Green Living: Ethical weddings
By Andrew Williams
We're off to beautiful Godalming this weekend for my cousin's wedding. Family weddings always make me feel slightly guilty, as my wife and I didn't bother telling any of our extended family about our big day until, er, after the big day.
We did have a fantastic time in Vegas though. This was in our pre-eco days of course - these days I'm sure we'd get a horse drawn cart to Gretna Green or similar.
Green weddings are becoming increasingly popular. Whether this is because of a desire to save the planet or a need to save cash is neither here nor there - weddings which take account of their environmental impact are definitely de rigueur.
Ethical Weddings, run by green guru Katie Fewings, is a great place to start for brides who want to be greener. Her site, ethical weddings.com, has a supplier directory offering information on everything from flowers to wedding favours.
Of course, one of the fundamentals of sustainability is that your wedding has to make financial sense. With the average cost of a wedding coming in at anywhere between £11k and £17k, there is some scope to manage resources more effectively.
Being green shouldn't be about becoming killjoys or having a second rate day. Small steps, such as creating your own stationery using recycled card, will save you money, save paper and also create a personal memento of your day.
We may be slowly leaving the era of enormous setpiece weddings with fortnight honeymoons in far flung destinations. However with a bit of careful planning it should still be possible to have a special day and still do our bit to preserve the environment for future couples.
- Do you or your company have an environmentally friendly product or service you'd like featured in this column? Let us know by contacting Seventeen, a sustainable alternative for your event management needs, at andrew@seventeenevents.co.uk.
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