December 31, 2007

Southern honeymoon

Eurostar has now opened ticket sales for its summer trains to Avignon in the South of France. Trains will run every Saturday, from 12 July to 6 September. The journey from London, St Pancras takes six hours and fares cost from £99 return. So if you're throwing a green wedding and fancy honeymooning eco style in the beautiful Ardeche region of France, now's the time to snap up a Eurostar ticket. Just jump on the train at St. Pancras and you'll arrive in Avignon 6 hours after the wedding. Let the train take the strain!

Posted in Green Wedding Honeymoon & Eco Tourism

Celebrating something?

January weekend break

Barrington House, one of our favourite ethical venues, is unexpectedly available from the 11th-13th January. If you still haven't sorted out where to hold your hen or stag weekend, or you're considering a last minute celebration or reunion, then check them out. Barrington House accommodates 26 people and you can have a fabulous get together with lots of country walks, beautiful views, traditional Herefordshire flavours and cosy open fires.

They can supply you with ready made meals prepared from local produce, or bring in their own caterers and do it all for you.

Barrington House is available at a special price of just £2200. To find out more, contact them on 0800 4581018 or atenquiries@barringtonhouse.co.uk

Posted in Green Wedding Venues

Planning to propose tonight?

If you're planning to propose over a slap up meal tonight, then a participating StreetSmart restaurant would be a good choice. Founded by William Sieghart (founder, Forward publishing) and Mary-Lou Sturridge (director, The Groucho Club), StreetSmart lets you feed the hungry whilst you eat (and propose) - an auspicious start to your great green wedding plans.

This is how it works - at the end of your meal, a voluntary £1 will be added to your bill that will provide city homeless people worldwide with medicine, shelters, soup kitchens and counseling services.

Look for the yellow StreetSmart card at your table or donate directly online. Tonight’s the last night for this year’s campaign so give what you can and help beat last year’s record breaking total.

Give as good as you got this year and choose a StreetSmart restaurant in London and other UK regions, plus Australia, South Africa and the USA.

Posted in Green Wedding Charities

December 22, 2007

Greetings to the Winter Solstice

If you plan to propose this Christmas consider throwing a solstice wedding in 2008 - a perfect time to start your fresh lives together and an auspicious time for the greenest of green weddings.

May the light now increase, shine your blues away and encourage the chickens to begin laying eggs again!

Posted in Green Wedding Seasonal Celebrations

December 21, 2007

Good karma wishes

Changing the world is a huge task, so Jonny Knowles of Wishes in the Sky says the answer is to do it one corner at a time. And to prove a point he and 3 mates have embarked on the Good Karma Drive to raise £300,000 to build a school for street children in Northern India. The epic drive will also raise awareness of the incredible work the staff at St. Mary's School in Dharasalam are doing by bringing the great gift of education to impoverished communities in this region of Northern India.

Follow their journey - check out the fab website and view videos, photos and blogs of their adventures on the road to India. and don't just sit and stare, dig deep in your pockets this Christmas to make a difference in this particular corner.

We did...

Posted in Green Wedding News

December 20, 2007

Christmas romance in the city

You don't have to leave the 'capital' to have the most romantic of green weddings. Right in the heart of London lies The RSA, a jewel of an environmentally savvy venue. Steeped in history the House was designed especially for the Society by Robert Adam in the early 1770s and the Georgian façade conceals gems of both contemporary and traditional architecture which have to be seen to be believed.

They're licensed to host civil ceremonies and serve the most delicious local and seasonal produce cooked on site. So if you're concerned about the environmental impact of your wedding, then have your ceremony & reception in the same venue and let The RSA's hard work tick a few more eco-friendly boxes without even trying!

There's a 20% discount on rates if you plan to wed in the next 3 months. Contact weddings@rsa.org.uk .

Posted in Green Wedding Venues

December 17, 2007

Spend a moment in the rainforest this Christmas

Rainforests are in big trouble and their destruction is causing a quarter of the world's annual carbon emissions - more than the entire global emissions for planes, trains, automobiles and ships.

As part of their on-going efforts to protect the rainforests of the world, Rainforest Concern has produced a short film that we'd really like you to see. All the time and money that went into this film was donated for free by a number of Rainforest Concern's partners.

Every one of you can make a difference this Christmas so please take a moment to hear the message and, just as important, it would be a HUGE help if you could pass this on to everyone in your address book. They have a target of 5,000 downloads which they can achieve with your assistance......

http://www.rainforestconcern.org/silent_night/

In the time it takes you to watch this clip, 120 acres - that's 49 football pitches, of rainforest will be erased forever with the wealth of life that depends on that forest for its survival.

Don't let the rainforests fall silent...

Posted in Green Wedding News

December 15, 2007

Stress - by invitation only!

Posted by Vineeta & Tom - blogger bride & groom and eco entrepreneurs

This week Vineeta and I finally got around to organising our wedding invitations. I thought that this would be the one part of organising the wedding that would actually be fun. Having not been impressed by any standard invitations we had decided to make our own, and it started off great. We made a stone circle on the beach near where we are having our wedding and photographed it, then created a design on the computer.

But then we had to print them off. Wanting to minimise the environmental impact we looked for options. Commercial printing was basically out of the window, because the quantities were too small and every card was different, so it wouldn't be practical. So we'd have to print them at home, and that meant that we couldn't use vegetable based inks either. We did buy refilled cartridges from Cartridge World though.

Posted in Green Wedding Stationery & Invitations

December 13, 2007

Fashion Made Fair

For some great bargains on eco chic and ethical clothing, head over to the Fashion Made Fair sample sale at London's Old Truman Brewery this weekend.

