I don’t like the idea of asking people for money as it seems a bit odd, so in the end we went for a list of grow-your-own goodies from Harrod Horticultural who have been really helpful.

We also talked to Manda Wilderness about projects that they would like supporting, and they decided that they would love to have donations towards buying desks and chairs for the schools that they’re building with the community.  Guests seem to really like this and it’s so exciting feeling that we can make a tangible difference to a big project.

Another good place for ethical wedding (or other) gifts is the Good Gift Guide.  I’ve used this for general gifts and it’s brilliant!  People really want to give to you at weddings and rather than getting stuff I don’t need for the sake of it, what a great opportunity to support something I believe in.

I would recommend, if you go down this route, to choose specific things for  a charity rather than, say, “please make donations to the NSPCC” or whichever charity you choose.  Guests like to know where their money is going, which is why supporting a specific Manda project, or buying a “Good Gift” works so well.

If you love cats, maybe a donation to a new cat housing area for your local cat sanctuary is a good idea.  If it’s the Rainforest you want to save, suggest specific amounts to guests – for instance Rainforest Concern convert a £25 donation to half an acre of rainforest saved which is much nicer for the guest than a random donation to a large, faceless charity pot.

But if wedding planning caps (or veils I suppose…) are firmly back on, now might be a good time to take a look at this week’s featured supplier, the fantastic Fairgift, who are here to fulfil every ethically-minded couple’s dreams with their extensive Fair Trade wedding gift list.

Here is co-founder, Brian Walmsley, to tell us a bit about how Fairgift began and what really inspires them…

Name: Brian Walmsley
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Locations: Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire (Showroom) & Penzance in Cornwall (Warehouse & Customer Services)

A Nightmare on Elm Street movie download Tell us a bit about yourself and your business
Fairgift is a social enterprise set up in 2006 by four friends and family: Brian, Mel, Helen and Charles.

Fairgift offers a ‘wedding list with a heart’ – hundreds of beautiful and original Fair Trade items for your home.

Our goal is to help Fair Trade producer groups and co-operatives in Africa, Asia and South America reach potential customers in the UK.

At the moment we work with 37 groups, including:

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• co-operatives in Mali & Burkina Faso that provide the cotton for perfect fluffy white dressing gowns and bedding
• Craft Link in Vietnam who produce the handmade Green Glaze dining-ware
• a co-operative in Kashmir that chain-stitches a wide range of colourful cushions and rugs.

The idea is to find couples getting married in the UK who are looking for beautiful, original gifts but also something that’s a bit different and that reflects their values.

• All Roads Lead Home psp

Many families around the world are faced with a daily choice between feeding their children properly and sending them to school. Providing a fair wage and access to UK customers means that many of these families can do both, helping to build a positive future for their communities.

What or who inspires you?
In the public sphere Anita Roddick for successfully showing that business can be a force for good, and Nelson Mandela, a living legend who led a nation into peace and hope.

On a personal level, we are constantly inspired and humbled by the many producers we meet who have created the Fairgift range through their expertise and hard work.

What do you enjoy most about running your business?
Getting to know wonderful couples in the UK, working with Fair Trade producers around the world, and interacting with many creative, energetic and inspirational people involved in running social enterprises and ethically minded businesses. People like Barbara who started Oxfam Bridal from her back room (and is married to Charles from Fairgift), Leander who started My Small Help in Nepal, Andy at Give It, Amber & Shah at Sky Lotus, Katie at Ethical Weddings and many people at Traidcraft who helped us when we started.

What is the most challenging aspect?
Building sustainable businesses in the very poorest communities – especially where infrastructure is weak, such as East Africa where we lived and worked. We’re working hard to fix this, and 2009 will see the launch of some fantastic new product ranges plus campaigns towards fairer trade rules.

How do you see the wedding industry changing over the next five years?
I think and hope that we’ll see a shift from excessive consumption to greater sustainability and provenance.

We’re all starting to learn about the social and environmental impact of the decisions we make: social/Fair Trade pioneers are working to improve the environment, and environmental campaigners are realising the social impact of climate change.

Hamlet 2 video The economic downturn may actually help as we seek to reduce consumption and instead seek greater value and meaning from our economic choices.

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I hope!

Find out more about Fairgift – fair trade wedding gift lists

This week’s featured supplier is Polly Higgins of The Lazy Environmentalist.  As far as I can tell from all the eco-activities she’s involved in, Polly isn’t lazy at all! But she lets you be by bringing together lots of gorgeous gifts and their sustainable stories in her eclectic eco-emporium.  Over to Polly…

Name: Polly Higgins

Location: London, UK

Tell us a bit about yourself and your business
I set up The lazy Environmentalist out of frustration at not finding an eco-emporium that sold the kind of gifts and homeware that I wanted – ones that were not only sustainable but that were of high quality and beautifully made by people who cared about the full lifecycle of their products.

