An ethical invitation...
One of the common complaints about weddings is that the wedding planning can be so bureaucratic and paper heavy!
For the ethical bride and groom, in these days of the worldwide web, there’s no excuse for not saving a few trees and getting some of that organising done online.
The range of email wedding invitations (or e-vites) is ever growing, see evite.com for example; or with a bit of software know-how you could create your own. This route is simple, quick and cheap and you can integrate it into your own wedding website to keep track of all arrangements.
But of course you can't forget grandma! Not everyone is internet-savvy (yet) and many still look forward to receiving a pretty paper wedding invite – particularly if it has the directions that would after all only get printed off anyway.
There are beautiful recycled paper options available these days, and some are more unusual than others, from banana and coffee to elephant dung paper!
We went down the DIY route (thanks to my talented architect husband!) with banana and coffee paper (no dung!) from The Green Stationery Company, for wedding invites, thank yous, orders of service, table and place names, and it was surprisingly reasonable and effective. Many guests asked where we got the lovely paper from and were amazed to hear it was recycled!
Stateside, seed wedding invites are becoming popular. The seeds are embedded in the paper that can then be planted to become a beautiful flower once the wedding invite has served its purpose. How long before these head to the UK I wonder?
If you're having your wedding invites designed and made professionally ask your chosen stationer to use recycled paper – and don’t forget to ask about eco-friendly ink too! This approach can be extended to place names, orders of service and table settings.
For companies offering recycled and/or fair trade stationery, try:
See all suppliers at: http://ethicalweddings.com/join/current_suppliers.php
To read what other brides have to say about ethical and green wedding stationery and for tips and advice visit the Ethical Weddings Forum: http://www.ethicalweddings.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=8
Happy planning!
Katie
www.ethicalweddings.com
- Katie at Ethical Weddings's blog
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