Don’t worry it is possible to have an eco-friendly wedding without sacrificing your personal style and without breaking your budget. Here are several excellent eco-wedding books and fabulous web sites that can help you plan the wedding of your dreams while being green.
The Green Bride Guide: How to Create an Earth Friendly Wedding on Any Budget
While Kate Harrison was planning her own green wedding in 2006 she started putting together The Green Bride Guide [Source Books Casablanca, 2008] . A fabulous resource from one green bride to another, this book explains the ins and outs and whys and the importance of having a green wedding.
Kate has great green cred since she is an environmentalist that works in environmental law and policy and her husband is an environmental historian. They had their own green wedding on October 7, 2007 and used everything they learned from planning that event to write The Green Bride Guide.
Green Weddings That Don’t Cost the Earth
Green Weddings That Don’t Cost the Earth [Paper Crane Press, 1996] has to be the first green wedding book written, it’s the first that could be found. Published back in the 1990s, Carol Reed-Jones wrote Green Weddings long before the green movement had become so popular – before the days of the world wide web being widespread this book gives solid, grass roots ideas to plan a beautiful, simple, and completely sustainable green wedding. It includes recipes for natural organic food, how- tos for doing your own flowers and so much more. This book is a great place to begin your green wedding planning.
Organic Weddings: Balancing Ecology, Style and Tradition
Organic Weddings [New Society Publishers, 2003] is probably the book that started the green wedding trend. Michelle Kozin’s, Organic Weddings, is the book that really introduced couples to the concept of the green wedding. Full of ideas, advice and resources this is a great guide to help you plan an organic menu, pick out a green gown and go tree-free for your invitations.
Eco Chic Weddings:Simple Tips to Plan an Earth-Friendly, Socially Responsible, Affordable Green Wedding
Eco Chic Weddings [Hatherleigh Press, 2007] by Emily Anderson is the definitive book of green wedding planning chic. While the title says affordable some of her ideas are more for the New York price range than a Midwest budget yet her advice is infallible and can be used to plan a green wedding of any price range. Emily’s advice and sense of style is amazing and her book reflects that. Eco Chic Weddings is also full of web resources that can easily help you find just what you are looking for on the web or off.
Green Weddings: Planning Your Eco-Friendly Celebration
Green Weddings: Planning Your Eco-Friendly Celebration [ Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2009] is a hardcover book is probably the flashiest of all the green wedding books with its full color pages and high quality photo spreads, but would you expect less from the New York Times style correspondent Mireya Navarro?
Most of the other green books are printed on 100% post consumer recycled paper and just offer simple black and white pages without photos making the book itself less resource consuming and more affordable…to create and to purchase.
Green Weddings does cover all the basics: what is a green wedding, the venue, the gift registry, the dress, invitations, decor, guests, the reception, the honeymoon and beyond. It is full of great advice, technical calculations, facts and stats but even with all the advice and flashy photos.
The Green Wedding Guide: Creating a Celebration That’s Elegant and Ethical
Best known for her website, GreenEleganceWeddings.com. Edmunds delivers in the green in her book, The Green Wedding Guide [ Leisure Arts, 2008], offering fantastic advice, delicious recipes and eco-friendly DIY projects and crafts that lend that wonderful and resourceful edge to her take on green wedding planning. Edmunds covers all the basics with a creative flair including invitations (of which she also has three DIY projects), dressing with eco-style, planning the ceremony, flowers and favors, the reception, green gifts and more. If you are the DIY type, this is the green wedding planning book for you.
How to Get Married in Green: Have an Eco-Friendly Wedding Without Compromising on Style
How to Get Married in Green [ How To Books Ltd (UK), 2008] by Suzan St. Maur is the green wedding planning book for brides in the UK. Since it is a UK based book it is filled with British advice, resources and websites but the advice can be used for couples planning a green wedding anywhere in the world. From the jewelry to the honeymoon, Suzan’s advice is easy to understand and the book is a delight to read.
Which Book Is Right for You?
All of these books are delightful and full of advice on how to plan the wedding of your dreams…in green. Any or all of these books are fabulous resources to help you plan your eco-extravagant or simply sustainable wedding. If you are truly into planning a green wedding just one green wedding planning book may not cover everything you want or need, or the suggestions may not personally speak to you. Check out a couple of the green wedding planning books to find ideas and suggestions that you can take and make into your own version of your perfect eco-wedding.
Wenona Napolitano - Wenona Napolitano is a freelance writer, poet and mother of three. She writes everything from articles to web content. She is a trained ...
