Happy St. Patty's Day~ Being Green

Top Green Wedding Tips

1. Watch the numbers
   No matter what other choices you make, the biggest factor in the ecological and financial impact of your wedding will be its size. The cold hard fact is that each person you invite means more miles traveled, more food consumed, a bigger venue, and more waste when it's all over. 
2. Source locally
   Almost anything can be found locally, but some things are more important than others. Food and drinks are a great place to start. If there's a good micro-brewery down the road, why use up the earth’s precious resources trucking in a keg of your favorite organic ale? 
3. Source green
   Everything you buy or rent for your wedding will have an environmental and social impact, so keep this notion high on the list when planning. Can you encourage caterers to use organic produce?  Can you buy your flowers locally?   
4. Pick your venue
   Choosing a location that is as close to as many of your guests as possible will reduce your wedding’s impact in a big way. But once you’ve done that, you might also want to consider what type of venue you will be using. If you are not tied to a particular church, synagogue, mosque, or rammed-earth eco-dome, why not consider supporting your local community garden, farmer?
5. Green your transportation
   So, you’ve picked the venue, now how will you and your guests get there? Try to provide as much information on transport options as possible. Let them know that you’d really appreciate it if they arrived by train, bus, bike, or at least by carpool.  If you are a little ways out of town, why not provide shuttle buses—that way you don’t have to worry about drunk driving either. 
6. Gifts of conscience-  Can you give the guest a "green" gift, such as  a plant or bulb to take home and plant in their own garden.  
   
   
7. Communicate
   Whatever you do to green your wedding, make sure you tell people about it. Tell them about yourselves and about what is important to you. If you can create a wonderful, magical celebration that treads a little lighter on the planet, then people will remember it. Too many folks still believe environmentalism is all doom and gloom--this is the perfect opportunity to prove them wrong!