In recent times being environmentally friendly & going ?green? have become a must do feature in our lives. The wedding industry is no exception & has embraced green technology & innovations whole heartedly. Even in the most traditional wedding directory you will find a section relating to green weddings. It is not a hard task to incorporate environmentally friendly elements into your wedding, favors, invitations & stationery can all be made with eco-friendly papers & even your catering can take on an element of going ?green? ? so to speak! So how can you have an environmentally friendly wedding & still enjoy all the finer details of your day?

Eye On Invites

A good wedding directory will give you a host of stationery suppliers & printers & amongst them will be those who will provide stationery with a ?green? conscience. Recycled papers & environmentally friendly inks are the things to look out for when deciding on eco-friendly stationery.

Another option is to forget about paper based invitations altogether & use the internet instead. There are many websites which offer e-invites that can be emailed to your guests. Your guests can then respond by email or phone as they like. Couples can also set up their own websites to keep guests informed of how the wedding plans are progressing & any new developments they need to be aware of.

Planning Green

Being environmentally aware with your wedding plans means that you can incorporate eco-friendly elements to all parts of your wedding day. From a wedding venue that is local to the majority of your guests to using fair trade products in your catering, wedding cake & wedding attire.

Use your local wedding directory to help you find venues for your ceremony & reception which are close together & where your guests could walk to rather than drive. Alternatively use the same venue for your ceremony & reception. This will cut down on the need for transportation & reduce green house gas emissions. Equally an outdoor wedding would not require as much electricity as an indoor one. If you need to use transportation ask guest to car share or arrange a minibus or coach.

Food For Thought

When it comes to your wedding menu try to use organic produce & fair trade ingredients, although this can be more expensive than a traditional wedding menu. If money is an issue & you need to keep to a budget opt for locally grown produce & regional ingredients which are in season. This can produce dishes which are fresher, tastier & emphatically regional for your guests to enjoy. If you choose seafood on your menu ask where it is sourced from. Make sure it doesn't come from over fished or depleted stocks.

Floral Greens

You may not realize it but flowers can clock up a lot of eco-miles. Think about where those beautiful orchids have come from & the environmental impact they have left reaching your local florist. Ask about using locally grown flowers or flowers from regional growers. You may be restricted to seasonal blooms but you can also save money as using seasonally grown flowers from local growers is less expensive than out of season flowers which are imported.

There are many ways in which you can promote environmentally friendly products & services within your wedding plans. Whether they are small or large elements they all help towards promoting sustainability & raising local awareness of the products & services available. Where you tread, others will follow so it is worth thinking about your actions & the implications they could have for the wider world.