| Eco-Weddings |
The average wedding creates 14.5 tons of CO2.
There are many ways to make a reduction of your wedding's carbon footprint.
1. Keep the Guest List Short
The more people that are invited and attend, the bigger the ecological and financial
impact. (The more miles traveled, paper used, food consumed and waste created)
2. Go Local
Transportation of items and people adds up. Find whatever you can in your area.
3. Venue
18. Inform your guests about why and how you are having a eco-wedding
There are many ways to make a reduction of your wedding's carbon footprint.
1. Keep the Guest List Short
The more people that are invited and attend, the bigger the ecological and financial
impact. (The more miles traveled, paper used, food consumed and waste created)
2. Go Local
Transportation of items and people adds up. Find whatever you can in your area.
3. Venue
- Hold the ceremony and reception at the same location.
- Support your local community garden, arboretum, farm or nature preserve
- If it is a destination wedding choose a location where everything is walking distance. Cities such as New Orleans and
Savannah are great choices. - An outdoor, daytime wedding uses little to no electricity.
- Recycled paper, hand made, tree-free, plantable papers, soy ink
- E-vites, email RSVP's
- Postcards in place of full envelopes. (We used postcards for the Save The Date)
- Grow your own, or have friends bring for distinctive bouquets and centerpieces
- Organic and/or local
- Donate to local hospital or nursing home afterwards
- Instead of flowers use: fruits, branches, rosemary topiaries, live plants
- Beeswax or Soy candles
- Local and Organic
- Vegetarian
- Fair-Trade
- Eco-friendly fabrics
- Vintage
- Rentals
- Clothing that can be re-worked into something you can wear again
- Donate to a charity afterwards or loan to a friend
- Conflict-free diamonds
- Recycled goldand ethical metal
- Vintage
- Register for eco-friendly gifts
- Instead of gifts register for donations to your favorite charity
- www.idofoundation.org - allows you to register for gifts with a percentage going to a charity of your choice
- Plantable paper
- Printed on pressed leaves
- Double as your favor
- Donation to charity
- Tree donation certificates
- Tree samplings or seed packets
- Fair-trade coffee, tea or cocoa
- Go digital - saves paper and there is less chemical use
- Eco-friendly hotels
- Located at or walking distance to venue
- Hold the ceremony and reception at the same location
- Provide shuttle buses
- Green car services are avaiable in Los Angeles, New York City and London
- Eco-friendly hotels and resorts
- Stay close to home
- Take a long-distance train ride
18. Inform your guests about why and how you are having a eco-wedding
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A PAPERLESS WEDDING
Your wedding announcement or invitation can set the tone for your environmentally friendly wedding. There are many
options today for 100% recycled, partially recycled or completely tree free papers from wedding invitation suppliers. If you
are interested in making your own invitations, the choices are unlimitied.
Consider all these places paper is used on your wedding day:
Tree-free paper options are made out of hemp, banana stalks, bamboo, kenaf, or organic cotton.
Many brides today are communicating electronically to cut down on paper and waste. You may be interested in creating
your own unique personal wedding website.
Your wedding announcement or invitation can set the tone for your environmentally friendly wedding. There are many
options today for 100% recycled, partially recycled or completely tree free papers from wedding invitation suppliers. If you
are interested in making your own invitations, the choices are unlimitied.
Consider all these places paper is used on your wedding day:
- engagement announcements
- save the date cards
- shower invitations
- shower thank you notes
- wedding invitaitons
- ceremony programs
- place cards
- menu cards
- wedding announcements
- thank you notes
Tree-free paper options are made out of hemp, banana stalks, bamboo, kenaf, or organic cotton.
Many brides today are communicating electronically to cut down on paper and waste. You may be interested in creating
your own unique personal wedding website.
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Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something...Green? Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte Delivers
Eco-Friendly Weddings By Tolly Moseley (Treehugger.com)
As more eco-conscious couples take their walk down the aisle, a growing green wedding industry has responded in kind.
Enter "Something Green," a new service introduced by The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte.
"We are constantly looking for innovative approaches that aren't typically offered in the luxury hotel market," said Heidi
Nowak, Director of Sales and Marketing for the hotel. "We noticed a trend among meeting planners, who are starting to
book more and more 'green meetings' - food catered by organic, local services, paper products printed on post-consumer
waste. We thought it would be exciting to move wedding services in that direction as well."
But just what eco-trappings does Something Green offer? Think table linens made from recycled plastic bottle materials.
Take-home guest gifts of plantable herb gardens. Centerpieces in compostable papier-mâché containers. And those
centerpieces, in eco-friendly fashion, may be replanted, composted or donated to the bride's choice of a local hospital or
non-profit.
