Eco Wedding 101

One of the positive impacts of a green wedding are your questions. Any time you call a location or a vendor and inquire about their eco-attitude, it is a step towards change. Three years ago, when I asked one of LA’s famous bakeries if they would consider creating cakes with organic ingredients, they nearly threw me out. Today they bake organic cakes in the hundreds as too many brides have asked for it.

Questions, which make a difference:

How far away will your locations be for most people? Can ceremony and reception be held at the same venue?

Caterer:

If you have to go with the venues, the dizzying trail of carbon emissions is lowered considerably if the caterer buys locally.

Does their caterer support local businesses?

Do they offer chemical-free organic foods, fair trade organic coffee and tea, free-range chicken, naturally raised beef and sustainable seafood like wild salmon? Do they use sustainable fish?

Do they serve food buffet or family style?

Will your food and beverage services use reusable items such as cloth, glass, ceramic, etc. rather than disposable items such as styrofoam or plastic ?

Will your kitchen purchase fresh rather than packaged produce?

Will pitchers of water be placed on the tables rather than prepouring glasses of water?

Are vegetarian or vegan menus available?

Aside from the organic menu, a vegan/vegetarian banquet is the healthiest planet-saving choice and organic wines and beers do not only lower your chance for a hangover but reduce the damaging impact on the planet.

Venue:

Watch out for the “green seal” but even if locations are not certified green, they might do enough to keep you and the planet happy like:

using environmentally safe cleaning products, recycled paper, energy saving light bulbs and appliances, water saving and water filtration systems, solar and wind energy, organic grounds keeping, waste recycling and energy offset by donating to a worthy cause.

Does your property regularly purchase

– reusable, recycled and durable products?

– products that can be recycled?

Does your property have an in-house recycling program? If yes, what materials are collected for recycling? (linens, phone books, oil, pallets, batteries, etc.)

Does your property have a recycling program which allows guests to participate? If yes, what materials are included?

Will your property provide recycling bins for our wedding? Which materials will we have recycling bins for: aluminum, glass, newspaper, white paper, plastic, steel cans?

Will your property commit to seeing that the above items collected from our event are actually recycled?

Does your property have a contract with recycling hauler/s or business/es?

Does your property donate, sell, or recycle old “durables” (i.e., furnishings, etc.)

Does your property donate leftover food to a local non-profit organization?

Will you provide cloth rather than disposable table drapes for display tables?

Does your property purchase and serve beverages from a dispenser or in returnable refillable containers?

Does your property have props, decorations, foliage or centerpieces that we can use?

Will your property use chips or coins rather than disposable paper tickets for coat checking and auto parking?

Hotel:

Does your property have guestroom dispensers for soap and shampoo?

Is your property willing to remove all small plastic amenity bottles from the guestrooms which our participants will occupy?

Does your property give guests a choice on having bath linens exchanged?