Green Weddings with a Vegan Twist

The quickest and easiest way to green your wedding is to minimize or eliminate the animal products you serve at the reception.

Here are ten tips to a fabulous green wedding:

1. Consider a vegetarian or vegan reception to reduce your wedding's impact on the environment:

Eating animal products is far more damaging to the environment than any other source of contaminants. It's great to buy a hybrid car and use an energy-efficient lightbulb, but if you are eating meat daily, you might as well have a dozen SUVs.

Water pollution, topsoil clearing, toxic gas emmissions, air pollution, and the rampant use of resources for livestock feed are all related to animal agriculture. Choosing a vegetarian or vegan diet is the most beneficial choice you can make to help curb global warming and future environmental destruction. There's no bigger thing you can do to have a green wedding than forgo the meat and dairy products for the meal.

Think about these facts:

• If every American cut one chicken dinner out of their diets each week, it would be the same as taking 500,000 cars off the road (Environmental Defense)
• That means if you have 200 guests and serve them all a vegetarian meal, you make a difference equivalent to 10 million cars being lifted from our roads!

Once you factor in all the production costs:

• To produce 1 lb of meat, it takes 2,500 gallons of water
• To produce 1 lb of wheat, it takes 25 gallons of water
• That means, if you serve 1 lb of wheat-related food rather than 1 lb of meat-related food to 200 guests, you save 495,000 gallons of water!

• It takes 300 gallons of water daily to feed a vegan
• It takes 1200 gallons of water daily to feed a vegetarian
• It takes 4,200 gallons of water daily to feed a meat eater
• That means if you serve a vegetarian meal to 200 guests, you save the planet 600,000 gallons of water!
• That means if you serve an entirely vegan meal to 200 guests, you save the planet 780,000 gallons of water!

2. Send invitations on recycled paper and think about electronic save-the-dates

3. Look for conflict-free diamonds, gold, and other gems for your rings

4. Consider a vintage or almost-new wedding gown to reduce your impact on resources

5. Pick a local wedding location and not-too-far honeymoon spot to reduce your CO2 usage

6. Opt for local flowers rather than those imported from developing nations where pesticide use is rampant

7. Don't have your guests toss rice or flowers, opt for bird seeds or biodegradable confetti

8. Think about either making a donation to your favorite charity as a wedding favor, or giving something that your guests can use to grow more life, like seeds, trees, or bulbs that guests can plant in honor of your union

9. Make sure your photographer will send you digital prints to save paper

10. Consider donating your gown after the wedding, and allowing your bridesmaids to wear their own dress, so nothing goes to waste. Afterall, how often can you really "shorten it and wear it again?!"

Done with Green Weddings? Return to Vegan Weddings

Return to the Vegan Nutritionista Home Page

New! Comments