To reflect that commitment, each product has its own Eco-Footprint displayed so that you know how each item has a reduced impact on the environment through the type of dyes used, the materials used, how it was made and how it got here. The same commitment to limiting environmental impact runs through every aspect of my business.

What or who inspires you?
Anita Roddick, Wangari Maathai, Rachel Carson, Rosalie Edge, the Chipko Tree Huggers to name a few. They are all Wise Women – women who inspired me to go on and set up my Women in Sustainability and the Environment (WISE Women) Network – you can read about them on wisewomen.me.uk/inspiration

Also Billy Connolly – he’s not a woman, but he does wear a skirt on occasion and is very funny.

What do you enjoy most about running your business?
The creativity and the knowledge gained. It was and continues to be a creative experience for me, in particular the eco-stories behind each product and creator, the photography, the learning about new eco-friendly processes of production.

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It has made me realise that there are always better ways of doing things – systems that can be used that are more benign to the planet.

What is the most challenging aspect?
Informed consumerism needs to grow far wider. Women in particular make most of the purchasing decisions in the family, be it for themselves, their partners, their children, at Christmas and every day. It’s about providing more better made, more environmentally friendly products, and making them mainstream. Be it the soap you buy, the underwear you choose, the car you drive – there is so much scope for better more earth-friendly alternatives.

What do you feel you bring to an ethical wedding?

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Well, it’s not just about buying ethical pressies, it’s more than that. By asking your friends and family to choose from an ethica/eco wedding list you are opening up to them the potential of shopping informedly not just for your big day, but seeing what possible alternatives exist.

How do you see the wedding industry changing over the next five years (if at all)?
I see massive changes ahead. With a recession looming long into the next few years, people will be more careful about how they prepare for their wedding.

• buy World Gone Wild

Weddings will become less about ostentatious show, less traditionally big and white, less cripplingly expensive. Instead, they will become more unorthodox, less expensive and more creative in the planning and doing.

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People are already becoming more innovative, and with innovation comes more considered thought processes. That includes the choice of where wedding lists will be placed. We see increasingly people using the internet to source more unusual items, and wedding lists now often include quite a few different stores online and off.

Also, weddings are now returning to become more community based, with more people involved in making the day special – for instance, one friend of mine had her hair and table decorated with wild flowers picked by her bridesmaids on the morning of the event; other friends helped cook various dishes with vegetables given from the village vegetable plots for the mountain picnic. They all traipsed up the hill carrying different things, including musical instruments. It cost little and was hugely romantic, with locals, their family and good friends dancing round a fire late into the night.

Find out more about The Lazy Environmentalist – Green wedding gift lists Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium on dvd

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Jo Lawbuary and Purnendu Roy set up Ganesha back in 1995. A fair trade partnership with shops on London’s South Bank and in Covent Garden, Ganesha’s gorgeous goodies are also available online with their fair trade gift list a particuarly tempting proposition for fair-minded couples! Sicko movie full

Over to Jo and Purnendu…

Name: Jo Lawbuary + Purnendu Roy
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Location: London

Tell us a bit about yourself and your business
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Ganesha is a fair trade partnership formed by Jo Lawbuary and Purnendu Roy, with shops on London’s South Bank and in Covent Garden.

We import quality home furnishings and accessories from India, sourced from / developed with co-operatives and producer associations, including many members of IFAT (International Fair Trade Association).

We have an eye for the quirky and eco also, introducing the UK to the considerable joys of leaf plates and scarves made from vintage silk sarees, to name a couple of our favourite products.

For couples planning an ethical wedding, we also have the option of a fair trade gift list.

Extending markets for marginal(ised) producers and supplying the UK with not just good but gorgeous products, we are supporting an alternative vision of trade, since 1995.

What or who inspires you?
India. From bhel puri to Bollywood to raag Bhairav..

What do you enjoy most about running your business?

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I love the experience of working with the crafts people in India. It is a very inspiring and creative process and at its most successful adds real value to their work, making a real difference to their lives. I love to sell also, and tell people the stories behind the products.

What is the most challenging aspect?
Managing the growth of the business

What do you feel you bring to an ethical wedding?
A beautiful selection of quality fair trade accessories to make your special day even more special!

