Have you ever thought about having a green party? Or more so, a green wedding? A lot of soon-to-be brides are doing exactly that by making every aspect of their special day environmentally friendly.


The trend is huge and has been featured on all sorts of mainstream media productions such as The Today Show and MSNBC . Couples are now tying the knot in a way that highlights saving the earth, and it's easier to do than many would think.

In Tucson, Ariz., local wedding planner Anne Bryan specializes in green weddings and has provided a list of the easiest ways to make your wedding eco-friendly. Her company, Creative Events , was established in 1991 and has been trying to spread the word on the event planning industry’s latest trend.

So how exactly do you make your wedding green? Here are some of Bryan’s suggestions:

Saving paper is a great way to make your wedding green and Bryan said you can do it by sending out email invitations instead of paper ones.

“You can have this designed by a graphic artist and everyone can R.S.V.P. online,” Bryan said. “You are saving many trees by doing it this way.”

Flowers are another aspect of your wedding that can be easily altered. Bryan said you can use potted plants as gifts at the reception, and you can choose organically grown flowers for your bouquet and decorations. Check out organicbouquet.com for more information on where to find and buy organic flowers.

Food and wine can be green as well by just changing where you purchase it.

“Local wines are a popular choice so you don't have to spend the carbon miles on having things shipped in from another state,” Bryan said.

You can also make sure that all the food you use is organic, she said.

Probably the easiest way to make your wedding eco-friendly is choosing an outside location. According to Bryan, you can choose a location close to your relatives so that your family and friends can walk to the ceremony. This decreases the amount of transportation needed. The other positive factor in having an outside wedding is that less electricity is needed, according to Greatgreenwedding.com .

If you do decide to have your weddings inside, Bryan suggested using eco-friendly light bulbs which can also be used as decorations.

The wedding dress, one of the most important decisions for the bride, is also something that can be integrated with a green approach.

“Getting your wedding attire from a vintage or charity shop is another option,” she said. “You could recycle your veil by using it for a fun craft project such as sachets.”

Another option for making your wedding dress green is to get one made from hemp, organic cotton, or linen, according to Greatgreenwedding.com. A company called Threadhead Creations lets the bride design her own gown made from all sorts of organic fabrics. This is a great way to have an extremely unique gown!

It may seem like all these options may increase the budget a bit, but Bryan said that's not the case. Actually, having a green wedding is usually a lot less expensive, she said.

There are so many other options on how to make your special day an environmentally friendly event. A wedding planner, like Bryan, can make sure that everything from the napkins to the limos is eco-friendly. However, if you don’t want to use a wedding planner there are tons of books and websites that provide great advice and tips on how to have a green wedding. Some good books are Organic Weddings by Michelle Kozin and Green Weddings That Don’t Cost The Earth by Carol Reed-Jones . Some helpful websites are Greatgreenwedding.com and greeneleganceweddings.com .



To Contact Anne Bryan with Creative Events, call 520-615-2566