Maui Wedding Photographer

Wedding Ideas Can Lead To A Green Wedding

When looking for wedding ideas, you can usually find all kinds of options. A green wedding is just one of many to choose from. A green wedding is a great way to give back to the Earth’s environment without giving up style or beauty.

Other wedding ideas can be quite costly or detrimental to the environment, not to mention your wallet. Therefore, here are some ideas to consider if a green wedding is a viable option in your future.

Green Wedding

Don’t think that by having an earth-friendly wedding means that you have to sacrifice style. There are many options these days for couples who want to help encourage, and maybe even educate their guests, on all the green options that are out there. Maybe you just started on your journey of going green, either way there are some great options. Choosing natural candles made with beeswax or soy base can add style and beauty to your eco-friendly wedding décor. You can opt for locally grown or organic flowers, which can give you many environmetal friendly options. When creating a wedding that is not wasteful or polluting you have to do a lot of research.

Eco-Rings

Eco-friendly wedding rings can be made from recycled metals and stones. You can also transform a vintage piece into something special so that way you are not wasting an old ring. Say you have a ring that has been passed down to you, but it’s not your style. You can take it to the jeweler and have them completely redo it. Not only are you helping the environment by recycling, you will also be creating a unique and one of a kind ring that no one else will have. Use the internet to search out eco-friendly ring options. You will be surprised at all the interesting and unique options that are out there.

Green Invites

Your wedding invitations will begin to set the tone for your green wedding. There are so many ideas out there for you that you might like. You really need to use your imagination. You can go to a store that does wedding invitations on one hundred percent recycled paper or go on the internet and see all the different types there are. You could make your own if you can not find anything you like and customize it to your own liking. By going out and buying your own one hundred percent recycled paper, you can have a invitation party and have people help you put them together. There is also the option of doing it electronically where you can create your own wedding website that is unique to you and your future groom.

Earthly Dress

One of the most important choices, and the piece that will be the star of the show, will be the wedding dress. The best option for an eco-friendly dress would be to re-use a wedding dress. You can usually find one EBay or perhaps your mother saved her dress so that you could wear. If this is not your style, take it to a tailor or a designer to alter allowing you to create a dress that is unique to you and is eco-friendly as well as cost effective. If neither of these choices work for you, you can always go rent a dress. After all,  it’s not like you will ever wear it again. You could also buy vintage, which fashion is in right now. Either way pick which option is best for you.  If buying a new dress is your hearts desire then consider using eco-friendly fabrics like organic cotton, silk or hemp. When your done with your dress, you may want to consider recycling it by donating it to a charity.

Natural Party Favors

Eco-friendly options are becoming more appealing to brides and grooms, so there are tons of options for party favors for your guests that you could give something organic such as trees, seeds, organic chocolates or have a local artist do a little water color on one hundred percent recycled paper. If you don’t have the time or energy to do this, there are many retailers who desiring to be in this growing market. You just need to ask. If they don’t offer green options, then just go on the internet. You could also give your guests a certificate saying instead of buying wedding favors, you donated the money to a charity in there name. Not only is it green, but its charitable. After all, how often are the party favors left behind for the trash anyways.

Wedding Traditions During A Wedding Ceremony
Wedding traditions during a wedding ceremony have always been a wonder as to how or whenthese little things we take for granted were started. There are many traditions and customs that have been going on for hundreds of years, but how did they evolve into the customs that we currently know now. Traditions such as everything to do with the aisle (what side to stand on orthe runner), bridesmaids and groomsmen or even the bouquet and the flowers.
Groom/Bride Sides of the Aisle
The reason that the bride and groom’s families sit separately, as well as on opposite sides, beganback when the bride’s father would offer his daughter to a tribe in which they were havingproblems with as a sign of a peace offering. The opposite sides were established so that therewould be no bloodshed between the two tribes and bring the two groups together, thus ensuringthat there would be no war between the tribes.
The Bride on the Left
Usually the bride stands on the left side of the aisle, while the groom stands on the right. Turnsout that there was a good reason for it back in the old days. Apparently people would be knownto try and rescue the bride if she had been taken or if ex-suitors still fancied the bride. The groomwould have to have his right hand free to be able to grab his sword and fight them off. After allhis left hand was holding his bride-to-be’s hand.
Bridesmaids and Groomsmen
The purpose for having bridesmaids was to confuse the evil spirits, as they thought the spiritswere lying in wait for the actual bride. Therefore, they thought that if they had other nicelydressed women around the bride, the spirits would not know which one was the actual bride.The early days of marriage were quite brutal as they would capture the bride and it was the bestwarrior’s job to fight the other men off for the groom and to keep her family from finding them.Over time the best warrior turned into the best man.
Bouquet and Flowers
The wedding bouquet was originally made of a combination of strong fresh herbs, like thymeand garlic, to ward off the evil spirits. It also helped with the smell of the attendants, as theyapparently did not bathe much back then. The flowers at a wedding are meant to symbolize the beginning of a new life, fertility and never ending love.
The White Aisle Runner and The Kiss
The runner was white as a reminder of God’s holiness and by walking on it you were consideredto be walking on holy ground. By having the runner in the wedding, meant that God would beactively involved in the wedding. In the Roman times, a kiss was considered as a way to sealall contracts and therefore the reason as to why a wedding always ends with “you may now kissyour bride.” After all, a marriage is the biggest and most important contract that you will ever have between your spouse and with God.
The Unity Candle
The lighting of the unity candle is a tradition that began with the Roman Catholic and Protestantchurches. As you take the two individual candles, which represents you and your spouse-to-be,and bring the two flames together to light the one and therefore having only one flame. Lighting the unity candle means you are proclaiming to everyone that you have united as one. Once thetwo of you blow out your single candles, you are considered as blowing away your former singlelife and forming a new life together as husband and wife.
The Jumping of the Broom and Stomping of the Glass
Jumping the broom is a ceremony that started back in the 1600′s from Africa. When the slaveswhere brought over they were not allowed to marry, therefore they would perform their ownwedding traditions and rituals from their tribe and would jump over sticks to represent fertilityand good fortune to the bride and groom. In today’s ceremonies, it has come to represent thesweeping away of the single life and jumping into a new and fun adventure as husband and wife.The Jewish tradition of stomping on a piece of glass in a napkin (for safety reasons) is believed to represent the destruction of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem and could also symbolize that along with great joy comes great sorrows.