Green, Ethical and Eco-friendly Weddings

Check out Sandy Stonesifer’s I Do Good on Slate.com - how to turn your wedding into a charity fundraiser. There are some great ideas here, like

• have two registries (one for yourself and one for a charity)
• request donations in lieu of gifts
• send leftovers to a local shelter
• make donations in lieu of wedding favours.

Here are some of the charities listed in the article that can help you out with wedding-related fundraising:

• IDoFoundation.org
• JustGive.org
• Heifer International
• World Vision Canada 

There is a lot of power when groups of people come together, like for a wedding. Harness that power, and do some good for the world!

Congrats to everyone getting engaged today! The wheels have been set in motion and the excitement, chaos, arguments, stress and anticipation has begun (yes, planning has its ups and downs…).

The rings (if they haven’t already been bought), the dress and the location are usually the first details to be discussed. Here are some BluePlanetWedding.com resources to get you started:

Jewelry:

The Most Important Question to Ask About Your Engagement Ring

Gorgeous eco-friendly wedding bands for the groom

Recycled gold: reusing and repurposing old jewelry

Wedding Dresses:

Organic silk wedding gowns: making green and ethical choices

6 Eco-friendly Wedding Dress Designers You *Really* Need to See

5 Places to Find Gorgeous Preowned Wedding Dresses Online

Don’t forget to keep an eye on the Business Directory to find vendors and businesses who provide services and products to couples. New businesses are being added daily, and if you are looking for a business in your area and can’t find anyone, let us know and we’ll see if we can find a vendor for you.

Check out:

Wedding planners specializing in green weddings

Caterers specializing in local fare, organic food and vegetarian and vegan meals

Florists using locally-grown, fair trade and pesticide-free organic flowers

Finally, see how this Houston couple put on their green wedding, and all the tricks and tips they discovered to make a beautiful, low impact wedding! Be sure to read all 5 parts!

Tara & Mike’s Eco-friendly Wedding, Part 1

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.â€�  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.

Part 4 of the interview with Tara about her green wedding. Read part 1, part 2 and part 3.

How did your guests react? Did they notice and appreciate the green element?

Overall, the reaction was positive although we did receive some jokes and odd looks along the way.  A lot of people, particularly Houstonians, are not environmentally conscious, so an eco-wedding is new and strange.  I can understand their hesitation and curiosity because that is how people typically react to change, but I think the majority of our guests liked the idea and felt honored to be included.

Except for the eco-favors, there was nothing really obvious that made people notice that it was an eco-wedding, especially because the most important eco initiative, the recycling, happened in the kitchen/service area.  The eco elements were all around though, from the cakes to the linens to the eco-fetti. We did get a lot of compliments on the eco-favors, the floral centerpieces and the organic cakes at the wedding.  Also, moving part of the décor from the ceremony room to the reception really made a big impact. A couple of people have already told me that they planted their lavender seeds and pot, and there are sprouts growing!  I am so happy to hear that some of our guests really enjoyed their favor.

Before the day of the wedding, we received several comments on the invitations. A lot of people were very curious about the invitations because they looked natural but still elegant. When we told people they were made from tree-free materials and post consumer recycled paper, they were amazed at how beautiful the invitations looked.

Many people asked us throughout our engagement (7 months) what an eco wedding was or how you made a wedding green.  I always told them that a green wedding was same as a traditional wedding but rather than throwing paper, plastic, aluminum and glass in the trash, you recycle it instead.  Also, having the ceremony and reception at the same venue was another example I gave.  It’s simple and something that most people would not even think of as eco-friendly, but it is.

Tomorrow: Conclusion

Here’s part 3 of the interview with Tara about her green wedding. Read part 1 and part 2.

Was your eco-wedding more expensive than if you had done a standard wedding?

I can see where an eco-wedding would be more expensive than a regular wedding, but we did not really see an increase by adding our eco-initiatives. If it did cost us more, it was so minimal that we didn’t even notice.

I do admit that many organic or eco-friendly products available in America and throughout the world can cost more a lot of times, but that is not always that case and sometimes it just takes an extra few minutes to do some research and find a cheaper alternative.

What we did notice was how much more expensive everything has become even over the course of 7 months. I read recently that there has been a 15% increase in the cost of goods and services in the bridal industry, and next year that trend is supposed to continue.