Along with all the great bargains to be had from some of our favourites like Tam & Rob and Enamore, there's free drinks on Thursday and Friday evening courtesy of our partners Vintage Roots, DJs playing good tunes throughout the event and an opportunity for one lucky person to win an eco outfit worth over £200.

The Fashion Made Fair Christmas sample and stock sale runs from Thursday 13th to Sunday 15th December (Studio 95, Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London E1).

Posted in Green Wedding News

Worldfair 2007

If you still haven't done your Christmas shopping or just fancy checking out what's out there for eco friendly and fair trade wedding gifts, then London’s liveliest ethical market is being held this weekend. Head on down to Conway Hall, London WC1 this Saturday. Give fair trade, environmental and sustainable gifts this year. The Worldfair is celebrating it’s 21st year with a programme including live music, a fill of delicious food and the capital’s first green Santa’s grotto, as well as over 60 stalls selling ethical wares. And if you're a chocolate lover it's a must: there's free chocolate for all courtesy of fair trade producer Divine.

The Worldfair will be held on Saturday 15th December (Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1, 11.00am - 6.00pm, nearest tube Holborn). The organisers of the event are Oxfam, War on Want and The World Development Movement.

Posted in Green Wedding News

December 09, 2007

Eco friendly gift wrap inspiration

I pulled out my box of vintage silk scarves this weekend to see if I could find a new use for them and an inspirational idea came to me with Christmas and gifts in mind. Why not use them as gift wrap - it worked a treat. So give it a go, rid yourself of the guilt of gift wrapping excess, throw-away all packaging and wrap your gifts in gorgeous vintage silk squares as a stylish alternative to paper wrapping.

Scour charity shops and market stalls for luxurious silk head scarves and apply the ancient and time-honored art of furoshiki wrapping to this year's gifts. The time and thought you've put into your gift won't go unnoticed and they'll be the most luxurious and eco chic gifts under the replantable tree!

It's a neat idea to remember when it comes to wrapping your wedding favours or gifts to friends and family on the occasion of your eco friendly wedding.

Did you know?
We use more than 8,000 tonnes of wrapping paper each year in the UK alone - the equivalent of approximately 50,000 trees.

Image Posch Biota Collection.

Posted in Green Wedding Gifts & Favours

December 07, 2007

Christmas craft bazaars

Well I've just got home from visiting our local Holiday craft bazaar and produce market held in conjunction an annual open evening for our little market town in North Devon. This is the night that kicks off Christmas and Holiday for us here with its celebration of community and good will. It puts me in mind of the hundreds of craft and makers' sales going on worldwide at this time of the year.

It's a great way to find gifts for all of those people in our lives who are tough to buy for, and can even give us ideas for those elusive eco friendly gifts to show wedding attendants, friends and loved ones how much you appreciate their help and support at a future green wedding.

I do know that over in the US there are plenty on this Saturday, including the BUST Holiday Craftacular. I’ve never attended but I'm told its well worth a visit. Next Sunday, there's a sale at Divine Studio in NYC, so if you're a resident or visiting go ahead and download the invite by clicking here.

There's no easy way to find out where the sales are being held so the best thing is to Google your area and something will pop up, but check back next week and I'll try and find more for you.

Posted in Green Wedding Gifts & Favours

December 05, 2007

Low carbon weddings

Apparently couples in the Sragen region of Java can only get married if they pay the price of planting five trees. Divorce is more expensive, costing twenty five trees!

Indonesia has been heavily criticised for its high rate of deforestation and district officials say the programme is aimed at combating global warming.

Be thankful that you still have a choice of how to green your own wedding here in the West!

Read the full story at the BBC.

Posted in Green Wedding News

December 04, 2007

Eco friendly trees

The Christmas tree is synonymous with the festive season and a Christmas wedding wouldn't be the same without at least one tree. Unsure whether to go artificial or real? Here are the facts:

Although artificial trees last longer, they are not biodegradable and, as such, they will languish in landfill sites long after you have discarded them. Most artificial trees sold in the UK come from Taiwan and China so also incur additional CO2 emissions associated with transportation, never mind the possible question of labour relations and fair trade.

Real Christmas trees not only smell divine - they are carbon neutral too - absorbing as much carbon dioxide as they will give off when they are burned or left to decompose. Even better, if you choose trees with roots, they can be planted in your garden or a suitable site afterwards and used year after year. The British Christmas Tree Growers Association has a list of producers nationwide so you can source your green trees locally for your earth friendly Christmas wedding.

And if you're using cut trees don't forget to arrange to have them taken to a green waste centre after the wedding, where they can be composted and used to plant more trees for the next season. If you're in London you can get this done by Pines & Needles.

Posted in Green Wedding Decorations & Details

December 03, 2007

Low carbon Christmas

While foliage is plentiful at this time of the year with holly, mistletoe and evergreens being sold in markets stalls across the country, you may be looking for something much more special for your wedding decorations. If you're getting married in the UK, go low carbon and choose from Tregothnan's selection of garlands, Christmas wreaths and boxes of foliage which are all grown without herbicides on the sunny slopes of Cornwall in the South West of England. Their aromatic swag (or garland) is made up of a fragrant and colourful mix of various Eucalyptus and Rosemary and is perfect draped over a mantelpiece, surrounding a door, or running down the rail of a staircase.

The website only shows a small selection of what is available from this wonderful estate so I recommend that you telephone or email them for more information about their seasonal Christmas wreaths, garlands and cut foliages.

Posted in Green Wedding Flowers