Green Weddings Part 1: The Venue

If you are planning on going green for your wedding, more power to you! There are lots of ways that you can reduce your carbon footprint…even on one of the biggest day of your life! All you need to do is remember the three R’s in every category of your wedding day: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

I know what you are thinking…how can picking a venue reduce my carbon footprint? It can, you just need to ask the right questions. Questions, that most brides wouldn’t even think to ask. I will list some of the main questions you should ask to help you make the right decision for you and your Groom-to-Be.

  • Do they have a recycling policy?
  • Are you able to host the ceremony and reception there? This helps reduce traveling pollution to and from each site.
  •  Where do they purchase their food and do they support local or regional farmers?
  •  Do they compost leftover food or do they donate leftovers to a local garden?
  • Do they have any decor items on site that you would be able to reuse?
  • Are you able to bring in your own baker so you have the option of getting an organic wedding cake?
  • Are you able to reuse floral arrangements from the previous night’s event for bathrooms, entrance tables, etc.?

Those are just a few of the questions that you can ask your venue in addition to all the others that you would normally ask. For more, you can check out Eco-Chic Weddings by Emily Elizabeth Anderson. She has a lot of great information!

When planning your wedding and looking into the venue, you want to support businesses that are doing in regard to sustainability. Make sure they are on the same wavelength as you are in regards to green practices. There are lots of great places that you can get married in such as: a park, or you can support a Non-Profit by having it at a Museum or a garden. A great place is a Vineyard! You would be supporting local farming, plus most of them have a restaurant on site which would give you the same benefits of having the reception at a restaurant. I have done many wedding here in Temecula at the local Vineyards! They are beautiful!

Check out these websites to help you find a green venue by you.

www.greenbrideguide.com. This is my favorite place to go for information on green weddings.

http://greenhotels.com

http://greenweddingshoes.com/top-26-coolest-wedding-venues/

The knot also has a way that you can check Eco-friendly when searching.

I hope that I have given you some good information as a start of this green weddings series! Thank you for reading and please pass it along to those who will benefit from this information!

“Being Green is Beautiful!”

 

Wedding Wednesday DIY

Weddings can be expensive. For my wedding I did a lot of DIY to keep the costs down. I am also very big on reusing old things, such as jars from food, drinks, etc. Often times I use them for vases. It’s just as good as buying brand new vases. With a little love, you can get those jars looking great!

A couple weeks ago, I did the Bride World Expo in Costa Mesa. For my booth, I wanted to bring in some nature. So I grabbed some of my mason jars and wrapped some Jute twine around the bottoms…and viola! I got a cute vase! Take a look. I think that they came out really well. Something very simple can be very elegant. I got lots of compliments on them. Lots of brides taking pictures wanting to use that idea for their wedding! So, what do you have to lose? Go ahead and look around your house and get crafting…green style!

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Wednesday Weddings!

ImageI thought that it would be good to not only talk about beauty, but green weddings as well! I will soon be a part of (hopefully) a website called…Green Bride Guide! It is very similar to the Knot, only this is for Brides who prefer to green their wedding. You are able to purchase stuff for your wedding, locate local vendors, etc. Another cool aspect is you can find ideas based on the theme of your wedding. There is also an option for you to create a registry on it.

If you are looking to green your entire wedding, this would be a good place to start! I will hopefully have a profile on there just as I do the Knot.

Be inspired…