I believe the reason our eco-wedding did not cost more is mostly due to the fact that we made wise decisions by deciding not to purchase flowers from ecobouquet.com and we did not choose an organic or free range meat. I wanted free range chicken, but it was going to cost an extra $10 a person so we decided to go with our original choice. No one even noticed that our chicken was not free range, so I think it was a good decision. However, in a perfect world, my wedding would have been eco-perfect with an entirely eco friendly menu, but that is not possible with most budgets. Also, I wanted organic flowers but the cost was too much for our budget so we chose a local florist that purchased a lot of local flowers instead.

One thing we did purchase that we did not have to was eco-fetti for our exit. Ecoparti.com offers eco-fetti which is colored, dissolvable paper. It was not expensive at all ($19.95 per bag of eco-fetti) and rose petals probably would have cost as much, but bubbles definitely would have been cheaper.

When we went shopping for our invitations, we got a quote from a well known local invitation company and they wanted to charge us $1500 for one of their nicer designs and it wasn’t even eco-friendly. We did get a quote for one of their eco-friendly invitations, but it was around the same price. Our budget was only $1000 and the only reason it was even that high, was because my mom was trying to please me because I wanted eco-friendly invitations. Luckily, my wedding coordinator was very resourceful and persistent and she found Invitesite. They make eco-friendly invitations at affordable prices by having their customers assemble the invitations. Our total for the invitations was $900 and although it did take quite a bit of time to assemble the invitations, it was well worth the savings.

Also, I originally wanted a wedding cake and grooms cake from the best baker in town, Nadine Moon of Who Made the Cakes, but I was open to the idea of an organic cake. We went to see Nadine and she created some fabulous designs for us. Her quote ended up being $1500 which was out of my mom’s price range. Jessica Zapatero saved the day again and introduced us to Monica Martinez of Precious Cakes by Monica. Not only were her cakes absolutely fabulous, but they were more affordable. The quote from Monica for the same cakes with the same designs but organic was $1100! So, we ended up with delicious organic cakes and we saved $400.

Tomorrow: How did your guests react? Did they notice and appreciate the green element?

Here’s part 2 of the interview with Tara about her green wedding. Read part 1 here.

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

In the beginning we started small but we ended up implementing over 20 different eco-initiatives. Having an eco-wedding is still a new concept in Houston, so we did have to overcome some obstacles, but we did it and we succeeded too.

Here’s a list of our eco initiatives:

1. Ceremony & Reception at the same location (The Four Seasons Hotel)
2. Eco-event wedding coordinator Jessica Zapatero of Green Lily Events
3. Wedding Cake and Groom’s Cake were mostly organic (from Precious Cakes by Monica)
4. Wedding Dress made from Raw Silk (Paloma Blanca – Canadian Company)
5. Engagement diamond is family heirloom – Brides’ Great Grandmother’s diamond
6. Plantable favors (seeds and pot are both plantable)
7. Invitations and accessories from Invitesite.com
   • mailing envelopes, rsvp card and additional card are made of 100% post consumer recycled paper
   • the booklet is tree-free and is made from lotka paper
   • the invitation sheet is tree-free and from ivory mulberry paper
   • the lining is lavender mulberry tissue
   • programs, menu cards and place cards all made from the same materials as invitations (but mostly with lotka and mulberry paper
8. Recycling of plastic, aluminum, paper and cardboard by Waste Management (at expense of Four Seasons)
9. Recycling of glass by Green Lily Events (at expense of Green Lily Events)
10. Guest baskets included recycled bags and local products (some organic too)
11. Donated Floral Centerpieces to Lexington Senior Citizen Center
12. Carriage ride after reception
13. Carbon offset for round trip airfare for honeymoon
14. Plated lunch
15. Used chair covers from Four Seasons
16. Used tablecloths that the linen vendor already has in stock
17. Re-used part of décor from ceremony at reception
18. Eco-suede kippahs/yarmulkes (made from cardboard – purchased from ZaraMart)
19. Bridal Party Make-Up from eco friendly line GloMinerals
20. Eco-friendly photographer Michael Ramos
21. Used Eco-fetti for exit from hotel (ecoparti.com)

Tomorrow: Was it more expensive than if you had done a standard wedding?

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”?