Eco week- Favorite Earth Day Wedding Ideas

Good ideas for green weddings

1. Carbon Offset Favors: Plant a tree and donate to charity! What's not to love about this favor? The couple offered guests a seedling to plant. Attached was the note, "Our wedding has been carbon offset through www.carbonfund.org. Check out the rest of this earth friendly wedding at The Recycled Bride

Carbon Offset Favor
Image from The Recycled Bride

 

2. Limit number of guest glasses: I featured this 2008 wedding this past Wednesday. Nonetheless, I think this particular idea bears repeating. When the Hindsight Groom and I were planning our own wedding, we did a tremendous amount of research on the greener option: disposable bamboo plates and corn syrup utensils, or renting real dishes and washing them. We found that shipping disposables in would leave a much larger carbon footprint, so we opted to rent dishes. Still, the water and resources used to wash each dish did not escape our attention.

A solution I wish I had in hindsight: Limit glasses to one per guest. Put a cute little tag on each glass and explain somewhere (your wedsite, or a sign at the table or bar) why it is important to limit the glassware.

Tags for guest glasses
Image from Snippet and Ink

 

Edible Favors:  In many ways, the best (and greenest favors) are edible. Guests may or may not adore the 2" framed picture of the two of you, or a little toy or trinket. But, many of your guests will enjoy your edible favors. Cookies, chocolates, jams, honey, and canned goods are all nice choices.

But for an uber green edible favor, opt for in-season, local, organic fruits and vegetables.

edible pear favors
Image from One Lovely Day

 

4. Recyclable and Reused Bridal Bouquets: Flowers can be one of the most toxic parts of your wedding. Commercial and supermarket flowers are often heavily sprayed with pesticides and herbicides. Even if you import organic flowers from, say, South America, the shipping creates a big carbon footprint. It is always greener (and cheaper) to use in-season, locally-grown, organic flowers.

Jessica, The Mason Jar Bride, took green to the next level. Rather than throwing out or preserving her bouquet, she planted it. Designed with hardy succulents, which thrive in the Los Angeles 'burbs, the Mason Jar Bride shows off her living bouquet six months after her wedding.

succulent wedding bouquet
Image from Dog and Bird

 

5. Re-using recyclables. The folks over at One Lovely Day have offered these colorful jars as an alternative to the muted neutral color palette of many eco-chic weddings. In addition to adoring the bright colors, I love the fact that these vases can easily go into the recycle bid after the wedding.

re-used can vases
Image from One Lovely Day, by Project Wedding