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Wedded Bliss with a Low-carbon TwistIf you’ve recently decided to get hitched, you may have asked yourself, “How do I celebrate such an all-consuming event without a lot of consuming and polluting?” The solution for me was to have a low carbon wedding – a wedding with fewer greenhouse gas emissions. After doing much web research, it became clear that there were numerous ways to lower the emissions from our event with everything from organic flowers to recycled gold wedding bands. I thought I would save you some time, and share everything I learned with you! Check out these great green wedding tips below. Happy planning! Lindsay Coulter, Queen of Green
The Dress / The Tux
Ah, the crowning glory. So many options! 
FREE For a heritage feel, ask to borrow your Mom’s, Grandma’s or friend’s dress. Likewise, ask the men in your life if they can lend a tux or a suit (something old, something new… you get the idea). $ Rent it! Look on the internet for local suppliers. You’re only going to wear it once my friend. And renting is a good way to cut down on waste by re-using clothing rather than purchasing something brand new. $ Choose a dress you can later modify into a cool party dress, or a suit you can pull off wearing at work. $$ Buy a gorgeous dress on consignment. Chances are it was only worn once. $$ A seamstress can sew and design clothes for you out of sustainable fabrics like organic cotton and bamboo, adding a unique, personal touch. $$$ Purchase an organic cotton, bamboo or hemp dress. They’re a lot more beautiful than they sound! Check out The Oko Box, Rawnique, the Morgan Boszilkov wedding collection, the Margaret MacLeod eco-collection, Threadhead Creations, or check out this website that lists several eco-designers. 
With this ring…
$ More and more people are going for just wedding bands. Money saved from forgoing ‘the Rock’ can go to a down payment on your first house!$$ Get trendy! It’s popular right now to reset or redesign an heirloom stone. No family jewels? Buy a second-hand ring with a gem you love, and have it reset. $$ Ever heard of a wooden wedding ring? Say that three times quickly. No mining is involved, and the result is a gorgeous warm ring in any number of styles. Try Touch Wood Rings for ideas. $$$ Still want the bling? Check out environmentally-friendly recycled gold rings at www.greenkarat.com; they’re so savvy they can even add carbon offsets to production. For Canadian diamonds, visit www.brilliantearth.com or www.leberjeweler.com.
Start a green wedding gift registry
If all you need is love – and a healthy, happy Earth – then consider starting a wedding gift registry with the David Suzuki Foundation. Your guests can give green to a great cause that will help protect the environment. It’s a meaningful way for everyone to celebrate your love for each other, and your love for nature. If you email your wedding invitation, you can send a link to our website. And if sending invites in the mail, we offer a pdf of cards you can print out and insert into your wedding invitations requesting donations in your honour. Another great way to give is by donating to the David Suzuki Foundation in lieu of party favours at the reception. We offer a pdf of a table card you can print out to let your guests know of their gift. Contact Kim Vickers at kvickers@davidsuzuki.org or call her at 1.800.453.1533 toll free to get started.
Picking the venue
Getting married in a place like Spain is pretty romantic, but everyone will have to fly there. Hello carbon footprint! And goodbye guests who are unable to afford the journey! Instead, a great idea is to have your wedding at a venue that you and all your guests can get to easily. After all, you might want to remind yourself what the place looks like while you plan décor. To save on travel, and guests getting hopelessly lost, why not have the ceremony and the reception at the same place? It saves money and carbon emissions. Ask yourself… Is there public transit nearby for my guests?
Flowers and décor
FREE Time to raid Granny’s garden! Does anyone you know have a green thumb that would like to volunteer to grow your plants in their garden, pesticide-free? Think how much more special it will be to have flowers from loved ones.$ Pumpkins and gourds make nifty vases, and they’re compostable! Or purchase vases that can be given to your guests. $$ Ask your florist to source local, seasonal, pesticide-free flowers that don’t have to be shipped in from far, far away. $$ Choose a beautiful native species, like your provincial flower, that will bloom around your wedding date. $$ Some people opt for getting married in a garden or other gorgeous outdoor venue. Voila! Instant décor! Go for a little tour of your local botanical gardens or parks and see what strikes your fancy.
Food
FREE Who doesn’t love a potluck? You get to try so many new and interesting foods, and it builds a sense of community. Unique dishes are great conversation starters too.$ What are relatives for? Helping with everything! Can you delegate the catering to a food-savvy relative? $$ Whether it’s Uncle Jim or a fancy caterer, ask your cooks to source seasonal, local, organic foods. You can feast on sustainable meat and seafood too. They’re all better for the planet and they taste amazing! $ Have an adventure at your local U-brew and make your own beer and wine for the big day. If that’s not your thing, there are plenty of options for organic or local wines too. $$ If you plan a buffet, you’ll probably end up with mounds of leftovers. A sit down dinner is less wasteful. Remember to forgo the disposable plates and napkins for the real thing.
Invitations
FREE We live in a digital age, and although printed out invites do have their charm, they can also cost thousands of dollars, and waste trees and water. Why not email your invites? (Save the paper invites for the non-tech-savvy on your guest list.) FREE Get interactive online with your own wedding website from ewedding.com. $$ Ok, so if you’ve been planning your wedding invites since you were 12, you can still mail them out and be green. Get a hold of some 100% post-consumer recycled paper, and look for printers who use vegetable-based ink.
Music
FREE Get your musically-inclined friends to play for your wedding. It’s so meaningful, and they might even write something special just for the two of you if asked nicely.FREE For a touch of romance, have your wedding musicians go unplugged. It saves on electricity when they aren’t hooked up to an amp. FREE Make your own dance mix on your iPod or memory stick, hook it up to the sound system, and presto! Instant dance party. And no DJ lugging equipment around in a gas-guzzling van.
Wedding photos
FREE Is there a guest who has savvy photography skills? Ask them to take your photos in lieu of a wedding present. Not a green wedding tip… but a tip for saving cash nonetheless!$ Consider viewing all your digital images on a DVD first so you only have to print out the really great ones. (That saves chucking out the ones with your eyes half-closed.) $ Print out your photos using vegetable-based inks. Most photos are developed and printed using harsh, harmful chemicals. $$ Ask photographers what green products they offer. Enviro-friendly wedding albums? Prints using veggie-based dyes? Can they ride transit or cycle to the event?
Guest travel and accomodation
FREE Extend the party for your guests by billeting your out-of-towners with friends and family. They’ll love meeting new people and seeing the area from a local’s perspective.FREE/$ Have friends’ backyards or campgrounds nearby? Have a tent city! Camping is fun and a welcome change from hotels. $$ Bed & Breakfasts are charming, and can be less wasteful than hotels. $$ Check out local hotels that specialize in having a low carbon footprint. Google “green hotel” and the city name where your wedding is taking place. Check out what makes a hotel green. FREE/$$ Asks guests who fly to offset their carbon emissions, or pay the offsets for all your guests yourself. Click here to learn more. $$ WestJet and Air Canada have options now where you can buy offsets at the same time you buy your flights. Let your guests know. $$ Your guests can see more of our beautiful country by taking the train.
The Honeymoon
$ Is there a place close to you that you’ve always wanted to explore? Why not get outdoors and check out the rest of Canada? You don’t have to go far to find a totally self-indulgent, relaxing paradise.$$ Imagine biking together on adorable cruisers through a picturesque landscape. Oh so romantic. Oh so carbon neutral. Look on the internet for the best in cycle touring. If you fly, purchase carbon offsets. $$$ There are plenty of hotels and getaways that specialize in eco-tourism, and excel at being sustainable. Snoop around the internet for the best deals.
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