The Green Aisle: Location, Location, Location!

Sorry for the several month delay there folks, all this wedding planning has me running between several states without a lot of time on our hands. During this interlude my fiancee and I actually got to attend a few weddings and it only reaffirmed our decision to keep our wedding green & simple as possible.

Don't get me wrong, our friends' weddings were gorgeous and meticulously planned to the tiniest detail. We just confirmed that, in order to suit our personalities, our wedding needed to be on the simpler side and a green one.  Finding the right spot to hold one's wedding is a pretty daunting task. Its pretty much the first decision you have to make when planning a wedding.  After all, you can't really make any other decisions about the wedding or get your invites done until you know where the party is going to be.  Luckily for me, I had somewhere in mind and my fiancee agreed.

Its hard to be in control of how much a wedding has on the environment, unless you're in control of almost everything.....So we chose to get married outside, in a family friend's backyard, overlooking a river off the Chesapeake Bay.  Yes it will be beautiful, but there are several advantages & disadvantages to having an outdoor wedding, especially a green one.

With the exception of the weather, you are in complete control of all details, including  how much energy and resources you use. This was HUGE in my book. The downside to this is you need to do a lot more planning  and spend quite a bit more money for things that usually would already be included at a traditional indoor site.
In my opinion,  the extra expense and time it takes to plan is worth it, but this may not be true for everyone.

We are having our ceremony on a small deck and the reception is nearby under a tent. As much as I'd love to be tent free, we needed to plan for any inclement weather that may come up. Luckily I can still feel like I'm dancing under the trees because we found a local rental company that has clear topped tents.  (I should mention, if I haven't previously, I am attempting to keep as many of vendors as local to the site as possible to reduce our carbon footprint, as well as help the local economy).  I love the fact that we are surrounded by lots of lush green trees so we're not only reminding our guests about being eco-conscious......the beauty of nature all around them hopefully will help them think about their impact as they celebrate our special day with us.

Lighting will be provided mostly by the sun since our wedding is at 5pm and the sun doesn't usually go down this time of year until about 9.  This will help with reducing our energy usage. Once it does get dark the twinkle lights and lanterns we're using are LED's which use less energy. A large majority of them are also solar powered. If you're buying these yourself instead of renting them, some great deals can be found on ebay and your local home improvement store. (you can hit the post holiday sales at Lowe's and other stores & save a ton of money).

One concern that my mother brought up that I didn't think about before was bathrooms. Our guest list numbers have gone up quite a bit since my dad started inviting all his pals. We were able to rent a deluxe restroom trailer. We will be using a generator to power it and the DJ. Now we are trying to find a generator that runs on green fuel, or we may have to buy some carbon offset certificates. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

A lot of the other details for the reception site, such as decor and flowers are in future posts.  Next green aisle topic is what to wear- how to find what you want, still stay green as possible & not spend a fortune. Until then, be good to yourselves and the planet!