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Make your wedding a special day - for you & the planet. To help, we have put together a list of suggestions & pointers towards your ethical big day, from the ceremony & catering, to an eco-friendly honeymoon.

Ethical Weddings can include using:

? A venue operated on environmentally friendly principles or supporting a charity or community project
? A caterer using organic & local produce
? A dressmaker or designer using organic, hemp or recycled fabrics
? A florist working with organic or fairtrade flowers
? An environmentally friendly means of transport such as horse & cart
? Stationery designed on recycled or hand crafted paper
? Wedding rings that use recycled gold or fairtrade silver or by purchasing diamonds that are conflict free see Kimberley Process
? Not accepting traditional household wedding gifts such as toasters but accepting donations to charity on your behalf
? Using biodegradable confetti

Im now going to expand on a few of the points above:

Wedding Lists

The first casualty is the traditional wedding list, a monument to conspicuous consumption featuring dinner services & crystal to be replaced at fashionable weddings by charity lists, with tree plantations & donated cows for communities in the developing world. If you’re green fingered, how about plants, trees or garden vouchers.

Wedding Stationery

Use recycled paper for wedding stationery, or attempt Recycled Paper. To save paper, you could design a website, & send a postcard to guests referring them to it… Wedding photos can be easier to share if you go digital too.

The Dress

Another option is to hire the gown & other wedding outfits instead of purchasing it & then putting in the warbrobe just to pull it out for the occasional look!

Drink

Buy organic or fairtrade wine for your guests & enjoy the revelry while nature & communities benefit. Order wine, spirits, champagne, beer & soft drinks from an independent on line organic retailer while avoiding the supermarkets that make millions in profits.

Food

Support local, seasonal & organic food production - & ask your caterer to do the same. Avoid disposable plates & make certain empties end up in the recycling bin. Ask your cake-maker or local baker to use local & organic ingredients where possible.

Transport

Find a venue as close to home as possible to cut down on transport. Horse drawn carriages are not just good at seaside resorts but also on your wedding day. If you dont have the ceremony & reception at the same venue, encourage guests to share rides to the reception or provide a coach or bus.

Honeymoon

Think about romantic destinations you can visit that are as close to home as possible to reduce the number of road & air miles. Clear? If you decide to go longhaul, then find an eco friendly or ethical hotel to stay in.

Find ethical, green & eco products to make your green wedding in the authors website.

Davinos Greeno works for the organic & ethical directory that lists 100s of Organic & Ethical Companies & we also have Organic Articles for you to read or publish.

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