Unless you've been living under a landfill of plastic shopping bags, you probably heard that yesterday was Earth Day. It's still technically Earth Week, so please kindly overlook that I'm a day late chiming in on the subject.
(source)I'm a bit ashamed to admit that The Backyard Groom and I never intentionally planned to have an eco-friendly wedding (although we never planned to have an eco-unfriendly one either), but because it's in a backyard and because it's on a budget, it's become an unintentionally green-themed wedding. We'll be repurposing jars and Christmas lights for decorations. The flowers will be limited to my one bouquet and whatever The Backyard Groom's mom has planted in the backyard. We want to make most of the food ourselves and plan on borrowing dishes and silverware, instead of buying plastic ones. Any food we don't make will be obtained from locally-owned businesses, and the number of vendors we use will hopefully be as close to zero as possible (more on this to come).
But these are all simple and logical things that are as much dictated by a miniscule budget as they are by a desire to keep things green. So the question looms: can we morally take credit for the green theme if it wasn't intentionally green but instead budget-begotten green? Should we now go whole hog and up the green ante?
In a city like Austin, there is ample opportunity to be friendly toward the environment. Say what you will about the rest of Texas, but Austin is without a doubt green. In fact, Austin is even home to the country's only Certified Organic events facility - the beautiful Barr Mansion, where I would love to get married if (a) budget was no concern, and (b) I was comfortable with the thought of 200 guests' eyes all on me at the same time. Look at some photos of this gorgeous venue:
But these are all simple and logical things that are as much dictated by a miniscule budget as they are by a desire to keep things green. So the question looms: can we morally take credit for the green theme if it wasn't intentionally green but instead budget-begotten green? Should we now go whole hog and up the green ante?
In a city like Austin, there is ample opportunity to be friendly toward the environment. Say what you will about the rest of Texas, but Austin is without a doubt green. In fact, Austin is even home to the country's only Certified Organic events facility - the beautiful Barr Mansion, where I would love to get married if (a) budget was no concern, and (b) I was comfortable with the thought of 200 guests' eyes all on me at the same time. Look at some photos of this gorgeous venue:
(source)(Sidenote: Another Austin bridal blogger, The Anti-Bride, is getting married there and I love reading about her planning.)
Even if we do decide to go greener, we will still have a pretty large carbon footprint from guest travel. Only three of our 15 guests live in Austin. The rest will be trucking it in from elsewhere in Texas or flying in from across the country, not to mention the two guests who will be crossing the Atlantic to attend.
I admire the brides I read about who plan on offsetting their wedding's carbon footprint somehow (like Miss Peep Toe over on Weddingbee), but that takes a hit on the budget as well.
What's an aspiring green girl to do? I'm not sure, but I guess Kermit was right. It's not easy being green.
Even if we do decide to go greener, we will still have a pretty large carbon footprint from guest travel. Only three of our 15 guests live in Austin. The rest will be trucking it in from elsewhere in Texas or flying in from across the country, not to mention the two guests who will be crossing the Atlantic to attend.
I admire the brides I read about who plan on offsetting their wedding's carbon footprint somehow (like Miss Peep Toe over on Weddingbee), but that takes a hit on the budget as well.
What's an aspiring green girl to do? I'm not sure, but I guess Kermit was right. It's not easy being green.
(source)
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