For Earth Hour 2008, I was photographing a wedding in Balmoral Sydney.  At 8pm the bride and groom, requested all lights to be turned off while dinning at the reception.  With an added thoughtful gesture the MC announced that instead of purchasing bomboniere, the bride & groom are donating the money to the cause ‘Stop Global Warming’.

 

As a wedding photographer, I have noticed the subject of planning a green wedding is becoming a concern with many more couples.

 

Ali who is getting married at the end of the year and who has been reading both my blogs Greener Me & Wedding Planning Tips emailed me about her green wedding concerns:

 

“Oh I found something you might be interested in this. I can’t afford to hire china plates etc for our wedding (and can’t be arsed washing them up after) and I didn’t want plastic ones as they are so bad for the environment… so I found a cool alternative – I love them!!! ”

 

Check out ‘Non Toxic Life’

 

I did check out this website Ali – thank you so much for emailing me the link.  I am going to add them to my Australian website blog roll.  My only concern was they used palm leaves to make the disposable plates. I knew from my friend Laura that you need to be careful on where palm leaves and palm oil comes from.  We don’t want to destroy any more orangutan forest or habitat. 

 

See Laura’s email in my post.

 

Laura emailed them on my behalf to ask the question of where the palm leaves comes from.  Here is their response back:

 

 

“Hi Laura

The bioplates are made from the fallen palm fronds of the Betel Nut tree. In the village where they are made, the trees are everywhere naturally, they are not harvested at all.  We are simply finding a use for the fronds that just create a mess as there are so many trees in the area.

 

The wooden cutlery is made from fast growing plantation timber, grown on a four year rotational cycle, especially for their manufacture.

 

Kind Regards

Melissa Kerr

www.nontoxiclife.com.au”

 

Thanks Laura for your help on this post.  Please leave a comment about any more information you would like to add about saving the organgutan.

 

 

Here are some links to other blogs, posts or websites talking about green weddings for your reference:

 

 

http://www.greenweddingguide.com.au/web/pageid/1266

 

http://greatgreenwedding.com/blog/

 

http://www.polkadotbride.com/wp/index.php/category/eco-friendly-weddings/

 

http://www.yourweddingwardrobe.com.au/blog/?p=10