Reduce Your Wedding's Carbon Footprint

There has been much talk about this issue recently. And really, who doesn't want to take good care of the planet we live on? At the same time, we want our wedding to be a special time when we can pull out all the stops and celebrate.

How do you balance the two? Do you? Do you simply forget about the environment on your wedding day because, 'it is a special, once in a lifetime event?' If being a good caretaker of the earth is important then being wasteful seems a little selfish. Doesn't it?

No one person can do everything, but over the next few days I want to continue to throw out some options that could both protect the beauty of the planet and add a fun or personal touch to your wedding.

Today's option:

Arrive & Depart Cinderella Style: Reduce the carbon footprint of a wedding by arriving and departing in a horse drawn carriage. Imagine pulling away in a gorgeously restored enclosed carriage with you and your new spouse waving to your loved ones from behind heavy velvet curtains and the driver sitting high atop the carriage. Or perhaps an open carriage is more appealing? Personally, I would choose a petite carriage pulled by a pair of adorable miniature horses. The cute factor is so over the top that this one touch alone is sure to make certain the wedding is something that will be looked back on with fondness for a long time.

Sure, it is a small thing, but a few small things tend to add up!

Want more right away? Check out my article on creating a Garden Wedding!

Cinderella Wedding Arrival Style

Cinderella wedding themes have been popular for a long time and I suspect they will continue to be popular for a long time to come - precisely because the theme resonates so deeply with how we feel about the beauty of our love. Toward that end brides often try to build a Cinderella themed wedding by giving out Cinderella themed wedding favors and using castle cake toppers. They commission castle shaped ice sculptures (as pictured to the left) and rent a sword for the groom and groomsmen to wear on their hip during the ceremony.

But... What if there was a way to take the Cinderella wedding theme to the next level? And what if by doing so you were also helping to cut back on the carbon footprint of your wedding?

Imagine arriving and later pulling away in a gorgeously restored enclosed carriage with yourself and your new spouse waving to your loved ones from behind the privacy of heavy velvet curtains and the driver sitting high atop the carriage. Or perhaps an open carriage is more appealing? Would that not make you feel truly like you had your fairytale ending?

Personally, I would choose a petite carriage pulled by a pair of adorable miniature horses. True, it is not as regal as a carriage drawn by Clydesdale's but the cute factor is way over the top and it would make the event one of the most memorable in a long time.

What better way to build a Cinderella themed wedding and reduce your carbon footprint than to use a horse drawn carriage for your arrival and get-away as horses burn zero fossil fuels!