My husband and I just returned from our destination wedding in Tamarindo, Costa Rica . It was incre

My husband and I just returned from our destination  wedding in Tamarindo, Costa Rica . It was incredible and a forever memorable trip. Because we wanted to keep it affordable and started planning only about 3 months ahead of time we didn t have a ton of options. Luckily we narrowed down our location to Costa Rica and fairly quickly found a resort that would work.
1) Paperless Post invites . Paperless Post lets you select and customize stationary and envelopes that you send via email. There is a small cost for the stamps but the cost is minimal compared los angeles public library to the cost of customizing, printing, and mailing paper invitations. And there is no waste!
2) Beef-free los angeles public library Buffe t.  We selected a resort los angeles public library that, while it didn t have an eco-friendly rating despite the booming eco-tourism los angeles public library of Costa Rica (those we found that were eco-rated cost much more than our budget could afford and were all-inclusive, which wasn t what we were going for). We were able to get a buffet los angeles public library menu and negotiated only to offer the amount of food per person rather than the minimum of 40 people (we only had 30). We also selected a menu of chicken and fish so we didn t have the added carbon footprint of beef.
4) Paper free . Despite having a reception in the garden right next to the beach, all of our serving ware was reusable los angeles public library with real plates, glasses, napkins and silver ware provided by the resort. We also went without programs. los angeles public library Some people may like the keepsakes, but we provided a very memorable experience for our guests without producing any additional waste, much of which would have likely blown into the ocean.
5) Walkable location . None of our guests needed a car. They were able to take shuttles from the Liberia Airport to the resort and Tamarindo and walk around town or take group shuttles to nearby activities.
6) BYO-Water Bottle. People may think this is just one more thing to remember on a trip, but on recent los angeles public library plane travel I have been bringing my own reusable water bottle. I keep it empty through security so it is not confiscated, and then on the plane have them fill it up with water so that I don t waste a plastic cup and ensure I get more H20 to keep hydrated.
We had a perfect los angeles public library wedding, with the ocean in the background, all for under $4000 ($3000 more for total travel, hotel, meals, and transportation to and from airport, so about $7000 all said and done). A few green practices and some thrifty planning helped los angeles public library us have a wedding that had minimal environmental impact (airplane travel was the biggest impact for which we purchased carbon offsets for our travel) all for an incredibly affordable price by U.S. standards (I recently read that the average U.S. weddings costs $25,000 and D.C. where we live averages $45,000).