How To Plan A Lean, Green Wedding

It’s a common misconception that planning a green wedding…an eco friendly wedding focused on minimizing the event’s “carbon footprint” and using as many local, organic, and natural materials as possible…costs a lot of money.

The truth is that planning a green wedding will SAVE you money.  (Learn more about how green weddings save you money in my previous blog post.)

But if you want to plan a green wedding, where do you start?

Check out these great green wedding resources:

Google - That’s right, Google triumphs again.  Just type in a quick search for “green wedding favors” or “green wedding invitations” and you’ll get lists of great options and green wedding ideas.

Natural Resources Defense Council - A terrific resource for “greening” your life and your big day.  Check out this guide to finding and identifying green businesses that tells you what to look for and how to know that a business advertised as “green” is actually living up to its eco friendly promises.

Organic.Clothing.Blogs.com -  This post lists numerous sources of green wedding dresses and attire, along with ideas for the eco friendly wedding on a budget.

Etsy.com - Shop here for natural crafts and natural made items that are often less expensive than their plasticized, environmentally unfriendly counterparts.

When you’re planning green, just remember to think REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE.

Reduce your energy consumption with local, organic ingredients; borrow or buy used items whenever possible or purchase items you will reuse again; and support recycled goods.

Yes, you’re going to have to go “against the grain” when those wedding traditionals insist it has to be done the old, wasteful way.  Grandma might not get it.  But you’re going to plan your wedding your way anyway, right?