Top Tips for a Green Wedding

A wedding can be a costly event – not just for the bank balance, but also for the planet. Do your bit and ‘think green’ for your big day. Our top tips make it easy....

Plan ahead. You will need at least 10 months if you are planning it yourself. Have a look at websites such as www.ethicalweddings.com or www.greenunion.co.uk. The Green Guide For Weddings book by Jen Marsden is also a helpful source of information and ideas.

Travel - depending on where your wedding is, you/your guests taking a flight can be unavoidable. However, where possible try to arrange train travel, or arrange car pooling for guests coming from the same area. If your venue is easily accessible, your guests could walk there. You could too!

Flowers - chose flowers that are in season, non-forced and local. Wild flowers are a popular choice at the moment. How about incorporating vegetables into your centrepieces for originality?

Food - try to find a local caterer, that uses locally sourced produce and Fairtrade food and drinks.

Cake - How about asking someone who is close to you to make it? (Make sure they can bake!) You can use fair trade sugar and dried fruits in the recipe.

Favours - As the perfect green wedding gift, give native seedlings as wedding favours. That way the guests can go home and plant a tree for the environment and remember your special day as they watch it grow!

Gift list - only ask for gifts you really need. Or alternatively what about asking guests to donate to a charity. Friends of the Earth http://www.foe.org/ focus on clean energy and solutions to global warming, protecting people from toxic and new, potentially harmful technologies, and promoting smarter, low-pollution transportation alternatives.

Dress - have your dress made locally, with material manufactured in this country. Or can you wear your Mother’s or Grandmother’s dress? You can amend it if it looks a bit dated!

Stationery - invites etc can be printed on recycled paper, and ask your stationer about printing using vegetable inks. Or how about e-invites?

Finally - enjoy your day knowing that you have helped the environment!

Lucy

Inspired? For help with coordinating your wedding, contact Premier Wedding Planners Scotland for a free consultation.

Valentine’s Day Wedding Theme

So it is almost upon us again, the most romantic day of the year for couples everywhere - Valentine’s Day. It’s the day when you celebrate your love and affection with your loved one - so what better day to get married?! Mind you, 6 days to plan your wedding isn’t long, so you might want to wait until next year! However, you don’t have to get married on Valentine’s Day to have a Valentine’s Day themed wedding....
Invitations
Invites form the first impression of a wedding ceremony, and most usually in sync with the overall theme of your wedding. Look for heart-shaped invites, or ones with a Cupid theme. Choose red, white and pink shades. Consider invites adorned in ribbons also.

Decoration
Decorations add to the essence of a party, making it creatively appealing. White ribbons, gauzy fabrics, think floaty and pretty. Balloons can be a fun addition also. Enhance the romantic atmosphere with candles and soft lighting. Or how about Doves or Love Birds in cages around the room? Place settings could be a single rose with a tag attached bearing their name. Flowers are a key factor in a Valentine’s day themed wedding. Roses are the most popular, and some would argue most romantic. They are available in the most gorgeous shades of red and pink, as well as brilliant white You can stick to one or two shades, or mix three or more together for a romantic and whimsical look.

Food and Favours
How about a heart shaped wedding cake, or a subtler option of heart shaped canapés.  Pink champagne is a must to toast the happy couple. Favours are an important factor in your special day. They serve as the best way to say thank you to your guests for their presence at your special day. How about a note with their gift saying ‘Thank you for being our Valentines’? Or placing their gift in a heart shaped box?

Dress
Classic is the most favoured look at Valentine’s day weddings. A sweetheart neckline subtly concurs with the heart theme, or if you are feeling more adventurous why not go for a red dress?! Red and pink shades work well with Bridesmaids - very girlie. Men in black kilts or tuxedos compliment this look well, although I have seen a Groom and his Groomsmen in white kilts and they looked fabulous!

Lucy
Whatever the theme, Premier Wedding Planners can help you achieve your dream day. Contact us for a free consultation.

Wedding Planning - when "the big day" is extended into multiple ceremonies

Who’s to say you can only have one wedding? You’re so in love with your partner, and the day goes so quickly, who wouldn’t want to do it all over again?! If it is good enough for Tom Cruise, Salma Hayek and Gisele Bundchen (to name a few), then it is good enough for you!

Many would say having two weddings is an unnecessary extravagance. However, there are many practical reasons couples will have more than one wedding: accommodate different cultural or religious traditions and beliefs, or to include friends and family that can’t travel. Many brides and grooms hail from different parts of the world, but want to share their wedding with their entire families, so they choose to bring the celebration to them.

Recently clients of ours had a traditional Scottish wedding for the groom’s family, and then another in India for the bride’s family. Both very different, both very fabulous! Maybe you and your partner have wildly different tastes - having two ceremonies means both of you can have the day you have envisaged. Maybe having two ceremonies would save any family arguments too - having a second traditional ceremony in a big white dress will keep your mum happy, while you can still have the Las Vegas wedding you really want! Or maybe you want to have an intimate ceremony for just you and your partner, but are worried it will offend your family. A solution to this is to hold another ceremony at a later date to celebrate your nuptials with all of your nearest and dearest. Not too late though - within 3 months is recommended, otherwise it almost becomes an anniversary party!

Whatever your reason for considering having more than one celebration, keep in mind that you will likely be spending twice as much. A way of getting around this would be to have one celebration smaller and more intimate, with the other being larger and more elaborate. Although more than one celebration is more expensive, it doesn’t necessarily have to a lot more work. By keeping the colours and themes the same you not only keep consistency between your celebrations, but can keep costs down by re-using the same props. Or choose a venue such as a beach, garden or castle as one of your locations. This way, decor is built-in and money does not need to be spent on ‘dressing’ the venue. However, you will need to think about dressing you- will the same dress work for both venues? Well hey, if not, I can’t think of a better excuse to buy two dresses!

Lucy

Getting married? Contact Premier Wedding Planners Scotland for a free consultation.