Today’s post is from Virginia Cunningham. Cunningham is a health, beauty and fashion blogger from Southern California. She currently blogs for the international pharmacy, NorthWest Pharmacy.

Virdina and Kevin had a gorgeous eco-friendly wedding in Washington, DC.

If you are conscious about environmental conservation, then you can demonstrate this in your wedding. Having a green wedding means your wedding will focus on using sustainable materials and practices. This is one of the trends that are catching up, with many couples adopting eco-friendly lifestyles.

Choose a local wedding venue

This is one of the easiest ways in which you can have an eco-friendly wedding. Many couples usually prefer going to distant holiday destinations for their holidays. This then involves leaving a huge carbon footprint, which is not good at all for the environment. This huge carbon footprint is usually accrued from flight travel. When deciding on where to hold your wedding or even where to go for your honeymoon, you should take the time to look at a nice venue near where you live. This will thus significantly reduce your carbon footprint, thus making the wedding more eco-friendly.

Eco-friendly wedding dresses from Deborah Lindquist.

Opt for an eco-friendly gown

For the bride, maids and flower girls, there are eco-friendly clothing options. This is not that difficult to get since most wedding dress designers are now paying a lot of attention to designing eco-friendly wedding dresses. Many are made with organic materials. For example, organic cotton is one of the most common eco-friendly materials used in making wedding dresses. Cotton is a very comfortable material, and using it for your wedding dress will not compromise quality and comfort. You can also buy an eco-wedding dress made from peace silk.

Reuse materials

Materials like vases and other glassware can be reused. The essence of doing this is to avoid the use of unnecessary materials that are not biodegradable. If you would like to purchase such materials, focus on buying them from a flea market or second-hand store. This is a simple way of reducing the amount of surplus material that is not biodegradable. You can also borrow such items from friends and relatives, as this will prevent you from having to buy extra ones. Also, only buy what you need; there is usually a tendency for many weddings to have much more stuff that they actually need. Cutting down on such waste will be very important.

Use carpooling

You can go an extra mile and get your guests to carpool which reduces their carbon footprint. This is a unique approach since by carpooling, your guests will be able to save much on fuel, as well as, reduce their contribution to air pollution. Although there are guests who may find this idea unacceptable; discuss this with them and explain to them your rationale. Doing so will make certain that come the wedding day, your guests will have worked out their modalities of carpooling.

Get more expert tips on making your wedding day more eco-friendly without compromising style here. See more from Virdina and Kevin’s nuptials here.

 Do you plan to incorporate any green elements into your wedding day? How?