ethicalweddings.com

Hello everyone. It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but my fiancee and I have been busy finishing up our wedding planning, completing our back porch (before it snows) and I’ve also been busy launching a new website (online software for wedding planners called My Wedding Workbook Pro), but I wanted to share a “well, duh” moment my fiancee and I both had recently.

We’ve been in the throes of finalizing our plans, as our wedding is on November 7 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. As we have scrambled to finish up our ceremony, music selections (we’re going the iPod route so that we can play exactly what we want) and ceremony/reception details, we have realized how much stuff is actually involved in many weddings. Not that we didn’t know that already, but when you’re in the thick of things it hits home how much stuff there really is.

Less is more

We’re having our ceremony and reception at an all-inclusive facility that does everything (it’s called Vallarta Adventures, and they have been fantastic to work with so far), but we are definitely one of their less-is-more clients. Like we don’t want lots of flowers, don’t want wedding favors, don’t want anything thrown at us or released (like rice, birdseed, balloons, etc.), don’t have lots of guests, don’t want lots of decorations (heck, there will be a beach there, and that’s plenty for me), don’t even have a professional photographer, and on and on.

But we’re definitely the exception, as I know most couples have all this stuff and more. And it’s all the stuff and all the waste that, in the end, is really harming our environment when it comes to wedding overload.

So what’s a couple to do when they want a nice, elegant wedding but don’t want all the stuff?

Recycled weddings

Well, the first option is to recycle it, either by selling it after you use it or by literally recycling it (which means it needs to be recyclable).

Do I need it?

The second option is to simply not buy it all in the first place. Now, at one time I was as guilty as the next person of overconsuming, but my fiancee and I have made a concerted effort in the last few years to de-clutter our lives, and it has really changed how we buy things and how much we buy. In fact, the first question I ask myself when I see something neat or cool or gotta-have is “Do I really need this?” Granted, sometimes it’s nice to spoil yourself, but for the most part, the things that we really need can fit on a fairly short list.

So, next time you sit down to plan your wedding, or next time you’re browsing through bridal magazines and see all sorts of cool wedding-related stuff, ask yourself if you really need it. Chances are you don’t, and for every centerpiece you don’t buy, that’s one less thing sitting in a landfill for 1,000 years (and more money for your first home, or your honeymoon, or to pay off your college loans, etc.).

Jeff