Buying a preowned wedding dress innately “greens” your wedding – even if it wasn’t your intention. And in today’s world, I really think it is our responsibility to try and incorporate environmentally friendly acts into our lives everyday.

So, if you are looking for ways to green your wedding…even small acts like removing the inner envelope on your invitation can make a small difference. (And with 2.3 million US weddings a year, if everyone made one small change…..)

Laura Patterson is an event planner from Effortless Events in Chicago who knows how to make an event more environmentally friendly.  She shared this list of big and small things you can do to reduce your wedding’s impact:

1. Try to use paper for a little as possible: e-mail a save the date, create a wedding website to communicate all information, etc.  For the items that really do require paper, use only 100% recycled post consumer waste paper.

2.  Flowers - try to use locally grown, organic flowers. Most of the time, flowers are grown with lots of insecticides and brought in from overseas.  Carbon footprint will be smaller if local, organic, truly “in season” flowers are used.  You can also use potted plants for centerpieces – they can be planted in a garden, not thrown out at the end of the day.

3.  Find a caterer who specializes in using locally grown, organic produce, grass fed beef, etc. Be prepared to pay a premium for these items as they are more expensive (the farms providing these goods don’t necessarily receive government subsidies) but if going green is important to you, the cost should be well worth it.  (A recommendation from the Chicago market: Monogramme Events – her priority is to use almost ALL organic, sustainable, fair trade products).

4.  Venue Selection: do something as easy as asking whether the place recycles its glass and aluminum.  Choose a venue that AT LEAST recycles.  Further, ask them if they can serve beer on tap rather than from cans or bottles.

5.  Rent as much as possible for tabletop items – use rented, real, re-usable plates, flatware, glassware, etc.  Use rented, real, re-usable napkins….even for the cocktail hour!  It is possible to rent linen cocktail napkins.

6.  Limit your guest list. This is a hard one – but consider how much traveling will need to happen for your wedding.  A smaller guest list = smaller carbon footprint from the traveling.

7.  Earth-friendly lighting. Make the mood romantic by lighting hundreds of SOY candles which are made from a renewable resource and are longer burning and cleaner, too.

8.  Favors – don’t do favors unless they can are ‘consumptive’ goods like handmade soap or organic chocolate bars.  Or, even better….seeds to plant (but you have to give this to the right crowd or it’s all a waste, anyway).  Donations to your favorite charity or environmental organization may be the best idea.

9. Research eco-friendly honeymoon ideas.  REI.com is a great place to start – their adventures are CO2 neutral and they claim to “offset the carbon footprint” of all their trips.

Photo courtesy of  Jeremy Lawson Photography.