Trends on how to have a green wedding in Houston.
Being Eco-Chic for your wedding has a great impact on your family, the environment and guests. By taking a greener approach with your choices of materials used in conjunction with your weddings, we can all impact the environment in a big way.
The wedding industry is a 70 BILLION dollar industry. With the national average of a wedding being over 29 thousand in Houston alone, you can bet there is a lot of waste involved.
From location to destination, brides can choose “greener” wedding professionals to help impact the environment in a positive way.
1. One of the easiest ways to honor the planet is by using the great outdoors as the backdrop. Any open-air space—a beach, the woods, botanical gardens - can make an ideal setting. If that isn’t a possibility, locally, greenhotels.com names The Houstonian as one of the “green hotels” for your wedding day. They offer ways to preserve their lush property by using organic fertilizers, non-toxic pest control systems, and by creating small living environments for the natural wildlife surrounding their property. Inside, The Houstonian offers recycled products and the “reuse your linen” program in each room. Most hotels offer these types of green amenities and can step it up further to include cardboard and newspaper recycling along with ozone generators to reduce chemicals used in laundry processes. They have a unique property that protects wildlife, water and wind erosion and improves health and stress levels. Make sure you come up with a comprehensive recycling plan that will get rid of any footprint you might leave behind.
2. Invitations are a BIG way brides can impact the environment. Companies like Of The Earth offer lines of handmade papers and seeded stock that are 100% recycled and bio-degradable flowers, seeds and materials. Invitation makers and suppliers all have environmentally friendly papers to print your wedding invitations. Using recycled envelopes as well as reducing the amount of intricate pieces to an invitation is also a factor. You can also choose to print with soy based inks to take it one step further in conservation. By using less paper, combined with environmentally friendly inks, your wedding will set a “green” standard.
3. Your choice in fabrics for your wedding day can be another factor in saving the planet. There are a wide variety of beautiful fabrics that are all natural and not man-made. These fabrics are standards in the wedding gown industry and can be a little more expensive. Most brides will pay a little bit more money in order to preserve the environment and make their wedding day “green”. (look at samples)
4. Cosmetics. Women don’t really think of what goes into cosmetics, however, your choice has a bigger impact than you might think. Choose organic body washes, organic or soy based styling products and possibly mineral make-ups and cosmetics to put your wedding day look together. Several companies offer these types of products, Aveda, Bare Minerals Makeup, Origins, Aveno and more. Just as you would look at the foods that go into your body (laugh) you can look at what you put ON your body.
5. Flowers: we all love beautiful flowers and by using vases with water elements vs. the styrofoam rings with formaldehyde or by using flowers that include lavender, chamomile and sage. If you use herbs in your bouquet, they can be taken and translated into a dish at the reception. Lavender sachets can be made on site to give as gifts as the guests depart.
6. Give a tree seedling as a gift instead of handing out bubbles for guests or tins of mints. They can plant a tree in your honor. You can also set up a rainforest registry or conservation registry instead of receiving gifts. There are several environmental sites you can donate money to in honor of the wedding couple. Instead of China, you can give a chimpanzee!
7. Wedding RINGS! Who knew? Did you ever think about melting down some of that “old gold” and creating a new setting out of it or recycling diamonds and gemstones from other settings to creating a lasting piece for each other? This is a great way to conserve and anther small offering to the environment. Jewelers such as Select Jewelers and J&M Jewelers here in town offer some great ideas on custom pieces.
8. Don’t throw rice! Throw wildflowers! They sprout where they land and you can even get them locally grown! The Wild Seed Farms near Fredericksburg offers a beautiful packet of wildflower seeds that you can even have your wedding date printed on the packets! You and guests can save this piece for a keepsake!
9. Use real china, linens and napkins. They can be rented by many linens companies and some even offer organic fabrics to enhance your “green” wedding day. Cut down on the plastic ware and paper napkins and WASTE!
10. Catering: ask the caterer if they offer an organic menu or RAW menu. Ask if the caterer can purchase select items and ingredients from the local farmers markets, like the one at Rice University. It’s a way to keep the environment clean and cuts down on the waste it takes to drive food in from all over the city or country. Local growers offer healthy foods as well as a waste / gasoline / smog reduction when you don’t have to purchase foods from other areas of the country.
11. Environmentally friendly transportation. If you have to ship large amounts of people to one location, you can hire a limo bus service to save on emissions from several cars traveling to one destination. Another way is to ask if there are hybrid cars or limos to help transport your guests. If you can’t go all the way, at least your “getaway” car can be a hybrid to take you to your hotel or airport.