Speaking of "replanting," all foliage and flowers for the Something Green package are locally-grown. The options are vast,
with pink and purple ornamental cabbage blossoms, green hypericum berries, yellow daffodils, hot pink roses, spring bulb
flowers such as iris, tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, gerbera daisies, hydrangeas, delphiniums, snap dragons, cosmos, and
zinnias in the flower category; pittosporum, boxwood, eucalyptus, ivy, galax and more in the foliage category.
In addition to the floral eye candy, Something Green also offers edible, drinkable eco-options. Organic beverages like
Juniper Green Gin, Crop Vodka, Mount Gay Pagayo, 4 Copa Tequila, and wines by Bonterra pour from a four-hour organic
open bar during the reception. (We like the sound of the "Tomatillo Martini:" Crop Tomato vodka, muddled peppercini, red
and yellow grape tomatoes, salt, sugar, oregano and fresh lime juice.)
Dinners make use of organic carrot purees, asparagus, hormone- and antibiotic-free filet mignons, and more. Vegetarians
will be pleased to know that meat-free dinners can be customized to their, ahem, taste. And the chefs at Ritz-Carlton,
Charlotte grow their own organic rosemary, oregano, chives and thyme up top on the hotel's green roof, so fresh herbs
are literally a few floors away.
At the end of the night, the green bride and groom slice into an organic wedding cake. Chef Jon Farace at the hotel mixes
in organic flour, sugar, eggs, shortening, vanilla, milk, cream, and salt for the cake, and organic sugar, butter, vanilla and
egg whites for the butter cream. The hotel then donates all unused food - dinner, cake, everything - to Second Harvest
Food Bank of Metrolina.
Prices for Something Green services are steep - $189 per guest - but considering that the average wedding now costs
between $20,000 - $25,000 total, it's a steal considering the high-quality eco-products in this package. The max guest list
for Something Green is 480, so if you capped that, you'd be looking at a $90,720 wedding. (A more modest guest list of
150 fetches a $28,350 price tag).
Eco-Friendly Weddings By Tolly Moseley (Treehugger.com)
As more eco-conscious couples take their walk down the aisle, a growing green wedding industry has responded in kind.
Enter "Something Green," a new service introduced by The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte.
"We are constantly looking for innovative approaches that aren't typically offered in the luxury hotel market," said Heidi
Nowak, Director of Sales and Marketing for the hotel. "We noticed a trend among meeting planners, who are starting to
book more and more 'green meetings' - food catered by organic, local services, paper products printed on post-consumer
waste. We thought it would be exciting to move wedding services in that direction as well."
But just what eco-trappings does Something Green offer? Think table linens made from recycled plastic bottle materials.
Take-home guest gifts of plantable herb gardens. Centerpieces in compostable papier-mâché containers. And those
centerpieces, in eco-friendly fashion, may be replanted, composted or donated to the bride's choice of a local hospital or
non-profit.
Speaking of "replanting," all foliage and flowers for the Something Green package are locally-grown. The options are vast,
with pink and purple ornamental cabbage blossoms, green hypericum berries, yellow daffodils, hot pink roses, spring bulb
flowers such as iris, tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, gerbera daisies, hydrangeas, delphiniums, snap dragons, cosmos, and
zinnias in the flower category; pittosporum, boxwood, eucalyptus, ivy, galax and more in the foliage category.
In addition to the floral eye candy, Something Green also offers edible, drinkable eco-options. Organic beverages like
Juniper Green Gin, Crop Vodka, Mount Gay Pagayo, 4 Copa Tequila, and wines by Bonterra pour from a four-hour organic
open bar during the reception. (We like the sound of the "Tomatillo Martini:" Crop Tomato vodka, muddled peppercini, red
and yellow grape tomatoes, salt, sugar, oregano and fresh lime juice.)
Dinners make use of organic carrot purees, asparagus, hormone- and antibiotic-free filet mignons, and more. Vegetarians
will be pleased to know that meat-free dinners can be customized to their, ahem, taste. And the chefs at Ritz-Carlton,
Charlotte grow their own organic rosemary, oregano, chives and thyme up top on the hotel's green roof, so fresh herbs
are literally a few floors away.
At the end of the night, the green bride and groom slice into an organic wedding cake. Chef Jon Farace at the hotel mixes
in organic flour, sugar, eggs, shortening, vanilla, milk, cream, and salt for the cake, and organic sugar, butter, vanilla and
egg whites for the butter cream. The hotel then donates all unused food - dinner, cake, everything - to Second Harvest
Food Bank of Metrolina.
Prices for Something Green services are steep - $189 per guest - but considering that the average wedding now costs
between $20,000 - $25,000 total, it's a steal considering the high-quality eco-products in this package. The max guest list
for Something Green is 480, so if you capped that, you'd be looking at a $90,720 wedding. (A more modest guest list of
150 fetches a $28,350 price tag).