How to Be Socially Conscious When Planning Your Wedding

When most brides plan their weddings they are not focused on how their choices are impacting society. However, the wedding industry has the potential to impact society greatly for the better or for the worse. There are a lot of social issues that are impacted by the choices that brides make when planning their weddings. If you are planning a wedding and want to make ethical choices then read on.

Diamond Selections

If you saw "Blood Diamond" then you know that there are diamond producers that abuse their workers' basic human rights and that also traffic dirty diamonds. When buying your engagement and wedding rings you need to be mindful about who supplies your diamonds. It is a good idea to avoid diamonds that come from South Africa and from diamond producers that have a bad reputation for ill treatment of their diamond miners. Instead look for diamonds from producers that have a good reputation, or buy a diamond from an antique shop.

Carbon Footprint

Another issue that is raised when planning a wedding and wedding reception is the size of the carbon footprint that is created by your event. Think about all of the supplies that you buy for this one event, how much of it will just be thrown in the garbage at the end of the day and how much energy is used to transport your supplies to your event. To reduce your wedding's carbon footprint you can do several things including: holding your wedding during the day to cut down on artificial lighting, recycling paper and metal goods, composting food scraps and buying as many things from local producers as possible. You can further minimize your carbon footprint by buying recycled paper products and by minimizing your decorations and disposable items.

Feeding the Hungry

If you will be serving food at your wedding reception then consider donating the left-overs to a local soup kitchen or homeless shelter. Your leftover food can provide those in need with a special treat, as well as a nutritious meal. If you don't have a soup kitchen or homeless shelter in your neighborhood then you can also package the leftovers to give to your guests to take home with them.

Giving to Charity

After your wedding is over you are bound to be left with a lot of items that still have a lot of use in them. Instead of throwing out these items donate them to a charity. Charities can use table clothes, decorations, lights and other items for their own events, or they can sell these items to make money for their cause. If you really want to help out a charity consider donating your wedding dress to a local charity shop or Salvation Army so that they can both provide someone with the opportunity to buy a great wedding dress for a good price and make money to help support their cause.