The wedding industry is a 70 BILLION dollar industry. With the national average of a wedding being over 29 thousand in Houston alone, you can bet there is a lot of waste involved.
From location to destination, brides can choose “greener” wedding professionals to help impact the environment in a positive way.
1. One of the easiest ways to honor the planet is by using the great outdoors as the backdrop. Any open-air space—a beach, the woods, botanical gardens - can make an ideal setting. If that isn’t a possibility, locally, greenhotels.com names The Houstonian as one of the “green hotels” for your wedding day. They offer ways to preserve their lush property by using organic fertilizers, non-toxic pest control systems, and by creating small living environments for the natural wildlife surrounding their property. Inside, The Houstonian offers recycled products and the “reuse your linen” program in each room. Most hotels offer these types of green amenities and can step it up further to include cardboard and newspaper recycling along with ozone generators to reduce chemicals used in laundry processes. They have a unique property that protects wildlife, water and wind erosion and improves health and stress levels. Make sure you come up with a comprehensive recycling plan that will get rid of any footprint you might leave behind.
2. Invitations are a BIG way brides can impact the environment. Companies like Of The Earth offer lines of handmade papers and seeded stock that are 100% recycled and bio-degradable flowers, seeds and materials. Invitation makers and suppliers all have environmentally friendly papers to print your wedding invitations. Using recycled envelopes as well as reducing the amount of intricate pieces to an invitation is also a factor. You can also choose to print with soy based inks to take it one step further in conservation. By using less paper, combined with environmentally friendly inks, your wedding will set a “green” standard.
3. Your choice in fabrics for your wedding day can be another factor in saving the planet. There are a wide variety of beautiful fabrics that are all natural and not man-made. These fabrics are standards in the wedding gown industry and can be a little more expensive. Most brides will pay a little bit more money in order to preserve the environment and make their wedding day “green”. (look at samples)
4. Cosmetics. Women don’t really think of what goes into cosmetics, however, your choice has a bigger impact than you might think. Choose organic body washes, organic or soy based styling products and possibly mineral make-ups and cosmetics to put your wedding day look together. Several companies offer these types of products, Aveda, Bare Minerals Makeup, Origins, Aveno and more. Just as you would look at the foods that go into your body (laugh) you can look at what you put ON your body.
5. Flowers: we all love beautiful flowers and by using vases with water elements vs. the styrofoam rings with formaldehyde or by using flowers that include lavender, chamomile and sage. If you use herbs in your bouquet, they can be taken and translated into a dish at the reception. Lavender sachets can be made on site to give as gifts as the guests depart.
6. Give a tree seedling as a gift instead of handing out bubbles for guests or tins of mints. They can plant a tree in your honor. You can also set up a rainforest registry or conservation registry instead of receiving gifts. There are several environmental sites you can donate money to in honor of the wedding couple. Instead of China, you can give a chimpanzee!
7. Wedding RINGS! Who knew? Did you ever think about melting down some of that “old gold” and creating a new setting out of it or recycling diamonds and gemstones from other settings to creating a lasting piece for each other? This is a great way to conserve and anther small offering to the environment. Jewelers such as Select Jewelers and J&M Jewelers here in town offer some great ideas on custom pieces.
8. Don’t throw rice! Throw wildflowers! They sprout where they land and you can even get them locally grown! The Wild Seed Farms near Fredericksburg offers a beautiful packet of wildflower seeds that you can even have your wedding date printed on the packets! You and guests can save this piece for a keepsake!
9. Use real china, linens and napkins. They can be rented by many linens companies and some even offer organic fabrics to enhance your “green” wedding day. Cut down on the plastic ware and paper napkins and WASTE!
10. Catering: ask the caterer if they offer an organic menu or RAW menu. Ask if the caterer can purchase select items and ingredients from the local farmers markets, like the one at Rice University. It’s a way to keep the environment clean and cuts down on the waste it takes to drive food in from all over the city or country. Local growers offer healthy foods as well as a waste / gasoline / smog reduction when you don’t have to purchase foods from other areas of the country.
11. Environmentally friendly transportation. If you have to ship large amounts of people to one location, you can hire a limo bus service to save on emissions from several cars traveling to one destination. Another way is to ask if there are hybrid cars or limos to help transport your guests. If you can’t go all the way, at least your “getaway” car can be a hybrid to take you to your hotel or airport.
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