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A searchable database allows you to plan a more ethical, “Big day”
June and July are favourite months for weddings, here in the UK, which can be costly in many ways. With this in mind, Katie and Jamie Fewings have started the UK’s first ethical wedding directory. The searchable database of ethical wedding services and products allows you to celebrate your wedding the way you want while giving others something to celebrate too.
We asked Katie how she arrived at the idea.
The idea of having an ethical wedding came about partly as a result of our growing interest in fair trade and what it can achieve, and partly because our 2005 April wedding was fast approaching. Rifling through wedding magazines the message was clear: this day is going to cost …a lot!
Average wedding costs were bandied about but were generally around the £17,000 mark. Although we had no intention of spending anywhere near this figure it made us think that if people are prepared to spend so much money on one day, why not spend it where it can do some good, with fair trade, organic and local products and services, knowing the provenance and the people involved, and at least where it will not harm: avoiding conflict diamonds, hothouse flowers saturated with chemicals, and dresses which could be the product of sweatshop labour.
We trawled the Internet for organic and fair trade caterers, dressmakers using fair trade and organic fabrics, recycled stationery and fair trade wine. Once you begin to consider the different elements that make up a wedding, the possibilities for going ethical are endless – and sometimes overwhelming. After many hours of searching we thought how great it would be to have everything in one place. All these suppliers and service providers listed regionally, according to the service or product, or budget. And this is why we have set up ethicalweddings.com.
As well as providing ethical options for spending your money, we will also be suggesting tips for saving it, such as listing charity shops which specialise in wedding dresses. This allows you to save money and give something back at the same time. If you are feeling brave, there are recipes for making your own fair trade wedding cake! In the same vein, we will be looking at ways of downsizing, reducing the ecological footprint of your wedding, travelling by rickshaw instead of by car, for example.
And remember you don’t have to do everything, anything you can do – even just finding our site! – shows that you are thinking about these issues and that’s great. Reading some of the articles on the Internet about ‘green’ and ethical weddings, we started to feel guilty about some of the things we hadn’t managed to do rather than being happy about the things we had succeeded in. We were unable to get a church and reception venue in the same town but had managed to source organic fabric dresses for me and all six bridesmaids. Please, whatever else you do, don’t forget to enjoy your big day!
The site is here to help you, not to preach at you. We want to bring together all those little companies that perhaps don’t appear on the first two pages of your Google search. As couples often go back home to their parents’ town or village to get married, they may have lost touch with the local companies which could serve them well on such an occasion – our aim is for them all to be here at ethicalweddings.com, ready and waiting for your call.
Click on our GuG Ad to the right of this feature to find out more….
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