My Post This Week on The Broke Ass Bride: Five Non-Hardcore Green Wedding Tips That You Might Actually Use

Every Friday I write a post on The Broke Ass Bride, one of the best places on the web for wedding tips, spend, splurge, or save! Green is definitely a big wedding thing these days. And, while most people would love to have a green wedding, there are also a lot of things that most people aren’t going to do either. Like, you might buy vintage or wedding rings or a pre-owned dress (says the wedding planner who had both), but you’re probably not going to send out plantable invitations. Which leads to another challenge: Getting your wedding guests to join in the greening too. That doesn’t always work. And a lot of green options can be expensive too. Seeking out soy based-inks? Hemp silk bridesmaid dresses? Taking the train to Vegas for your bachelorette party rather than flying or driving? Seriously?

Greening can be simple, and it can cheap, and it take very little extra effort on your part. In fact, it might save you some. Here’s what’s really worked with my brides:

It’s easier than it looks.

ThePaperThePaperThePaperTHEPAPER!!! Gah! And it’s flying out in all directions! You’d send out e-invitations but you’re worried about your older relatives who don’t have email. Plus, the invitations are soo….pretty. Yeah, I know.

1. Sign up for a free wedding website that gives your guests the option to RSVP online. Type in “RSVP on your wedding website” on the search engine of your choice for a list. Put the wedding site address on your invitations, plus a contact phone number (this is where Google voice comes in handy). That’s two less pieces of paper that you’ll have to buy per household, plus the cost in return envelope stamps that you can put towards the cake. Or the bar, for that matter. I know what you’re thinking – what if everyone doesn’t RSVP online? Truth? Everyone isn’t going to send an RSVP card in, either. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to track down stragglers either way, so you might as well err on the side of your bank account and the environment.

2. Seek out e-options wherever else you can. I wrote about this a while back. Make cloud computing work for you. When you get a contract, upload into Google docs or the online storage of your choice. I’ve even taken a picture of my signature and turned into a jpb so I can insert it into pdfs and docs, but not everyone is the security daredevil that I am! Weddings can be VERY paper heavy, minimize where you can. Scan and email, baby. Speaking of which, get as many of your guests’ email addresses as you can. They will come in handy, trust me!

Click here to read the rest of my advice and see what other brides had to say…