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"Green" Wedding Favors

It's your big day and you want everything to be perfect. But you also want your big day to be environmentally friendly, too. There are many ways to make aspects of your wedding "greener", and one of those ways is to give green wedding favors to your guests as a thank you for sharing your special day.

• A packet of organic seeds - Pick your favorite perennial flower and purchase packets of organic seeds to give to your guests. Include a short attached note that says something like "plant these seeds and as you watch them bloom year after year, think of us and our love that will continue to grow healthy and strong."

• Personalized seed cards - An alternative to a pack of seeds is a biodegradable card that contains seeds in it. These cards can be personalized with a message from the bride and groom. Then the entire card can be planted in the ground.

• A live tree seedling - Many places specialize in providing live evergreen tree seedlings as wedding favors. They wrap the seedlings in a personalized wrapper with a message from the bride and groom. Guests can then plant the seedlings when they get home and the evergreen becomes a symbol of enduring love.

• Fair trade chocolates - A box of chocolates is a popular wedding favor, and you can make those chocolates green if you purchase fair trade chocolates. Products that have been fair trade certified are guaranteed to be made from cocoa beans that have been grown and harvested with sustainable methods.

• All natural candles - An elegant pair of tapers wrapped in ribbon or a single votive candle in a glass holder make great favors. If you choose all natural candles made of soy or bees wax that contain no chemical fragrances, you'll turn these common wedding favors into green wedding favors.

• A reusable bag - Reusable bags are popular right now. Providing your guests with a reusable bag that has been customized for your wedding is something that is unique and useful. There are many places that create stylish reusable bags that are also affordable.

• A CFL bulb - This may only be appropriate if you are having a casual wedding and your guests know that the bride and groom are committed environmentalists. Providing each guest with a compact fluorescent bulb along with statistics on how much energy just one CFL can save could be a very unique favor. You can add a cute note like "our love will continue to burn even long after these long lasting bulbs burn out." Again, this may not be for everyone, but some couples may find it just the right wedding favor.

• Small packets of earth friendly coffees or teas - Fair trade, organic or shade grown, coffees and teas can be delicious and earth friendly. By choosing to give your guests small packets of coffees or teas, you'll be giving them something they are sure to use. By choosing green versions of these beverages, you'll be helping the earth, too.

• A donation to an environmental organization or charity. Recently, it has become popular for the bride and groom to make a donation to a favorite charity in lieu of presenting everyone with an individual wedding favor. During the ceremony, the bride and groom announce that on behalf of all of their guests, they have made a donation to a charity of their choice.

This concept can be made green by making a donation to an environmentally responsible organization or charity. Keep the announcement short and sweet with no green preaching involved. Since many guests dispose of their wedding favors within a week of the wedding, they don't really mind not receiving one in the first place.