Reducing the Carbon Footprint of your Wedding

With all the talk over the past few years about climate change many couples are thinking about the size of the carbon footprint from their wedding. Wedding plans can often get out of hand where the budget is concerned as well as where the carbon footprint is concerned. At www.shire-wedding.co.uk we provide you with listings to help you find local suppliers, we believe that buying local is crucial step towards carbon reduction. So how else can you reduce the carbon footprint of your wedding?

This really depends how far you want to take it. Obviously if you wanted to go the full hog you could just invite close family by word of mouth, walk to the venue, use flowers from your garden, get produce from the farm next door and buy your wedding dress from Oxfam. You need to take a few minutes at the start of your planning to work out what your priorities are. There are a few things that are definitely worth considering that will make a difference without the compromise.

• As we have mentioned before buy local, this includes getting the flowers that are in season.
• Use recycled paper for invites and thank you cards, or email them to your guests.
• Set up an email address for RSVP's
• A wedding website is a great idea, you can not only provide up to date information on the details of the day, you can also add photos after the event. Rather than inviting people from abroad you could even broadcast the event to them over the internet.
• Provide relatives with photos on DVD rather than getting them an album.
• Think about transport, you could take a horse-drawn carriage to the venue and encourage you guests to lift share. Make sure your reception venue is close to the ceremony and consider putting on a coach or mini bus for your guests.
• Discourage paper confetti, try dried rose petals instead.
• Do not individually wrap favours for your guests consider having a bowl of sweets on each table.
• Question your suppliers on the matter, for example does your caterer or reception venue buy locally sourced produce and alcohol.
• Don't go abroad for you hen and stag do's, or even for your honeymoon if you want to take it that far.
• Don't buy disposable cameras for the tables, ask anyone if they have an old digital one that you could borrow or ask guests to bring their own and upload the pictures to a designated area on the net.
• Use plants as centre pieces on the tables and let guests take them home at the end of the day.
• Use an online gift list and request that all gifts are delivered in one go after the wedding and are not gift wrapped. Or better still ask guests to donate the money they would have spent on the gift to an offsetting scheme.

You may have thought we were joking earlier when we mentioned getting your dress from Oxfam; we weren't! What will you do with your dress after the day? Many charity shops have an amazing range of worn once wedding dresses. If you do not want to buy one second hand maybe you could donate yours when you've finished with it. On the same note there may be many other things that you could donate to charity once the event is over. Think carefully before throwing things away or putting them in a box in your loft forever more.

If you like the sound of having your own wedding website but are worried that you do not have the technical skills to set it up or that it will cost a fortune then think again. There are a number of companies that offer reasonably priced websites that are simple to design and set up. Having a wedding website can allow you to provide your guests with all the necessary information about your day without having to print it all out and send it through the post with the invitations. Information such as maps or directions to the venue, the order of service, gift list details, dress codes or themes and menu options. Check out companies like Reg-123 for their instant and easy website options before you dismiss the idea completely.