How do you see the wedding industry changing over the next five years (if at all)?
I think the ethical wedding -as a niche market – will develop; weddings will become greener, lower in impact, and more ethical with the help of services such as Ethical Weddings

Find out more about Ganesha – fair trade wedding gift lists

Intrigued? It’s time to introduce you to our featured supplier for the next 2 weeks: African Dowry!

Business name: African Dowry
Location: London; Kenya; Ethiopia; Tanzania; Uganda; Southern Sudan

Tell us a bit about yourself and your business
FARM-Africa is a charity who works with some of the poorest people in the world to find innovative and sustainable ways to pull themselves out of poverty. African Dowry is one of the ways that members of the public can support our work.

Through our fun and inviting ethical wedding list, with gifts such as Village Vet starter kits, and Primary School tree nurseries, you can make a huge difference to people’s lives as part of the celebrations for your special day.

The service is managed online, so you can email all your guests, or print off cards to send out with invitations.

You are kept up to date with how much your guests have raised to help farmers and herders produce more food for their families and live without depending on food aid.

What or who inspires you?
We work with people who live in the poorest parts of the world, but we don’t force ideas that will not work on people. We work with communities to find the best ways to help them out of poverty, for the long term.

It isn’t always easy, particularly when solutions are not instant, but the determination, enthusiasm, and hard work of the communities we work with is an inspiration to us all.

What is the most challenging aspect of your work?
As a charity, we can’t afford to waste money on expensive advertising campaigns, so the hardest part is helping people find the African Dowry website, so that they can begin to raise money to support African farmers.

What do you feel you bring to an ethical wedding?
Many people don’t want their friends and family to waste money on unwanted gifts, but guests want to buy something to mark such a special occasion.

Using African Dowry to support FARM-Africa means that your special day is an opportunity to change someone’s life for the better, and guests can feel part of doing something amazing too.

How do you see the wedding industry changing over the next five years (if at all)?
As more and more people become aware of their impact on the world, and start to live more ethically, naturally, they are going to want to get married in an ethical way.

People are also becoming more aware of how privileged they are and want to give something back. Arranging an ethically sound wedding is one way to achieve this.

Find out more about African Dowry – charity wedding gift lists

Name: Andy Hickey
Location: Hertfordshire

Tell us a bit about yourself and your business
Give It was set up in 2004 by myself and my partner – we operate a number of charitable gift list services, where instead of toasters and kettles, or pots and pans, all the gifts are donations to a wide variety of different charities – couples pick a group of charities, guests then pick a gift to the charity of their choice from the couples list.

Our services include The Alternative Wedding List, The Scottish Wedding List, The London Wedding List and, our most recent addition, The Green Gift List. Each service features a range of different charities, meaning couples can pick the service that suits them, and can select their own list of charities within each service.

We have over 50 charities participating in the services.

• Charities including Barnardo’s, Breast Cancer Care, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Samaritans, Save the Children, War on Want and many more appear on The Alternative Wedding List.
• A selection of environmental and conservation charities such as Save the Rhino and Garden Organic appear on The Green Gift List
• Couples looking for charities closer to home can take a look at our Scottish or London services.

Charities don’t pay any upfront fees or other charges to be part of the service – charities are selected to provide choices for couples and guests and to continue to develop different gift lists.

Give It pass 100% of donations made through the service to the charities, and use the Gift Aid that can be reclaimed on a large proportion of these donations to cover the costs of the service. Once all the costs are covered the remainder of the Gift Aid is also passed to the charities. Our not-for-profit nature (we’re not in this for ourselves) has meant that we are often described as a ‘social enterprise’ (but we’re happy with any positive description!).

What or who inspires you?
On a personal level, my three girls (all daughters – that’s three times I’ll have to give one of them away!).

From a business point of view, my partner and all those other volunteers who have supported what we do by offering their help and guidance, and standing for hours upon end at dozens of wedding shows talking to thousands of couples about our various services.

What do you enjoy most about running your business?
Getting great feedback from couples who have used the service and from charities grateful for the funds those couples have generated.

What is the most challenging aspect?
The challenge of working in an industry where most suppliers encourage couples to spend, spend, spend – being part of the ‘counter-culture’ does feel good though!

What do you feel you bring to an ethical wedding?
A great alternative – our wedding lists won’t suit all couples (as so many young couples could still do with a bit of a start with the old pots and pans and bed linen) but when you consider the country we live in, and how well off most of us really are, then we think it’s something that more and more couples will consider using.

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How do you see the wedding industry changing over the next five years (if at all)?
More and more bespoke – couples having their wedding just a little bit different to everyone else’s.

