Your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life. A day that you will remember (and hopefully cherish!) forever. There is no better way to start your life together than by respecting the planet and going green on the big day. It’s a great way to declare your love not just for each other but for the entire planet.
Going green(er) can also help you to cut down on some of the exorbitant costs that a wedding can sometimes entail. There are many ways to cut costs and go green at the same time. One easy way to cut costs and cut down on the environmental impact of your wedding is with your invitations. This does not mean, however, that it has to look like you have cheap invitations. You can have great quality, eco-friendly, cheap invitations that look like you spent a fortune!
Many people (maybe even most) prefer that wedding invitations are on paper so I’ll skip all the alternative, free, and extremely low impact ways that you could invite people electronically.
One of the major ways that you can save money on the invitations is to do it yourself. There are many stores that supply 100% post consumer recycled paper of certified FSC paper products to completely hand make your invitations at home. They are super easy to run through your home printer and even come with many design ideas if you can’t come up with one you love yourself.
Another DIY product I’ve seen lately for home computer use is seeded paper. This paper is either tree free or made of recycled paper and is filled with flower seeds. In this way, there is no waste at all from the invitation itself. The receiver can simply put it into a flower bed where it will make an effective weed barrier as well as seeding a bouquet of flowers that will remind them of your wedding!
If you don’t feel craft enough to DIY or can’t stand the pressure, there are many companies available to print and design the invitations for you that will keep the environment’s needs at the top of the list. Many companies will use tree free or recycled paper decorated with organic materials such as raffia, pressed flowers and even grass. You can’t get much greener than that! There are also soy and vegetable inks which are much more eco-friendly than traditional inks that your invitations can be printed with. Remember to view the company’s green credentials — check out how their business is operated. Do they recycle? Are they running a green office? Do they donate to environmental charities? Finding out these sorts of things can assure you that your invitations are actually green instead of just using the term “green” as a marketing gimmick.
Shop with a conscious and good luck on your big day!
