ethicalweddings.com

ETHICAL WEDDINGS BLOG CONTRIBUTOR

Your name: Thryn
Wedding date: 8 September 2007
Venue and location: Marion Hatcher Center, Augusta, GA (USA)
Budget: $6,000

Read all Thryn’s posts

What inspired you to have an ethical wedding?
Gabe and I try every day to lead responsible, ethical lives. We are both as committed to volunteering, and caring for the environment as much as we are to each other! So naturally we decided to carry those principles that are important to us through to our big party in September.

What has been the most difficult bit so far?
One of the most difficult things was finding fair trade/eco-friendly dresses for my bridesmaids. There just isn’t a big selection of dresses that I found (that weren’t too expensive for them at least). I may have found a solution though, pending the input of my bridesmaids, so fingers crossed!

What has been the most fun bit?
I had the most fun making our wedding website and blog because I love design and web development. It was so great to get notes on our guestbook from our friends and family, and it’s also wonderful that we can save tons of paper by putting all of our guest info on the web instead of including it with the invitation.

What are your 5 top tips for brides and grooms planning an ethical wedding?
I don’t know if I have 5 solid tips, but here are a couple:

Don’t be afraid to make things for yourself, even if you feel that you aren’t creative enough. There are so many creative resources and friendly forums for ideas out there.

Don’t get overwhelmed with an “all-or-nothing” attitude. Unless you have an unlimited budget, I think it’s fair to say you will have to make some compromises, but even if you can’t do everything as ethically as you’d like, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do anything.

That’s also something you can remind your perhaps “less supportive” friends and family members. If they criticize you or point out something in your life that unfortunately isn’t perfectly ethical, just be strong and tell them that it’s better to make an effort than to give up and live irresponsibly just because you can’t have everything perfect (there’s a good chance they are only critical because your efforts force them to confront their own unethical choices).

To read more about Thryn’s wedding plans, take a peek at her Wedlog.

Read all Thryn’s posts