycled paper to green cleaning products.
4. Alternative commuting, including taking the bus, biking, working from home, carpooling and driving energy-efficient vehicles.
5. Revamp your product line by eliminating the inefficient and harmful.

Check out the article for more great ideas on running an environmentally-friendly and ethical business. Share your ideas in the comments on how you you run an ethical and environmentally-friendly wedding business.

“Many will embrace willful waste as a sign of confidence or luxury.”

Seth Godin (my favourite marketing guru) riffs on waste. He talks about a hotel room that was fully lit (with incandescent bulbs - gasp!), overly warm and so on. He talks about a watch that seemed to be more extras than watch. The theme of his post was excessiveness.

Many (dare I say most?) brides want a luxurious wedding, and weddings are often a venue for displays of wealth and excessiveness. It’s still possible to have a wedding that’s chic and glamorous but easy on the environment.

Most of the choices come from not sacrificing the glamour, but knowing where the different elements come from. You can have the big diamond, but choose an ethically sourced diamond. Have a fabulous dress, but choose organic fabrics. Have a sumptuous meal, but go organic and local. Make ethical choices for your once-in-a-lifetime blowout.

Check out the 95 Ideas To Make Your Wedding More Environmentally-Friendly.

Where do you see waste in your day-to-day life?

Who are you first and foremost? Are you a teacher? A farmer? A marketing manager? A sister or a daughter?

How about a consumer? Do you see yourself that way? The economy does.

Before you pick up that nifty scanning device and go running through The Bay or Macy’s building your wedding gift list, watch this.

It’s not too late. Stay tuned…

Get your guests started on saving electricity and energy by giving a compact fluorescent light bulb as a party favour.

Compact flourescent lightbulbs (CFLs) have several advantages over traditional incandescent light bulbs, including longer life, lower energy consumption and they generate less heat. CFLs use up to 75% less energy and last up to 400% longer than traditional bulbs. They are especially good if you have light fixtures that are hard to get to, like in a stairwell. The cost of CFLs is coming down dramatically, and, in bulk, bulbs can be found for as low as $2 each. CLF to contain tiny amounts of mercury, so dispose of them properly and take the appropriate precautions if they break (if your guests are traveling a lot, you may want to consider something else).

When presenting the bulb as a wedding favour, you can dress the bulb up in a nice box (with a lot of padding for travel) or put a bow around the bulb. Include a card (on recycled paper, of course!) explaining the benefits of compact fluorescent ligh bulbs. You can present the idea of the bulb as “our friends and family light up our lives” or “lighting the journey into the future” - what does light mean to you?

Everyone at BluePlanetWedding.com is committed to living an environmentally-friendly lifestyle.  We are always finding ways to be more eco-friendly, and everyone, personally and professionally, is making lifestyle choices that are greener and friendlier. I, Dave Walker, the founder of the site, am making several personal commitments to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.

•  BluePlanetWedding.com is run from everyone’s homes, saving on commuting and travel. Since the team is spread all across Canada, we communicate online using tools like wikis, internal blogs, email, BaseCamp and more.
• All of the power for my home in Calgary comes from Greenmax, ENMAX Energy’s environmental program.
• My carbon credits offset 5 tonnes of CO2 for 2007.
• I am eating about 30% less meat in the last six months, and I have resolved for 2008 to eat meat from organic sources as much as possible.
• When needed, I am replacing as many parts in my wardrobe as possible with eco-friendly alternatives using organic cotton, hemp and other fabrics. I’ve just ordered a bamboo t-shirt, and will report on it as soon as I get it.
• We’re doing several other things and making constant small changes to our lifestyle, personally and professionally.

I know I could be doing more, but my family and I are making incremental changes in our lifestyle. Changes are difficult, but I’ve found that once you start, it’s quite easy to sustain each change and add other changes into our lifestyle.

My hope for BluePlanetWedding.com is to encourage you not only to apply green wedding principles to your wedding, but to adopt a greener lifestyle for your household in the future. Together through small changes, we can make a big difference.