More and more ethical – I really hope that weddings will become less about how much you spend and more about the couple themselves and what THEY want out of the big day.

Find out more about Give It – charity wedding gift lists

Coming from John Lewis, it revealed how more and more couples are opting for eco and ethical items on their wedding gift lists, selecting products that are fair trade, recycled (or for recycling – such as recycling and composting bins), FSC certified and so on.

When we were planning our own wedding back in 2004/2005, we ended up doing just that.  Setting up home together for the first time, we really did need the basics: plates, wooden spoons, glasses, yes, even the ubiquitous toaster!

We got in touch with a number of online ethical shopping sites such as Natural Collection and One Village but at the time, they didn’t have the range or the facility to offer an easily manageable wedding gift list – so instead, we braved Oxford Street and, armed with our Good Shopping Guide, picked out products at the more sustainable side of the spectrum, from recycled glasses to FSC certified salt and pepper shakers!

We supplemented this list with another (more erratic) online list at thethingsiwant.com which allows you to create your own wish list by adding items from anywhere on the internet.  This meant we could include the One Village fair trade duvet we’d had our eyes on (we’ve got the yellow one!) after all. 

However, as it isn’t managed for you, we found that some items did just disappear from the list without notice, links got broken and guests had a few problems using it.

New generation of wedding lists
Just 4 years on though, those worries are a thing of the past as the online ethical shopping stores have stepped up to the mark combining all the functionality of a standard wedding list with the green goodies required by today’s ethical brides and grooms.

Here are a few favourites:

Ecocentric
Co-founded by TV designer Oliver Heath, EcoCentric loves beautiful ethical and sustainable design. They source and sell products that are as good for your home as they are for the environment.

Easy to set up, EcoCentric’s green wedding gift list is the perfect way to create your new home.

From recycled glasses and plates to organic fair trade bedding & soft furnishings, low energy lighting and energy saving gadgets, there are home accessories for every room in the house. There is also a whole range of gifts, organic cosmetics, toys and more. And the eco-credentials of each and every product are clearly shown on the site.

Ganesha
Ganesha has been described by The Guardian as ‘fair trade pioneers’. Working directly with the producers, they bring you the traditional industries of India to furnish your fair trade gift list.

They also have a hefty environmental policy to help you with that fair trade v. green dilemma!

Their aim is to add as much value as they possibly can to handmade products through quality of design and making. In this way, they maximise the earning potential of the (often rural) producers at source which puts more money into local economies. And when you have such beautiful products to choose from, you can’t say fairer than that!

Natural Collection
Fighting the fair trade and eco-conscious cause since 1999, Natural Collection have now brought together all their ethical know-how plus a great product range into a great green wedding gift list. 

With 2 Observer Ethical Awards in the last two years, you can trust Natural Collection to kit you out for a green married life.

Their online ethical and green wedding list service allows you to select from an award-winning range of bedding, home ware and much more and gives you a unique web address for your Gift List to send to guests, friends and family.

Our Green Wedding List
Holly, founder of Our Green Wedding List, promises ‘wedding lists with a twist’!

Started after conversations with friends about green products ‘not being as nice as conventional factory goods’ as well as from a desire to have just a few considered ethical gifts for her own wedding (charity donations, a wormery, an organic veggie box subscription and some unbleached towels), Our Green Wedding List has sourced some really special items from handcrafted garden tools to lovingly (and locally) made ceramics.

All products come under one of the following headings: Recycled, Craft/Artisan, Organic, Environmental benefit, Energy efficient, Made in the UK in an environmentally responsible way, Fair trade

The Lazy Environmentalist
Another treasure trove of green goods, this eco-emporium offers you originality and sustainability inextricably intertwined. They are passionate in their quest for beautiful, well made, environmentally friendly gifts, objects and home furnishings.

They are also committed to asking questions about the life cycle of their products, and can tell you what they are made of, where they are made and how they got here.

The eco-footprint of each item sets out its limited environmental impact, so that it is easier for you to make an informed choice – and be a lazy environmentalist!

Now for something a little bit different…

Carpe Diem Gardens
And finally, if you’re looking for something really different, why not take a look at Carpe Diem Gardens?

For a unique gift to celebrate your wedding or civil partnership, Carpe Diem offers gift certificates for all of their services from consultation sessions through complete garden design and project management*. You will also receive a beautiful gift certificate and living plant.

Based in Lancaster, they have 30 years’ horticultural experience, including gardening for wildlife, habitat conservation, growing medicinal and culinary herbs, designing sensory and therapeutic gardens, and working in a biodynamic market garden.

