Planning an economical/simple/green wedding is easier said that done.  Some parts of that have been easier than others. We are by no means experts at this but we are giving it our best!

Here is what we have accomplished so far:

• as Ben has mentioned before we are designing our own invitations, which we will print on recycled paper
• we are hoping to have the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner at an organic and local restaurant, my mom is currently checking that out for us
• renting a beautiful/ornate site so we will have very little decorating to do...so as little waste as possible in regards to that--so perhaps this misses the boat on simple--but it cost nearly the same as simpler places we would have had to decorate 
• the wedding and reception will be in the same place so no driving to a second site and therefore no liimo or bus or whatever for transportation of the wedding party
• we will not have organic/local catering because it is simply too expensive however we are working with the caterer to use biodegradable disposible dishes
• my cousin Nikki and her husband will provide shuttling for out of town guests to the wedding...if requested
• we will be providing out of town guests with information on purchasing carbon offsets to offset their trips
• the bartenders, photographer, and DJ are all friends of mine or my family--therefore much more inexpensive!
• we are picking our own music--less simple for us before the wedding but less stressful during
• The groomspeople will not be renting tuxes--and they will be wearing clothes they can re-wear
• the bridesmaids are only required to wear a specific color but can wear whatever style they choose and again hopefully re-wear
• the same goes for the bride and groom's clothing!
• we are carbon offsetting our honeymoon
• we have a minimal registry at target for some things we need however the majority of our registry will be a honeymoon registry (travelersjoy.com) to help with the cost of our trip to Italy while also not accumulating any more material things than we need.--information on both registries will be provided in your invitations.

We have a large guest list, mostly because I have a large family, and so keeping the wedding small wasn't really an option. And most of the articles out there on green weddings are focused at small affairs. So we have done our best to come up with our own way. I think so far we have done a great job!