Say “I Do” to a Green Wedding

By:  Stephanie Benney

Regardless of your personal feelings towards the Royal Family and their antics throughout the years, us “chicks” get excited when there is talk of a royal wedding event!  I was too young to remember all of the chatter and buzz regarding the extravagant wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in July of 1981.  This is  my generation’s opportunity to fall victim to being a “Royal Wedding Junkie”.  Aside from the era in time, wedding gown styles, people involved and other obvious changes, there is one major aspect that will be different – it’s a GREEN WEDDING!

According to www.businessgreen.com, William and Kate will be using scaffolding and media stands built with FSC-certified wood, incorporating seasonal flowers and rumor has it, Kate’s gown could be eco-friendly, made from “Peace Silk” or fair-trade cotton.  Prince Charles is quite an environmentalist, so naturally the couple will be reducing their carbon footprint wherever possible.

What classifies a wedding as green?  There is no “set of rules” or amount of criteria that has to be met.   My personal advice is this, because a wedding is subjective to the couple, do as much as you can to reduce economic or financial anxiety, carbon footprints and community or societal strain – obviously, the more you can do the better.

Consider serving locally grown or made food and try to calculate the waste.  Instead of throwing the leftover food away at the end of the reception, feed the staff(after all they are the ones who were behind the scenes making sure your special day had no flaws) or box it up and take it to a local homeless shelter, food bank or soup kitchen.  Regardless of our position or place in the world, we all have duty to take care of one another as humanitarians.

The style and theme of a wedding is something that most girls dream about from the time they hold their first Barbie Doll, or if you are anything like me, while still in the womb.  However, this can play a major factor with energy and labor cost concerns.  Instead of setting the mood by dimming lights or having special lighting treatments built for your service or reception, what about having a gorgeous evening wedding, lit by rich, warm candlelight?

A non-conventional way to alleviate energy usage is to hire a string quartette, pianist, or entertainment that is “unplugged”.  This genre of musicians do not use amplifiers, soundboards, mixing machines and other electrical music equipment.  This also allows for an elegant, classic and timeless experience for you and your guests.

How about getting creative with invitations by simply using a wedding website, powered by a green search engine, such as Ecosia, which donates back to the preservation of the rainforest.  This also saves on postage and printing costs. If you aren’t comfortable with the guest not having a tactile invitation, there are many recycled papers and non or less toxic inks to utilize.

There are a myriad of ways to green your big day, but I have named a few just to get the ball rolling.  The wedding season is upon us and brides are looking for new and creative ways to make their wedding stand out. Take a moment to consider how you can share your special day with the rest of the world, by doing everything you can to reduce, recycle and reuse.  After all, when it comes right down to it, a wedding is about LOVE.  Why not extend it………GLOBALLY?

Stephanie Benney is a “Sustainable Visionary” and also the new Pittsburgh Representative for Fuzed Marketing, where she helps companies increase their brand presence. stephaniebenney@yahoo.com