*Project management service available in the Lancaster area

See more ethical, green and charity wedding gift lists in the Ethical Weddings Suppliers Directory.

Questions, always the questions!
And if you are heading over to John Lewis or Debenhams, don’t forget to ask lots of questions about their ethical options with your Good Shopping Guide by your side – if you don’t ask, you don’t get! Back with a post from one bride who did just that in the next few days…

Bye for now…

Katie
Talk about ethical and green wedding gift lists in the Ethical Weddings Forum

Argghh! Valentine’s Day! If you thought you’d left it too late to find something for your sweetheart for the annual celebration of all things pink and fluffy (or even if you think it’s a load of commercial rubbish!), if you’re on Facebook, fret no more…

Charity wedding gift list, Changing the Present, has come up with the perfect solution.

If you’re already a Facebook fan, you’ll know how people spend hard cash sending each other virtual gifts (apparently around $200k a day!).  No doubt tomorrow, the loved up members will be spending millions sending little pictures of teddy bears, flowers, hearts, and so on.

Changing The Present asks: imagine the impact we could make by capturing some of those dollars for breast cancer research!

Over to Changing The Present:

What We’re Doing
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Hot Fuzz

The Changing The Present application on Facebook offers a new kind of virtual gift, which is really a donation to the nonprofit you choose, and the picture your friend receives shows what you contributed towards. It’s a nice way to show you care and make a difference.

What better $1 (approx 50p) gift for Valentine’s Day than a donation towards breast cancer research?

It’s a virtual gift for your special friends on Facebook and a special gift for women everywhere.

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Spreading the Word
Find out more at the ChangingThePresent Facebook group or just go straight ahead and add the application to start sending your gifts!

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

Katie

p.s. If you’re on Facebook, don’t forget to check out the Ethical Weddings Facebook group!

It was quite an event! Never have I seen so many brides in one room.  I must confess I felt quite overwhelmed at first – if not a little light-headed – until I got accustomed to the combination of pop music pumping out from the catwalk, coos of delight from the bridal makeover areas, and the bright lights… just like walking down the aisle really!

I popped along to help out Holly hosting a stand for her green gift list, Our Green Wedding List.  It was really heartening to see the interest from couples in a slightly alternative wedding at what is unashamedly a mainstream wedding show. 

Both brides and grooms were visibly impressed by the quality and plain gorgeousness of the products available (some couples having seen the green gift list advertised in the show guide had clearly come expecting to see tie dyed dish cloths and little else!).

The Alternative Wedding List (a charity gift list) and Eco Events also had stands nearby but otherwise there was little evidence at the show of the growing trend for a more eco-friendly approach to wedding planning. 

Surely it’s only a matter of time though before it filters through to the mainstream.  What do you think? Were you at the show? What’s your take on wedding fairs? Tell us your thoughts in the forum…

Happy planning!

Katie

I hardly know any married couples, so before I encountered this website I turned to a forum at a more “traditional” wedding site. I posted a query: when can I expect people to start using my registry, and how should I handle guests who decide to bring us tangible gifts anyway, as we don’t want a gift table at the reception.

Seems innocuous enough, right? Apparently not. I was told that it was offensive to “force” people to contribute to charity. (Didn’t realize I had a gun to people’s heads.) I was accused of being overly political and my favorite phrase of the day: “Your wedding should not be used as a fundraiser.”

Now I have no objection to traditional registries (particularly those couples I’ve seen out there registering for more eco-friendly items.) But aren’t all registries “fundraisers” in some sense? For the record, we did indicate that gifts were not necessary, but that if people really wanted to give them, this was our preference. We also chose causes that we didn’t think would be divisive. Are there really people out there who are anti-literacy?

What gets me though, is that even as I re-tell this story here, I find myself having to defend the decision and my beliefs. Really the point I should be making is: You can be political at your wedding if you want to be! My fiance and I are political people who’ve never made any attempts to hide our beliefs. Our values are what drew us together in the first place – why shouldn’t they be integrated into our wedding?
Perhaps having an opinion does not befit the blushing bride. Naysayers will call me anti-romantic and say that weddings are about love and devotion. Of course they are. But my beloved and devoted fiance and I recently went to City Hall to get our government-sanctioned marriage license.

Like it or not, marriage is also a political act. If we’re going to make that commitment I think it’s about time that we started talking about ALL aspects of marriage, and not just the ones on the cover of bridal magazines. What do you think, ethical brides and grooms? Agree? Disagree? Let me know!